The district was the smallest independent (not part of any province or region) administrative unit of the Russian Empire, similarly to the Sukhumi okrug.

The Free Jamaats (Society) peoples were the collective owners of the lands in which the Ingiloys and Tatars (later Azerbaijanis) lived, for which the latter paid tax to them.

In 1863, a rumor circulated that the administration of Zakataly was planning to emancipate the Georgians and Tatars from their financial obligations to the Free Jamaats peoples, leading to an anti-Russian uprising of its Dagestani inhabitants.

The uprising became elevated by the declaration of jihad (holy war) until its suppression by local troops assisted by Tatar volunteers.

[7] Despite the Russian SFSR initially recognising the Zakatal okrug as part of Georgia in the Treaty of Moscow,[8][9] a mixed commission consisting of Georgians and Azerbaijanis was formed to arbitrate the dispute following the region's sovietisation.