History of Batumi
Encyclopedia
Batumi is the capital city
of Adjara
, an autonomous republic
in southwest Georgia
, located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea
.
The history of Batumi is inextricably bound with that of Adjara
. Founded on the site of the Hellenic
colony of Bathys, it was a small fortified town in the medieval kingdom of Georgia
. In the 17th century, Batumi was conquered by the Ottoman Empire
which relinquished its control of the town to the Russian Empire
in 1878. It was under the Russian rule that Batumi became a major port city on the Eurasia
n crossroads. After the successive Ottoman and British
occupations at the end of World War I
, Batumi and its region passed to the Democratic Republic of Georgia
in 1920. After the Sovietization
of Georgia in 1921, Adjara was granted the status of an autonomous republic and Batumi became its capital. Along with Poti
, Batumi is one of Georgia’s most important ports. It is also an important cultural and political center.
Batumi is purported to be located on the site of one of the Greek
colonies on the coast of Colchis
. Its environs the ancient Greeks named Bathus Limen or Bathys Limen (i.e., "deep harbor", a description rightfully applicable to the gulf on which Batumi itself stands), whence the city’s modern name. This Bathys is sometimes identified with Portus altus, possibly a Latin
rendition of the locale’s Greek name, of the Tabula Peutingeriana
, a road map from the Roman
period.
The earliest archaeologically confirmed settlement on the territory of present-day Batumi dates to the 8th-7th century BC. It is located along the Karolitskhali River
and centered on a hillock which is now popularly referred to as Tamar’s Fortress after the medieval Georgian queen Tamar
(r.
1184-1213). A number of unearthed imported items, fragments of amphorae among them, testify to the Greek influence there. The locale was a home to a Roman military fort during the reign of Hadrian
(r. 117-138 AD), but was deserted for the fortress of Petra constructed under Justinian I
(r. 527-565) on the site of the present-day Tsikhis-Dziri to the north of Batumi.
diplomats, Giosafat Barbaro
and Ambrogio Contarini, call Batumi Vati or Vathi. Barbaro reports it being one of the two ports of the lord "Bendian" (the other being Sebastopolis, i.e., modern-day Sukhumi
), while Contarini describes it as a maritime town centered on a fortress. The "Bendian" of Barbaro is apparently a corruption of Bediani, the title of the Dadiani
princes who governed several western Georgian provinces under the increasingly nominal authority of the kings of Georgia.
A curious incident occurred in 1444 when the Burgundian
flotilla, after a failed crusade against the Ottoman Empire
, penetrated the Black Sea
and engaged in piracy along its eastern coastline until the Burgundians under the knight Geoffroy de Thoisy
were ambushed during their landing raid at Vati/Batumi. De Thoisy was taken captive and released through the mediation of the emperor
John IV of Trebizond
.
in the late 15th century, the town and district of Batumi passed to the Georgian noble house of Gurieli
, Princes of Guria
. In the reign of Kakhaber II Gurieli (1469–1483), the Ottomans occupied Batumi, but did not hold it. They returned in force a century later after the decisive defeat which they inflicted on the combined army of Georgian rulers at Sokhoista
in 1545. Batumi was reclaimed, first by the prince Rostom Gurieli in 1564, who lost it soon afterwards, and again in 1609 by Mamia II Gurieli. However, the Ottoman naval blockade imposed on the western Georgian coast forced Mamia II into surrendering Batumi and Adjara to the Ottoman control in the December 13, 1614 treaty.
Under the Ottoman government, the city became known as Batum and was made a center of the sanjak
which stretched from the Chorokhi-Adjaris-Tskali confluence to Tsikhis-Dziri to the north of Batumi. With the Ottoman conquest the Islamization
of the region, hitherto Christian, began and would be completed by the end of the 18th century. The Georgian geographer Prince Vakhushti
(1696–1757) describes Batum as a town with an excellent citadel, while the French
traveler Adrien Dupré, who visited the area in 1807, reports it being a large village with the population of 2,000 living in the houses scattered along the bay and in the nearby forests. Batum had an active port, which was also a big center of the Caucasian
slave-trade.
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-9, the Russian
general Dmitry Osten-Saken made an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate to Batum by the valley of the Ajaris-Tskali, but he only reached Khulo
, far east of Batum. During the following two decades, the Ottoman government consolidated their hold of the Batum area by eliminating the power of the local family of Muslim Georgian bey
s (the equivalent of duke in Europe), the Khimshiashvili
Dynasty. By 1873, Batum was a principal town of Lazistan
province with the population around 5,000, whose chief administrator, mutasarrıf
, was directly subordinated to the governor-general (wali
) of Trabzon
.
