Ninotsminda (Georgian: ნინოწმინდა ; Armenian: Նինոծմինդա) is a town and a center of the Ninotsminda Municipality located in Georgia's southern district of Samtskhe-Javakheti. According to the 2014 census the town has a population of 5,144. The vast majority of the population are Armenians.
History Translation of the current official name of the settlement means "Saint Nino" in English and it was given to the town in honor of the illuminator of Georgians St. Nino, in 1991.
During the Ottoman rule, this was a sanjak of Çıldır Eyaleti, called Altunkale, which means "golden castle" in Turkish.
Before 1991, the town of Ninotsminda was called Bogdanovka () - a name going back to the history of the Doukhobor settlement in the region in the 1840s.Hedwig Lohm, "Dukhobors in Georgia: A Study of the Issue of Land Ownership and Inter-Ethnic Relations in Ninotsminda rayon (Samtskhe-Javakheti)". November 2006. Available in English and Russian (Doukhobor Genealogy Website) After the conquest of Kars in 1878, some Doukhobors from Bogdanovka moved to the newly created Kars Oblast. Twenty years later, some of them (or their descendants) emigrated from Kars Oblast to Canada, where they established a short-lived village named Bogdanovka in Langham district of Saskatchewan.Bogdanovka, Langham District, SK (Doukhobor Genealogy Website) Another group of emigrants, coming straight from Georgian Bogdanovka, established another Bogdanovka near Pelly, Saskatchewan.Bogdanovka, Pelly District, SK (Doukhobor Genealogy Website)
Demographics The Georgian census of 2014 counted 24,491 residents in Ninotsminda municipality, of which 23,262 (95%) were Armenians, and 1,029 (4.2%) were Georgians.
In the Soviet Union, the Doukhobor population of the region enjoyed comparatively favorable conditions, isolated from the attention of civil officials as the population of an ethnically mixed borderline region. In the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of nationalist pressure (both local Armenian and state-imposed Georgian), a significant number of the remaining Russian settlers abandoned their homes to settle in Russia.17 марта 2006 г. Брянская область готовится принять партию русских духоборов с Кавказа \\ Патриархия.ru/АННДухоборы из Малого Снежетка. Первые переселенцы обустраиваются на новом месте. Евгений Писарев, Тамбовская область \\ "Российская газета" - Черноземье №4568 от 22 января 2008 г.Джавахетские проблемы Грузии. России ахалкалакцы здесь больше не нужны? 18.06.2006. России ахалкалакцы здесь больше не нужны? Иракли Чихладзе, "Солидарность" выпуск №2
Notable people Artur Goroyan - Armenian racing driver Gurgen Dalibaltayan - Armenian general Davit Lokyan - Armenian minister of Territorial and Development Nairi Sedrakyan - Armenian mathematician
See also Samtskhe-Javakheti Heshtia
References
External links Ninotsminda District Kalmakoff, Jonathan J. The Doukhobor Gazetteer