Shusha - Demographics

Demographics

The highland portion of Karabakh, where Shusha was built, traditionally had an Armenian majority of the population. When discussing Karabakh and Shusha in the 18th century, the Russian diplomat and historian S. M. Bronevskiy indicated in his “Historical Notes” that Karabakh, which he said "is located in Greater Armenia" had as many as 30-40 thousand armed Armenian men in 1796.

According to first Russian-held census of 1823 conducted by Russian officials Yermolov and Mogilevsky, the number of Muslim families in Shusha was 1,111 (72.5%) whereas the number of Armenian families reached 421 (27.5%). Seven years later, according to 1830 data, the number of Muslim families in Shusha decreased to 963 and the number of Armenian families increased to 762.

George Keppel, the Earl of Albemarle, who in 1824 on his way back to England from India arrived to Karabakh from Persia, wrote that “Sheesha contains two thousand houses: three parts of the inhabitants are Tartars, and the remainder Armenians”.

A survey prepared by the Russian imperial authorities in 1823 shows that all Armenians of Karabakh compactly resided in its highland portion, i.e. on the territory of the five traditional Armenian principalities, and constituted an absolute demographic majority on those lands. The survey's more than 260 pages recorded that the five districts had 57 Armenian villages and 7 Tatar villages.

The 19th century also brought some alterations to the ethnic demographics of the region. Following the invasions from Iran (Persia), Russo-Persian wars and subjection of Karabakh khanate to Russia, many Muslim families emigrated to Iran while many Armenians moved to Shusha.

In 1851, the population of Shusha was 15,194 people, in 1886 - 30,000, in 1910 - 39,413 and in 1916 - 43,869, of which 23,396 (53%) were Armenians, and 19,121 (44%) were Tatars (Azerbaijanis).

By the end of the 1880s the percentage of Muslim population living in the Shusha district (part of earlier Karabakh province) decreased even further and constituted only 41.5%, while the percentage of the Armenian population living in the same district increased to 58.2% in 1886.

By the second half of the 19th century Shusha had become the largest town in the Karabakh region and the second largest town in the Caucasus after Tbilisi. However, after the pogrom against the Armenian population in 1920 and the burning of the town, Shusha was reduced to a small provincial town of some 10,000 people. Armenians did not begin to return until after World War II. It was not until the 1960s that the Armenian quarter began to be rebuilt.

According to the last population census in 1989, the town of Shusha had a population of 17,000 and Shusha district had a population of 23,000. 91.7% of population of Shusha district and 98% of Shusha town were Azerbaijani.

Following the Armenian capture of Shusha in 1992, the ethnic Azerbaijani population of the town fled and the present population consists of roughly 3,000 Armenians, mainly refugees from other parts of Azerbaijan and some immigrants from Armenia and the Diaspora. As a result of the war, there are no Azerbaijanis living in the Shusha region today.