South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast
| South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autonomous oblast of the Georgian SSR | |||||||||
| 1922–1990 | |||||||||
Map of the Georgian SSR, 1957–1990. The South Ossetian AO is in the middle, highlighted in yellow. | |||||||||
| Capital | Tskhinvali | ||||||||
| • Type | Autonomous oblast | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 30 April 1922 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 20 September 1990 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| South Ossetian Soviet Democratic Republic | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrecognized republic of the Soviet Union | |||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | |||||||||||
| Capital | Tskhinvali | ||||||||||
| • Type | Soviet republic | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | 20 September 1990 | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 21 December 1991 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (Russian: Юго-Осетинская автономная область, romanized: Yugo-Osetinskaya avtonomnaya oblast'; Georgian: სამხრეთ ოსეთის ავტონომიური ოლქი, romanized: samkhret osetis avt'onomiuri olki; Ossetian: Хуссар Ирыстоны автономон бӕстӕ, romanized: Xussar Irystony avtonomon bæstæ) was an autonomous oblast of the Soviet Union created within the Georgian SSR on April 20, 1922. It was an ethnic enclave created for the Ossetians within Georgia by Soviets as a reward for their political loyalty during the 1921 Soviet invasion of Georgia. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the South Ossetia war, its territory is controlled by the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia, which is recognized only by five states, while Georgia and other countries consider it to be territory of Georgia.
The population of the South Ossetian AO consisted mostly of ethnic Ossetians, who made up roughly 66% of the 100,000 people living there in 1989, and Georgians, who constituted a further 29% of the population as of 1989.