In ancient times, Kars () was part of the province of Ararat in the
Kingdom of Armenia. The first known people were the followers of Vanand (Վանանդ), for whom Kars was their main settlement and fortress. In 928, Kars became the capital of
Bagratid Armenia. In 968, the capital of Armenia was moved to
Ani, but Kars remained the capital of the feudal principality of
Vanand. The
Seljuks quickly relinquished direct control over Kars and it became a small emirate whose territory corresponded closely to that of Vanand, and which bordered the similarly created but larger
Shaddadid emirate centered at Ani. The Kars emirate was a vassal of the
Saltukids in Erzurum, whose forces were effective in opposing
Georgian attempts at seizing Kars. Later on, in 1207, Georgian and Armenian forces commanded by
David Soslan and brothers
Ivane and
Zakare Zakarian-Mkhargrzeli captured Kars after a long siege. It was a part of Zakarid Armenia, principality under rule of Zakarians–Mkhargrdzeli, vassals of Bagrationi dynasty of Georgia.
George IV son of
Tamar, was appointed as a
viceroy of Kars. It was conquered in 1242 by the
Mongols; was regained by Georgian Kingdom during the reign of
George V the Brilliant (1314–1346) and remained as part of the Kingdom before its disintegration, which then passed into the hands of
Georgian Atabegs belonging to the
House of Jaqeli. During the rule of the Persian Empire and the
Ottoman Empire, the fortress of Kars, located in what was then the eastern part of the city, fell into disrepair. However, as Kars was within a border region its defensive structures were often renewed, and they continued to advance to such a degree, that in the 19th century Kars was well known around the world as a castle. As a result of the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877 to 1878, the province of Kars was incorporated into the
Russian Empire as part of the militarily administered
Kars Oblast and remained so until 1918. It was seen as a border province of a Russian Empire which was seeking to expand yet further by the conquest of more territory belonging to the Ottoman Empire. The period from 1878 to 1918 was marked in the province of Kars by the settlement by the Russian authorities of a very heterogeneous mix of Christian populations, including
Armenians,
Caucasus Greeks,
Russians,
Georgians, and even smaller numbers from other Christian communities hitherto with little or no historical links to the region, such as
ethnic Germans,
Poles,
Estonians,
Lithuanians, and Russian sectarian communities such as
Molokans and
Doukhobors. Many from the non-Russian Christian Orthodox communities (Georgians, Caucasus Greeks, and the minority of Armenians who were Lessor Orthodox) had themselves fought in or collaborated with the Russian Imperial army to capture Kars province from the Muslim Ottomans. They saw this as a means of fulfilling their own ambitions to recapture Christian territory on the back of the Russian imperial enterprise. The Inspectorates Generals regions ruled with wide-ranging authority over the population in order to
Turkify its population. The third UM span over the provinces of
Erzurum,
Artvin,
Rize,
Trabzon, Kars
Gümüşhane,
Erzincan and
Ağrı. It was governed by an Inspector General seated in the city of
Erzurum. The Inspectorate General was dissolved in 1952 during the Government of the
Democrat Party. == Geology and geomorphology ==