
Following an order by Count Paskevisch –Erivanskiy, in the beginning of 1829, a college assessor I.Shopen conducted census of the population in the Armenian Province.
The establishment of the Armenian state under the patronage of Russia as well as the resettlement of Armenians from Turkey and Iran to the lands occupied by Russia was in no way by accident. It resulted from the Russian-Armenian relations that were developed not only in trade, as stated in the Russian and Armenian history, but also in the hostile attitude towards the East Muslim states, especially Turkey and since the 18th century -Azerbaijan.
In ancient times, Karabakh was a part of the ancient Azerbaijan state-Caucasian Albania, which mostly consisted of Turks and Caucasian tribes.
The Armenian Church moved to Echmiadzin from Cilicia in XV century. The tsarist Russia wanted to create an enclave of the Christian states in the Caucasus in the nineteenth century. At that time the Georgian kingdom still existed.