Approximately 150,000 Armenians relocated to Erzurum Vilayet, Bitlis Vilayet, Mush and Van Vilayet in 1917.[19] The Armenians began to build houses and till farmlands in preparation for the 1917 autumn harvest. The prospect of a new autonomous state seemed favorable for provisional governor Aram Manukian, with the administrative seat favorably located between Russia and the Ottoman Empire.