The Russian interest to Batum did not fade, however. In 1876, a thorough reconnaissance of the area was made by a Georgian scholar and colonel in the Russian service, Prince Giorgi Kazbegi, who left the only general account of the region available at that time. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8, the Ottomans had Batum heavily fortified and successfully resisted the Russian amphibious attempts at capturing the town. However, an eventual defeat in the war forced the Sublime Porte to cede Batum and Adjara, among other territories, to the Russian Empire in the Treaty of San Stefano
of March 3, 1878. This clause was confirmed, following dramatic negotiations, by the final act of the Congress of Berlin
in July 1878. In exchange for acquiescing in a Russian acquisition of Batum, the British
Foreign Secretary Marquess of Salisbury
persuaded the Russian diplomats to declare Batum a free port
, fortifications, naval arsenal, or naval station being forbidden.
On August 25, 1878, the Russian army under General Dmitry Sviatopolk-Mirsky
entered Batum, and the Ottoman marshal
Dervish-Pasha surrendered him a city key in Aziziye Square (modern-day Freedom Square
).
The town was declared a free port
until 1886. It functioned as a center of a special military district until being incoprorated in the Government of Kutaisi
on June 12, 1883. Finally, on 1 June 1903, with the Okrug
of Artvin
, it was established as the region (oblast
) of Batumi placed under the direct control of the General Government of Georgia.
Batum was officially granted the city status and the right to elect the city council (duma
) on April 28, 1888. On September 2, 1888, Gavronsky elected the first mayor of Batum. On January 25, 1895, Prince Luka Asatiani, former mayor of Kutaisi, was elected a mayor of Batum. He was reelected in 1898. He presided over several modernizing projects such and suddenly died in 1902. He was succeeded by Prince Ivane Andronikashvili who remained on this post until 1916 when he moved to Tiflis.
The expansion of Batumi began in 1883 with the construction of the Batumi-Tiflis-Baku railway completed in 1900 by the finishing of the Baku-Batumi pipeline
. Henceforth Batumi became the chief Russian oil port in the Black Sea. The town expanded to an extraordinary extent and the population increased very rapidly: 8,671 inhabitants in 1882, and 12,000 in 1889. By 1902 the population was 16,000. 1,000 of them were oil refinery workers.
agitation, leading to a mass strike at the Rothschild
oil refinery in March 1902. Stalin arrived in late 1901 setting up base in Ali, the Persian tavern. He got a job at the Rothschild 's refinery.
1st January 1902 (Julian calendar ): Stalin made a speech to 30 party members shouting "We mustn't fear death! The sun is rising. Let's sacrifice our lives!"
4th January: Stalin set the refinery on fire, the workers put it out meaning they are due a bonus which is refused. Stalin got a printing press from Tiflis and called a strike.
17th February: the strikers win a 30% payrise.
26th February: 389 radical workers are sacked. Stalin calls a second strike.
7th March: strike leaders arrested.
8th March: Stalin leads demonstrations outside the police station demanding their release. The prisoners are moved to a transit prison. Governor general Smagin agrees to meet the demonstrators.
10th March: A mob tries to storm the prison but a renegade tips off the Cossacks and troops who fire on them though some prisoners escape.
The events culminated in rioting in which the future Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
played a role. The clashes with police left 15 dead, 54 wounded, and 500 in prison.
12th March: the dead workers are buried triggering a 7,000 strong demonstration surrounded by Cossacks and gendarmes who ban songs and speeches.
Unrest during World War I
led to Turkey re-entering on February 12, 1918. On March 3, 1918, now Soviet Russia granted the Muslim population of Batum, Kars
and Ardahan
the right of self-determination under the Ottoman suzerainty. The Transcaucasian delegation attempted to reverse the clause on the Trabzon conference of March 14-April 5, 1918, but failed to achieve any results. On April 14, 1918, the Ottoman army annexed Batum. The two subsequent rounds of negotiations between Turkey and Transcaucasian republics were held from May 11 to May 26 and from May 31 to June 4, 1918. On June 4, 1918, Turkey forced the newly independent Democratic Republic of Georgia
into surrendering Batum, Ardahan, Akhaltsikhe
and Akhalkalaki
. Early in 1919, the British took over and appointed General Cook Collis as the governor of Batum. They also created the Batum council under the presidency of the Russian cadet
P. Maslov. On April 14, 1919 the governor disbanded the council and left the city in July 1920, ceding the entire region to Georgia.
