- Kiev Governorate
Kiev Governorate (pre-reform Russian: _ru. Кіевская губернія), or Government of Kiev, was an administrative unit ("
guberniya ") of theRussian Empire .Kiev Governorate was established in 1708 and renamed a "
namestnichestvo " (viceroyalty) in 1781. The Governorate was re-established in 1796 and remained in the Empire until its collapse in 1917. In Soviet Ukraine, the Kiev Guberniya persisted up until 1923, when the administrative unit was dissolved into severalokrug s (districts) in the course of the Soviet-wide administrative reform. Since 1932, the area aroundKiev is administratively organized asKiev Oblast ofUkraine .The borders of the Governorate underwent significant changes, in particular in 1796.
Kiev was theadministrative centre of the Governorate.Foundation and early reforms
The Kiev Governorate, formed by the
Ukase (edict) of theRussian Emperor Peter the Great ofDecember 18 ,1708 was preceded by theKiev Regiment ("polk"). [http://www.hist.msu.ru/ER/Etext/gub1708.htm _ru. Указ об учреждении губерний и о росписании к ним городов] , _ru. Электронная библиотека Исторического факультета МГУ им. М. В. Ломоносова] It was formed along with seven other governorates of the Empire and covered convert|231000|km|mi|lk=onkm2 to mi2|231000|precision=-3|wiki=yes of territory of parts of modernUkraine and southwesternRussia .Among the thirty-six cities assigned to it were Pereslavl, Chernigov, Nezhin,
Belgorod , Akhtyrka,Sumy , Sevesk,Kursk ,Mtsensk , Putivl,Bryansk ,Oryol , and others.Additionally, seventeen cities of the
Azov Governorate were assigned to Kiev due to their greater geographical proximity to Kiev than to theAzov . Among such cities were Kharkov and Staroy Oskol. Also to Kiev was assignedTrubchevsk and two other cities fromSmolensk Governorate while some cities of Kiev Governorate were assigned to Azov and Smolensk, respectively.During the administrative reform of 1710, all governorates where subdivided into administrative-fiscal lots ("doli"), and Kiev Governorate consisted of five lots.
A new reform edict was issued on
May 29 ,1719 . Lots were abolished and the governorate was subdivided into fourprovince s centered onBelgorod ,Kiev ,Oryol , andSevsk , and named accordingly.Сергей Тархов, "Изменение административно-территориального деления России в XIII-XX в." ( [http://www.ruthenia.ru/logos/number/46/03.pdf pdf] ), "Логос", [http://www.ruthenia.ru/logos/number/2005_01_46.htm #1 2005 (46)] , сс. 65-101, ISSN|0869-5377] By 1719, the Governorate comprised forty-one cities. _ru. Иван Фундуклей. "Статистическое описание Киевской Губернии", Часть I. Санкт-Петербург, 1852. (Ivan Fundukley. "Statistical Description of Kiev Governorate". St. Petersburg, 1852)] Despite the reform, the subdivision of the Governorate into regiments was still used in parallel with the provinces.In the course of the 1727 administrative reform, Belgorod, Oryol and Sevsk Provinces were split off into
Belgorod Governorate , with only Kiev Province left in the Kiev Governorate. [http://whp057.narod.ru/kievs.htm Киевская область] ] [http://www.heraldicum.ru/ukraine/russian.htm Гербы украинских земель в составе Российской империи] ]Viceroyalty
In the process of the Catherine's reform initiated by her
November 7 ,1775 edict, the new administrative unitnamestnichestvo (viceroyalty ) was introduced. OnSeptember 16 ,1781 , an edict was issued to transform the Governorate into a Viceroyalty ("Kievskoye namestnichestvo"), [http://www.strana-oz.ru/?numid=7&article=294 Справка: Административно-территориальное деление России XVIII-XX веков] , "Отечественные записки", № 6 (7) (2002)] with the effective date ofJanuary 9 ,1782 . The Viceroyalty was subdivided into the following "uyezd s":Kiev , Gorodishche, Goltva,Khorol ,Kozelets ,Lubny , Mirgorod, Ostyor, Pereyaslavl, Piryatin, andZolotonosha while some sources state that the towns of Khorol and Gorodishche were included without their districts.In 1789, Gorodishche was transferred to the
Yekaterinoslav Governorate . In 1791, the Kiev Viceroyalty was subdivided into ten okrugs and in early 1790s additional districts "(uyezd s)" of Boguslav, Gadyach, Kanev, Zenkov, Korsun, and Lokhvitsa were added.On
