Kars Oblast was created in 1878 from some of the lands conquered by Russia from the Ottoman Empire and transferred to Russia by the Treaty of San Stefano. The lands of the Oblast had previously belonged to the Ottoman Kars Eyalet and Samtskhe Province before 1845 and Erzurum Eyalet after 1845. With the incorporation of the region into Russian Empire, a large portion of the local Muslim population left for Ottoman territory. Instead new settlers migrated to or were resettled in the newly conquered lands from Russia's other Transcaucasian provinces or from areas that still fell within the Ottoman Turkish side of the newly drawn border. Russian Imperial Census of 1897 clearly reflected the new ethnic composition. Russian official population statistics based on the native language of respondents, 1897.
Many of these Christian Orthodox communities had fought in or collaborated with the Russian Imperial Army as a means of recapturing territory from the Muslim Ottomans for Christian Orthodoxy. The first ruler of the oblast held the title of nachalnik, later the title became military governor. Nachalniks were Ivan Popko between 01.11.1877 and 08.06.1878, and Viktor Frankini, between 08.06.1878 and 27.10.1878. The first military governor was Viktor Frankini. After the October Revolution of 1917 and the disintegration of Russian Empire, the lands of Kars Oblast were controlled for a short while by First Republic of Armenia and, in its northeastern part, by the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Eventually, Turkish forces recovered the region, leading to a formation of an unrecognized provisional government, before the lands gained by the First Republic of Armenia were maintained. Incorporation of most of the lands of the former Kars Oblast into Turkey was confirmed by the borders determined in the Treaty of Kars, signed by proclaimed Turkish Government, Armenia SSR, Azerbaijan SSR and Georgia SSR. Orhan Pamuk's novel Snow, set in present-day Kars, makes many references to the numerous buildings left over from the period of Russian rule, which in Pamuk's view make the city significantly different from other Turkish cities.
Administrative division
Since 1881, Kars Oblast consisted of four okrugs :
In 1892, the population of Kars Oblast was estimated as 200,868. The ethnic composition, and religious affiliation of ethnic groups, was reported as follows:
The Russian Empire Census of 1897 counted 290,654 residents in Kars Oblast, including 160,571 men and 130,083 women. This number may perhaps imply that the 200,868 estimate for 1892 given by Brockhaus is too low, or that a large-scale migration from other provinces of the empire took place in between. The following breakdown of the population by the mother tongue was reported:
The 30,000 excess population of male over females was mainly attributed to the "European" ethnic groups. Viz., among the 27,856 speakers of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian, 19,910 men and 7,946 women were recorded. The Polish, and Lithuanian speakers were almost exclusively male as well; Germans and Jews, 80 to 90% males. This preponderance of males in the "European" ethnic groups may indicate presence of a large numbers of soldiers or exiled persons in the region. Ethnic groups in Kars Oblast according to 1897 Russian census