Batum was briefly occupied by Turkey, during the Soviet invasion of Georgia, in March 1921. On March 18, 1921, the city was recovered by the Georgian troops which then ceded its control to the arriving Soviets. Finally, in the treaty of Kars
, Kemal Atatürk ceded Batum to the Bolshevik
s, on the condition that it be granted autonomy, for the sake of the Muslim
s among Batumi's mixed population. Thus, it became the capital of the Adjar ASSR
within the Georgian SSR. During the 1924 August Uprising in Georgia, Batumi remained relatively quiet. On August 31, 1924, the local cell of the anti-Soviet underground organization was destroyed; its leaders, including major general Giorgi Purtseladze (then the chief of staff of the Batum fortifications), were shot. During World War II
, the city sent 12,258 soldiers in the Soviet army, and 4,728 never returned home.
When the USSR collapsed, Aslan Abashidze
was appointed head of Adjara's governing council and subsequently held onto power throughout the unrest of the 1990s. Whilst other regions, such as Abkhazia
, attempted to break away from the Georgian state, Adjara maintained an integral part of the Republic's territory. However due to a fragile security situation, Abashidze was able to exploit the central government
's weaknesses and rule the area as a personal fiefdom
. In May 2004 he fled the region to Russia as a result of mass protests sparked by the Rose Revolution
in Tbilisi
and Turkmenistan
. Additionally the city exports regional agricultural products. Since 1995 the freight conversion of the port has constantly risen, with an approximate 8 million tonnes in 2001. The annual revenue from the port is estimated at between $200 million and $300 million.
Since the change of power in Ajara, Batumi has attracted several international investors with real estate prices in the city trebling since 2001. Kazakh investors have reportedly invested $100 million to purchase more than 20 hotels in the Ajara region of Georgia. Construction of a number of new hotels will be launched in Ajara’s Black Sea resorts starting from 2007.
Batumi was also host to the Russian 12th Military Base. Following the Rose Revolution, the central government pushed for the removal of these forces, and in 2005 an agreement with Moscow
was reached. According to the agreement, the process of withdrawal was planned to be completed in a course of 2008, but the Batumi base was officially handed over to Georgia on November 13, 2007, ahead of planned schedule.
Capital City
Capital City was a television show produced by Euston Films which focused on the lives of investment bankers in London living and working on the corporate trading floor for the fictional international bank Shane-Longman....
of Adjara
Adjara
Adjara , officially the Autonomous Republic of Adjara , is an autonomous republic of Georgia.Adjara is located in the southwestern corner of Georgia, bordered by Turkey to the south and the eastern end of the Black Sea...
, an autonomous republic
Autonomous republic
An autonomous republic is a type of administrative division similar to a province. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located within Russia. Many of these republics were established during the Soviet...
in southwest Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
, located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
.
The history of Batumi is inextricably bound with that of Adjara
History of Adjara
The article refers to the history of Georgia's autonomous province of Adjara.- Ancient and medieval Adjara :Archeologists say the territory has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age. Occupied by an ancient Georgian tribe of Moskhs from ancient times, the territory of Adjara was a province of...
. Founded on the site of the Hellenic
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
colony of Bathys, it was a small fortified town in the medieval kingdom of Georgia
Kingdom of Georgia
The Kingdom of Georgia was a medieval monarchy established in AD 978 by Bagrat III.It flourished during the 11th and 12th centuries, the so-called "golden age" of the history of Georgia. It fell to the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by 1327...
. In the 17th century, Batumi was conquered by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
which relinquished its control of the town to the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
in 1878. It was under the Russian rule that Batumi became a major port city on the Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
n crossroads. After the successive Ottoman and British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
occupations at the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Batumi and its region passed to the Democratic Republic of Georgia
Democratic Republic of Georgia
The Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918–1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia.The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917...
in 1920. After the Sovietization
Sovietization
Sovietization is term that may be used with two distinct meanings:*the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets .*the adoption of a way of life and mentality modelled after the Soviet Union....
of Georgia in 1921, Adjara was granted the status of an autonomous republic and Batumi became its capital. Along with Poti
Poti
Poti is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near the site of the ancient Greek colony of Phasis, the city has become a major port city and industrial center since the early 20th century. It is also...