June 4 ,1782 , theCoat of Arms of Kiev was officially approved, which "de facto" became a Coat of Arms of the Viceroyalty. According to the description, Archangel Michael is dressed in silver holding up an aglow sword, depicted on anazure shield.ПСЗ, т. XXI, №15423, cited through [http://www.heraldicum.ru/ukraine/russian.htm Гербы украинских земель в составе Российской империи] ]Eighteenth to early-twentieth century
Kiev Governorate was re-established by Emperor Paul I's edict of
November 30 ,1796 . ThreeLeft-bank Ukraine viceroyalties were merged into oneLittle Russia Governorate centered on Chernigov, while the Kiev Governorate was now comprised onRight-bank Ukraine . With Kiev still a capital, the governorate included the right-bank parts of the former Kiev Viceroyalty merged with territories of the former KievDespite the loss of Kiev almost three centuries earlier, Poland still designated an administrative unit centered in Zhitomir as theKiev Voivodship ] and BracławVoivodeship s which were gained by theRussian Empire from the partitions of thePolish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (the lands of thePolish Crown province). The edict took effect onAugust 29 ,1797 , bringing the total number of uyezds to twelve.On
January 22 ,1832 , the Kiev Governorate, along with the Volhynia and thePodolia Governorate s formed theKiev Governorate General , also known as the "Southwestern Krai". [http://whp057.narod.ru/kievs-gg.htm Киевское, Подольское и волынское генерал-губернаторство (Юго-Западный край) 22.01.1832-1915] ] At the time,Vasily Levashov was appointed the Military Governor of Kiev as well as the General Governor of Podolia and Volhynia. In 1845, the population of the Governorate was 1,704,661.At the turn of the twentieth century, the governorate included twelve
uyezd s named to their centers: Berdichev, Cherkassy, Chigirin, Kanev,Kiev , Lipovets,Radomyshl , Skvira,Tarashcha ,Uman , Vasilkov and Zvenigorodka.By the 1897 Russian Census, there were 3,559,229 people in the "guberniya" making it the most populous one in the whole Russian Empire. [http://www.vehi.net/brokgauz/all/051/51025.shtml Киевская губерния] and [http://www.vehi.net/brokgauz/all/051/51026.shtml Киевская губерния (дополнение к статье)] in
Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary ] Most of population was rural. There were 459,253 people living in cities, including about 248,000 inKiev . According to themother tongue , the census classified the respondents as follows: 3,034,961Russians (including 2,819,145Little Russians ), 430,489Jews and 68,791Poles . By faith, 2,983,736 census respondents wereOrthodox Christians , 433,728 wereJews and 106,733 were of theRoman Catholic Church .The 1897 Russian Census classified the population by the responses to the questions on religion and mother tongue. See, e.g. Маргарита Григорянц, [http://www.ecsocman.edu.ru/mirros/msg/300946.html "Первый демографический автопортрет России"] , "Мир России", 1997, Т. VI, № 4, С. 45-48]Kiev Governorate remained a constituent unit of the larger Governorate General with Kiev being the capital of both well into the twentieth century. In 1915, the General Governorate was disbanded while the "guberniya" continued to exist.
After 1917
In the times after the Russian revolution in 1917-1921, the lands of Kiev Governorate switched hands many time. After the last Imperial governor,
Alexey Ignatyev tillMarch 6 ,1917 , the local leaders were appointed by competing authorities. At times, the GovernorateStarosta (appointed by theCentral Rada ) and the GovernorateCommissar (sometimes underground) both claimed the Governorate, while some of the short-lived ruling regimes of the territory did not establish any particular administrative subdivision.As chaos gave way to stability in the early 1920s, the Soviet Ukrainian authority re-established the Governorate whose leading post was titled the Chairman of the Governorate's Revolutionary Committee "(
revkom )" or of the Executive Committee "(ispolkom )".In the course of the
Soviet administrative reform of 1923–1929 the Kiev Guberniya was transformed into sixokrug s in 1923, and, since 1932,Kiev Oblast at the territory.Footnotes and references
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