The report of Senator Zhemchuzhnikov on the results of the audit of the Nakhichevan district in 1844 contains significant materials on the organization and activities of the self-government bodies of the Armenian colony in the Lower Don Region, formed in 1779 by Armenian immigrants from the Crimea. The duties of the mayor were not determined either by law or public sentence, and therefore the limits of his power depended on personal qualities and on the respect that he commanded in the district.