, Batumi is one of Georgia’s most important ports. It is also an important cultural and political center.
Early history
Ancient historyBatumi is purported to be located on the site of one of the Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
colonies on the coast of Colchis
Colchis
In ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis was an ancient Georgian state kingdom and region in Western Georgia, which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgian nation.The Kingdom of Colchis contributed significantly to the development of medieval Georgian...
. Its environs the ancient Greeks named Bathus Limen or Bathys Limen (i.e., "deep harbor", a description rightfully applicable to the gulf on which Batumi itself stands), whence the city’s modern name. This Bathys is sometimes identified with Portus altus, possibly a Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
rendition of the locale’s Greek name, of the Tabula Peutingeriana
Tabula Peutingeriana
The Tabula Peutingeriana is an itinerarium showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The original map of which this is a unique copy was last revised in the fourth or early fifth century. It covers Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa...
, a road map from the Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
period.
The earliest archaeologically confirmed settlement on the territory of present-day Batumi dates to the 8th-7th century BC. It is located along the Karolitskhali River
Karolitskhali River
The Korolistskali is a river by the East coast of the Black Sea, near Batumi, Georgia.-History:Between 1907-1915, during the period of Tsarist Russia, pioneering Russian photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky took a self portrait on the Korolistskali River - it is one of the earliest colour...
and centered on a hillock which is now popularly referred to as Tamar’s Fortress after the medieval Georgian queen Tamar
Tamar of Georgia
Tamar , of the Bagrationi dynasty, was Queen Regnant of Georgia from 1184 to 1213. Tamar presided over the "Golden age" of the medieval Georgian monarchy...
(r.
Reign
A reign is the term used to describe the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation or of a people . In most hereditary monarchies and some elective monarchies A reign is the term used to describe the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office...
1184-1213). A number of unearthed imported items, fragments of amphorae among them, testify to the Greek influence there. The locale was a home to a Roman military fort during the reign of Hadrian
Hadrian
Hadrian , was Roman Emperor from 117 to 138. He is best known for building Hadrian's Wall, which marked the northern limit of Roman Britain. In Rome, he re-built the Pantheon and constructed the Temple of Venus and Roma. In addition to being emperor, Hadrian was a humanist and was philhellene in...
(r. 117-138 AD), but was deserted for the fortress of Petra constructed under Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
(r. 527-565) on the site of the present-day Tsikhis-Dziri to the north of Batumi.
Medieval Batumi
The medieval history of Batumi, or Batomi as Georgians called it down to the early 20th century, is unremarkable and the town is scarcely mentioned in the contemporary sources. However, it reemerges in both Georgian and European accounts in the 15th century. The VenetianRepublic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
diplomats, Giosafat Barbaro
Giosafat Barbaro
Giosafat Barbaro was a member of the Venetian Barbaro family. He was a diplomat, merchant, explorer and travel writer. He was unusually well-travelled for someone of his times.-Family:...
and Ambrogio Contarini, call Batumi Vati or Vathi. Barbaro reports it being one of the two ports of the lord "Bendian" (the other being Sebastopolis, i.e., modern-day Sukhumi
Sukhumi
Sukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.-Naming:...
), while Contarini describes it as a maritime town centered on a fortress. The "Bendian" of Barbaro is apparently a corruption of Bediani, the title of the Dadiani
Dadiani
Dadiani was a Georgian family of nobles, dukes and princes, and a ruling dynasty of the western Georgian province of Samegrelo.- The House of Dadiani :...
princes who governed several western Georgian provinces under the increasingly nominal authority of the kings of Georgia.
A curious incident occurred in 1444 when the Burgundian
Duchy of Burgundy
The Duchy of Burgundy , was heir to an ancient and prestigious reputation and a large division of the lands of the Second Kingdom of Burgundy and in its own right was one of the geographically larger ducal territories in the emergence of Early Modern Europe from Medieval Europe.Even in that...
flotilla, after a failed crusade against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, penetrated the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
and engaged in piracy along its eastern coastline until the Burgundians under the knight Geoffroy de Thoisy
Geoffroy de Thoisy
Geoffroy de Thoisy, chevalier seigneur de Mimeure, was a Burgundian naval commander and Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece involved in Philip the Good’s Crusade endeavors in the 1440s....
were ambushed during their landing raid at Vati/Batumi. De Thoisy was taken captive and released through the mediation of the emperor
Empire of Trebizond
The Empire of Trebizond, founded in April 1204, was one of three Byzantine successor states of the Byzantine Empire. However, the creation of the Empire of Trebizond was not directly related to the capture of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, rather it had broken away from the Byzantine Empire...
