ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the demography and the social and economic conditions in the Yerevan Province during the first decade of the twentieth century, before the great changes that occurred during World War I and the seven decades of Soviet rule. It seeks to prove conclusively that the Armenians of the Yerevan Province not only benefitted from living under the umbrella of imperial security, but as junior and senior officials, they also acquired important administrative and professional skills. To be fair, one has to note that Russian Armenia – that is, the small area which formed the Yerevan Province – was not only regarded as a backwater, but it also lacked the political or economic stature of the Tiflis and Baku provinces. The numerous pre-revolutionary Russian studies printed in Tiflis focused on the overall social and economic conditions of the Caucasus during the nineteenth century.
