South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast

South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast Хуссар Ирыстоны автономон бӕстӕ (Ossetian) სამხრეთ ოსეთის ავტონომიური ოლქი (Georgian) Юго-Осетинская автономная область (Russian)
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	10 December 1990
Preceded by Succeeded by Democratic Republic of Georgia South Ossetia Georgia

The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (Russian: Юго-Осетинская автономная область; Georgian: სამხრეთ ოსეთის ავტონომიური ოლქი, romanized: samkhret osetis avt'onomiuri olki; Ossetian: Хуссар Ирыстоны автономон бӕстӕ, romanized: Xuššâr Ireštone Âvtonomon bašta) 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Georgia by Soviets as a reward for their political loyalty during the 1921 Soviet invasion of Georgia.^[1] Its autonomy was revoked on December 11, 1990 by the Supreme Council of the Georgian SSR after illegally holding rival elections, leading to the First South Ossetian War. Currently, its territory is controlled by the breakaway Republic of South Ossetia.^[2]

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.