John IV of Trebizond
John IV of Trebizond
John IV Megas Komnenos , was Emperor of Trebizond from 1429 to 1459. He was a son of Emperor Alexios IV of Trebizond and Theodora Kantakouzene....
.
Ottoman control
After the fragmentation of the Kingdom of GeorgiaKingdom of Georgia
The Kingdom of Georgia was a medieval monarchy established in AD 978 by Bagrat III.It flourished during the 11th and 12th centuries, the so-called "golden age" of the history of Georgia. It fell to the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by 1327...
in the late 15th century, the town and district of Batumi passed to the Georgian noble house of Gurieli
Gurieli
Gurieli was a Georgian noble family and a ruling dynasty of the southwestern Georgian province of Guria which was autonomous and later for a few centuries independent, as well as a few ducal rulers of the dynasty rose in the 17th-18th centuries to be kings of the whole western Caucasus in place...
, Princes of Guria
Principality of Guria
The Principality of Guria was a historical state in Georgia. Centered on modern-day Guria, a southwestern region in Georgia, it was located between the Black Sea and Lesser Caucasus, and was ruled by a succession of twenty-two princes of the House of Gurieli from the 1460s to 1829. The...
. In the reign of Kakhaber II Gurieli (1469–1483), the Ottomans occupied Batumi, but did not hold it. They returned in force a century later after the decisive defeat which they inflicted on the combined army of Georgian rulers at Sokhoista
Battle of Sokhoista
The Battle of Sokhoista was fought between the Ottoman and Georgian armies at the Sokhoista field in what is now northeastern Turkey in 1545. It was the last attempt of the separate Georgian dynasts to fight as one unit against the Ottoman expansion, but ended in their decisive defeat...
in 1545. Batumi was reclaimed, first by the prince Rostom Gurieli in 1564, who lost it soon afterwards, and again in 1609 by Mamia II Gurieli. However, the Ottoman naval blockade imposed on the western Georgian coast forced Mamia II into surrendering Batumi and Adjara to the Ottoman control in the December 13, 1614 treaty.
Under the Ottoman government, the city became known as Batum and was made a center of the sanjak
Sanjak
Sanjaks were administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire. Sanjak, and the variant spellings sandjak, sanjaq, and sinjaq, are English transliterations of the Turkish word sancak, meaning district, banner, or flag...
which stretched from the Chorokhi-Adjaris-Tskali confluence to Tsikhis-Dziri to the north of Batumi. With the Ottoman conquest the Islamization
Islamization
Islamization or Islamification has been used to describe the process of a society's conversion to the religion of Islam...
of the region, hitherto Christian, began and would be completed by the end of the 18th century. The Georgian geographer Prince Vakhushti
Vakhushti
Vakhushti was a Georgian prince , geographer, historian and cartographer.- Life :A son of King Vakhtang VI of Kartli , he was born in Tbilisi, 1696...
(1696–1757) describes Batum as a town with an excellent citadel, while the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
traveler Adrien Dupré, who visited the area in 1807, reports it being a large village with the population of 2,000 living in the houses scattered along the bay and in the nearby forests. Batum had an active port, which was also a big center of the Caucasian
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
slave-trade.
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-9, the Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
general Dmitry Osten-Saken made an unsuccessful attempt to penetrate to Batum by the valley of the Ajaris-Tskali, but he only reached Khulo
Khulo
Khulo is a townlet in Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia, 88 km east to the regional capital Batumi, in the upper valley of Adjaris-tsqali. The town and adjoining 77 villages form the mountainous Khulo District...
, far east of Batum. During the following two decades, the Ottoman government consolidated their hold of the Batum area by eliminating the power of the local family of Muslim Georgian bey
Bey
Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...
s (the equivalent of duke in Europe), the Khimshiashvili
Khimshiashvili
Khimshiashvili was a Georgian noble family,known from the eleventh century. They were enlisted among the tavadi princely houses of Kakheti in eastern Georgia, with their kniaz title recognized by the Russian...
