How «Great Armenia» was created in the Caucasus: 10 little-known facts

In 1722-1723, Russia began its first expansion in the East. At the same time, the Russians focused on Eastern Christians. Thus the idea was developed to create Armenian kingdom. It would offer a staging ground for the Russian advance to Asia.
In 1724, the Russian Emperor Peter I proposed a plan for the mass resettlement of Armenians from Asia Minor to the South Caucasus for «strengthening Christianity in the territory and displacing Muslims to the extent possible».
Karabakh was originally chosen for the creation of the Armenian staging ground of Russia. In 1784, Prince Potemkin planned to overthrow the Muslim Khan there and «put a ruler of Armenians in his place».
As a result of the Russo-Persian War of 1826-1828, Russia captured the Erivan and Nakhchivan Khanates. Immediately after, the mass resettlement of Armenians in the South Caucasus began.
Between 1828 and 1830, about 140,000 Armenians moved from Iran and Turkey. They settled in Karabakh, Nakhichevan and Erivan.
The Russian authorities created the most favourable conditions for Armenian settlers. They were given the best lands forcing out the turks; migrants were completely exempt from taxes; poor settlers were given huge assistance at the time in the amount of 25 roubles. The Russian authorities supported the Armenians in most conflicts with the indigenous Muslim population.
After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-79, about 200,000 Armenians were resettled from Asia Minor to the South Caucasus.
The Armenian riots in Turkey (1893-1894) had led to another influx of immigrants into the Caucasus.
Over the period 1896 and 1908 alone, more than 300,000 Armenians settled in the South Caucasus.
In 1911, more than a million of the 1,300,000 Armenians in the South Caucasus were not indigenous.

The publication Who brought masses of Armenians to the Southern Caucaus? (documentary evidence) contains more detailed information as well as scans of documents confirming the above-mentioned facts.