17
ethnic Lezghins also occurred in Guba, Gusar and Khudat. (21)
Resettlement policy initiated by the Russian administration as
of the 1830’s augmented by suppression of the local urban and rural
population, overtaxing, extortions and other abuses by the Czarist of-
ficials and landlords generated a serious tension within the first two
decades of the new rule. This resulted in a wave of revolts shaking
Guba Province in 1837. It took the Russian authorities a year of severe
repercussions to contain the situation.
Meanwhile the riots triggered certain developments as well.
Following the Administrative Reform of January 1, 1841, the Russian
administrative system was applied to Transcaucasia. As a result, the
Province of Guba was transformed into Guba Uyezd (District), and
the town of Guba was granted the status of ‘a chief Uyezd town’ as of
1843.
The second half of the 19th century featured further develop-
ment of the capitalist economic system in the Russian Empire which
had an impact on economic and social life of the outskirts as well,
including the Azerbaijani provinces (guberniyas) and uyezds that were
getting more and more involved in the Russian market. The positive
effect of this for the development of Guba Uyezd was tangible indeed.
It was the time when religious leaders of each congregation were
dominating in social life and education of respective groups of po-
pulation in Guba Uyezd. The first one-class public primary school was
established in Guba in 1854, transformed into a two-class school in
1870. The local four-class school opened as late as November 1908. It
was roughly at this time when the mixed Russian-Azerbaijani schools
started emerging in the area offering classes in Azerbaijani, Russian
and Farsi. Meanwhile, the School of Horticulture, the first of its kind
in Baku Province, was established in Guba in March 1898. The school
offering 5-year-long training program existed till 1915.
As of the 1830’s, one of the key persons in Guba’s cultural life
was Abbasguluagha Bakykhanov, an outstanding historian, philoso-
pher, educator and scholar, the son of Mirza Muhammad-Khan II of
Baku, and a Colonel Lieutenant of the Czarist Army. Upon his retire-
ment in 1835, A.Bakykhanov spent almost the rest of his life in Guba.
Here most of his works were penned. His major historic treatise, Gu-
listani-Iram, retains its value to this very day. The work is dedicated to
the centuries-old history of Bakykhanov’s native Shirvan and Dages-
Events of 1918 in Guba in the Context of Plans for Mass Extermination
of Azerbaijan’s Muslim Population