Dynasty. By 1873, Batum was a principal town of Lazistan
Lazistan
Lazistan was the Ottoman administrative name for the sanjak comprising the Laz or Lazuri-speaking population on the southeastern shore of the Black Sea. However, its boundaries did not coincide with the Laz-speaking area...
province with the population around 5,000, whose chief administrator, mutasarrıf
Mutasarrif
In the Ottoman Empire, a mutasarrıf was the governor of a district. This administrative unit sometimes independent and sometimes was part of a vilayet , administered by a wali, and contained nahiye , each administered by a kaymakam.-External links:*...
, was directly subordinated to the governor-general (wali
Wali
Walī , is an Arabic word meaning "custodian", "protector", "sponsor", or authority as denoted by its definition "crown". "Wali" is someone who has "Walayah" over somebody else. For example, in Fiqh the father is wali of his children. In Islam, the phrase ولي الله walīyu 'llāh...
) of Trabzon
Trabzon
Trabzon is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast...
.
The Russian interest to Batum did not fade, however. In 1876, a thorough reconnaissance of the area was made by a Georgian scholar and colonel in the Russian service, Prince Giorgi Kazbegi, who left the only general account of the region available at that time. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-8, the Ottomans had Batum heavily fortified and successfully resisted the Russian amphibious attempts at capturing the town. However, an eventual defeat in the war forced the Sublime Porte to cede Batum and Adjara, among other territories, to the Russian Empire in the Treaty of San Stefano
Treaty of San Stefano
The Preliminary Treaty of San Stefano was a treaty between Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed at the end of the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–78...
of March 3, 1878. This clause was confirmed, following dramatic negotiations, by the final act of the Congress of Berlin
Congress of Berlin
The Congress of Berlin was a meeting of the European Great Powers' and the Ottoman Empire's leading statesmen in Berlin in 1878. In the wake of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, the meeting's aim was to reorganize the countries of the Balkans...
in July 1878. In exchange for acquiescing in a Russian acquisition of Batum, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Foreign Secretary Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC , styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years...
persuaded the Russian diplomats to declare Batum a free port
Free port
A free port or free zone , sometimes also called a bonded area is a port, port area or other area with relaxed jurisdiction with respect to the country of location...
, fortifications, naval arsenal, or naval station being forbidden.
Imperial Russian rule
Dmitry Ivanovitch Sviatopolk-Mirskii
Dmitry Ivanovitch Sviatopolk-Mirskii was a Russian infantry General and a politician, of the Svyatopolk-Mirsky family.Dmitry was born to the family of Thomas Bogumile Jean Sviatopolk-Mirskii, the ambassador of the semi-independent Kingdom of Poland to Russia. Dmitry's patronymic Ivanovich was...
entered Batum, and the Ottoman marshal
Mushir
A Mushir is the highest rank in most militaries of the Middle East. It is the equivalent to the ranks of General of the Army, Field Marshal, and Fleet Admiral.- Iraq :...
Dervish-Pasha surrendered him a city key in Aziziye Square (modern-day Freedom Square
Freedom Square, Batumi
Freedom Square is a central square in Batumi, Georgia’s autonomous republic of Adjara. It is adjacent to Batumi’s Black Sea port.In the 19th century, the square was known as Aziziye Square after the cathedral mosque which stood there. Under the Soviet Union, the mosque was demolished and the...
).
The town was declared a free port
Free port
A free port or free zone , sometimes also called a bonded area is a port, port area or other area with relaxed jurisdiction with respect to the country of location...
until 1886. It functioned as a center of a special military district until being incoprorated in the Government of Kutaisi
Kutaisi
Kutaisi is Georgia's second largest city and the capital of the western region of Imereti. It is 221 km to the west of Tbilisi.-Geography:...
on June 12, 1883. Finally, on 1 June 1903, with the Okrug
Okrug
Okrug is an administrative division of some Slavic states. The word "okrug" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "district", or "region"....
of Artvin
Artvin
-History:See Artvin Province for the history of the region.-Places of interest:* Artvin or Livana castle, built in 937There are a number of Ottoman Empire houses and public buildings including:* Salih Bey mosque, built in 1792...
, it was established as the region (oblast
Oblast
Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
) of Batumi placed under the direct control of the General Government of Georgia.
