“The Name List of ... Cityheads” In Nakhichevan-on-Don and the “Statement of the Costs of City Revenues and Expenditures” (the End 19th–Mid 20th century)

Abstract. The article introduces archives from the National Archives of Armenia, which present the list of leaders of Nakhichevan-on-Don at the end of the 18th–first half of the 19th centuries, as well as information about the costs and sources of the budget revenues and expenditures of the Armenian colony in that period. These data do not fully coincide with the well-known literary materials. They provide time refinement for the official establishment of the mayor position in Nakhichevan, in-person composition of mayors, their estate, as well as tenure terms. Archives also testify rather early loss of several economic (financial) functions carried by the Nakhchivan Armenian magistrate. The income and expenditure statement of Nakhichevan-on-Don demonstrates the extreme irregularity of fees coming from the city economy and due to the “voluntary fold”, and the special status of rural settlements in this regard (the possibility of four or fivefold reduction of fees). It can be very useful for reconstructing the history of the first decades of the Armenian colony on the Don – both economic and financial life, and assessing the reliability of mayors and the effectiveness of the city government.

Keywords: archive, Nakhichevan-on-Don, city mayor, elections, magistrate, taxes, selftaxation, income, expenses.