Batum was officially granted the city status and the right to elect the city council (duma
Duma
A Duma is any of various representative assemblies in modern Russia and Russian history. The State Duma in the Russian Empire and Russian Federation corresponds to the lower house of the parliament. Simply it is a form of Russian governmental institution, that was formed during the reign of the...
) on April 28, 1888. On September 2, 1888, Gavronsky elected the first mayor of Batum. On January 25, 1895, Prince Luka Asatiani, former mayor of Kutaisi, was elected a mayor of Batum. He was reelected in 1898. He presided over several modernizing projects such and suddenly died in 1902. He was succeeded by Prince Ivane Andronikashvili who remained on this post until 1916 when he moved to Tiflis.
The expansion of Batumi began in 1883 with the construction of the Batumi-Tiflis-Baku railway completed in 1900 by the finishing of the Baku-Batumi pipeline
Baku-Batumi pipeline
The Baku–Batumi pipeline is the name given to several pipelines and pipeline projects to transport kerosene and crude oil from the Caspian region to the Georgian Batumi oil terminal at the Black Sea...
. Henceforth Batumi became the chief Russian oil port in the Black Sea. The town expanded to an extraordinary extent and the population increased very rapidly: 8,671 inhabitants in 1882, and 12,000 in 1889. By 1902 the population was 16,000. 1,000 of them were oil refinery workers.
War, Communism and Independence
Early in the 1900s, Batumi became a focus of Social DemocraticRussian Social Democratic Labour Party
The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party , also known as Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or Russian Social Democratic Party, was a revolutionary socialist Russian political party formed in 1898 in Minsk to unite the various revolutionary organizations into one party...
agitation, leading to a mass strike at the Rothschild
Rothschild
Rothschild is a common German surname. It is a habitational name from a house distinguished with a red shield , the earliest recorded example dating from the 13th century...
oil refinery in March 1902. Stalin arrived in late 1901 setting up base in Ali, the Persian tavern. He got a job at the Rothschild 's refinery.
1st January 1902 (Julian calendar ): Stalin made a speech to 30 party members shouting "We mustn't fear death! The sun is rising. Let's sacrifice our lives!"
4th January: Stalin set the refinery on fire, the workers put it out meaning they are due a bonus which is refused. Stalin got a printing press from Tiflis and called a strike.
17th February: the strikers win a 30% payrise.
26th February: 389 radical workers are sacked. Stalin calls a second strike.
7th March: strike leaders arrested.
8th March: Stalin leads demonstrations outside the police station demanding their release. The prisoners are moved to a transit prison. Governor general Smagin agrees to meet the demonstrators.
10th March: A mob tries to storm the prison but a renegade tips off the Cossacks and troops who fire on them though some prisoners escape.
The events culminated in rioting in which the future Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
played a role. The clashes with police left 15 dead, 54 wounded, and 500 in prison.
12th March: the dead workers are buried triggering a 7,000 strong demonstration surrounded by Cossacks and gendarmes who ban songs and speeches.
Unrest during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
led to Turkey re-entering on February 12, 1918. On March 3, 1918, now Soviet Russia granted the Muslim population of Batum, Kars
Kars
Kars is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. The population of the city is 73,826 as of 2010.-Etymology:As Chorzene, the town appears in Roman historiography as part of ancient Armenia...
and Ardahan
Ardahan
Ardahan is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border.-Ancient and medieval:In Ancient times the region was called Gogarene, which is assumed to derive from the name of Gugars, who were a Proto-Kartvelian tribe...
the right of self-determination under the Ottoman suzerainty. The Transcaucasian delegation attempted to reverse the clause on the Trabzon conference of March 14-April 5, 1918, but failed to achieve any results. On April 14, 1918, the Ottoman army annexed Batum. The two subsequent rounds of negotiations between Turkey and Transcaucasian republics were held from May 11 to May 26 and from May 31 to June 4, 1918. On June 4, 1918, Turkey forced the newly independent Democratic Republic of Georgia
Democratic Republic of Georgia
The Democratic Republic of Georgia , 1918–1921, was the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia.The DRG was created after the collapse of the Russian Empire that began with the Russian Revolution of 1917...
into surrendering Batum, Ardahan, Akhaltsikhe
Akhaltsikhe
Akhaltsikhe is a small city in Georgia's southwestern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. It is situated on the both banks of a small river Potskhovi, which separates the city to the old city in the north and new in the south. The name of the city translates from Georgian as "new fortress".- History...
and Akhalkalaki
Akhalkalaki
Akhalkalaki is a small city in Georgia's southern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti with a population of 60,975. Akhalkalaki lies on the edge of the Javakheti Volcanic Plateau. The city is located about 30 km from the border with Turkey. 90 percent of the city's population are ethnic Armenians...
. Early in 1919, the British took over and appointed General Cook Collis as the governor of Batum. They also created the Batum council under the presidency of the Russian cadet
Constitutional Democratic party
The Constitutional Democratic Party was a liberal political party in the Russian Empire. Party members were called Kadets, from the abbreviation K-D of the party name...
P. Maslov. On April 14, 1919 the governor disbanded the council and left the city in July 1920, ceding the entire region to Georgia.
Batum was briefly occupied by Turkey, during the Soviet invasion of Georgia, in March 1921. On March 18, 1921, the city was recovered by the Georgian troops which then ceded its control to the arriving Soviets. Finally, in the treaty of Kars
Treaty of Kars
The Treaty of Kars was a "friendship" treaty signed in Kars on October 13, 1921 and ratified in Yerevan on September 11 1922.Signatories included representatives from the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which in 1923 would declare the Republic of Turkey, and also from Soviet Armenia, Soviet...
, Kemal Atatürk ceded Batum to the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
s, on the condition that it be granted autonomy, for the sake of the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
s among Batumi's mixed population. Thus, it became the capital of the Adjar ASSR
Adjar ASSR
The Adjar ASSR, Adzhar ASSR or Adjarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union within the Georgian SSR, established on 16 July 1921...
within the Georgian SSR. During the 1924 August Uprising in Georgia, Batumi remained relatively quiet. On August 31, 1924, the local cell of the anti-Soviet underground organization was destroyed; its leaders, including major general Giorgi Purtseladze (then the chief of staff of the Batum fortifications), were shot. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the city sent 12,258 soldiers in the Soviet army, and 4,728 never returned home.
When the USSR collapsed, Aslan Abashidze
Aslan Abashidze
Aslan Abashidze was the leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic in western Georgia from 1991 to May 5, 2004. He resigned under the pressure of the central Georgian government and mass opposition rallies during the 2004 Adjara crisis, and has since lived in Moscow, Russia...
was appointed head of Adjara's governing council and subsequently held onto power throughout the unrest of the 1990s. Whilst other regions, such as Abkhazia
Abkhazia
Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...
, attempted to break away from the Georgian state, Adjara maintained an integral part of the Republic's territory. However due to a fragile security situation, Abashidze was able to exploit the central government
Central government
A central government also known as a national government, union government and in federal states, the federal government, is the government at the level of the nation-state. The structure of central governments varies from institution to institution...
's weaknesses and rule the area as a personal fiefdom
Fiefdom
A fee was the central element of feudalism and consisted of heritable lands granted under one of several varieties of feudal tenure by an overlord to a vassal who held it in fealty in return for a form of feudal allegiance and service, usually given by the...
. In May 2004 he fled the region to Russia as a result of mass protests sparked by the Rose Revolution
Rose Revolution
The "Revolution of Roses" was a change of power in Georgia in November 2003, which took place after having widespread protests over the disputed parliamentary elections...
in Tbilisi
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
Present day
Batumi today is the main port of Georgia. It has the capacity for 80,000-tonne tankers to take materials such as oil. This oil originates from Azerbaijan and is shipped all over the world. Smaller oil exports also come from KazakhstanKazakhstan
Kazakhstan , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country in Central Asia and Eastern Europe. Ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, it is also the world's largest landlocked country; its territory of is greater than Western Europe...
and Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
. Additionally the city exports regional agricultural products. Since 1995 the freight conversion of the port has constantly risen, with an approximate 8 million tonnes in 2001. The annual revenue from the port is estimated at between $200 million and $300 million.
Since the change of power in Ajara, Batumi has attracted several international investors with real estate prices in the city trebling since 2001. Kazakh investors have reportedly invested $100 million to purchase more than 20 hotels in the Ajara region of Georgia. Construction of a number of new hotels will be launched in Ajara’s Black Sea resorts starting from 2007.
Batumi was also host to the Russian 12th Military Base. Following the Rose Revolution, the central government pushed for the removal of these forces, and in 2005 an agreement with Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
was reached. According to the agreement, the process of withdrawal was planned to be completed in a course of 2008, but the Batumi base was officially handed over to Georgia on November 13, 2007, ahead of planned schedule.