A governorate ( Russian : губе́рния , romanized : gubérniya , pre-1918 spelling : губе́рнія , IPA: [ɡʊˈbʲernʲɪjə] ) was a major and principal administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire . After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, governorates remained as subdivisions in the Byelorussian , Russian and Ukrainian Soviet republics, and in the Soviet Union from its formation in 1922 until 1929. The term is also translated as government or province . A governorate was headed by a governor ( губернатор , gubernator ), a word borrowed from Latin gubernator , in turn from Greek kyvernítis ( Greek : κυβερνήτης ).
34-544: Volhynia Governorate , also known as Volyn Governorate , was an administrative-territorial unit ( guberniya ) of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire . It consisted of an area of 71,736 square kilometres (27,697 sq mi) and a population of 2,989,482 inhabitants. The governorate bordered Grodno and Minsk Governorates to the north, Kiev Governorate to the east, Podolia Governorate to
68-452: A governor of an oblast or a krai . The Russian Empire had nine governorates in modern-day Ukrainian territories: Chernigov , Kharkov , Kherson , Kiev , Podolia , Poltava , Volhynia , Yekaterinoslav , and Taurida . Additional lands annexed from Poland in 1815 were organized into the Kholm governorate in 1912. After the events of 1917, which led to the declaration of independence of
102-469: A two-volume summary, were issued. The questionnaire contained the following questions: In the census summary tables, nationality was based on the declared primary language of respondents. The total population of the Russian Empire was recorded to be 125,640,021 people, 62,477,348 or 49.73% of whom were men and 63,162,673 or 50.27% were women—the median age was 21.16 years. Largest cities of
136-543: The Arkhangelsk and Tobolsk governorates has been preserved, and the census for portions of several other governorates is also extant. The results may have been influenced by national policy of the authorities: the population of Russian ethnicity was somewhat exaggerated. Thus for example, the number of Poles is underrepresented. Imperial officials classified the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages as belonging to
170-721: The Grand Duchy of Finland , Congress Poland , Russian Turkestan and others. There were also military governors such as Kronstadt , Vladivostok and others. Aside from governorates, other types of divisions were oblasts (region) and okrugs (district). This subdivision type was created by the edict ( ukase ) of Peter the Great on December 18, 1708 "On the establishment of the gubernias and cities assigned to them", which divided Russia into eight governorates . In 1719, governorates were further subdivided into provinces ( Russian : провинции , romanized : provintsii ). Later
204-631: The Russian Empire . The census recorded demographic data as of 9 February 1897 [ O.S. 28 January]; with a population of 125,640,021, it made Russia the world's third-most populated country at the time, after the British and Qing empires . Although the census was performed in most of the empire, no enumeration was done in the Grand Duchy of Finland . The census revealed the social class, native language, religion, and profession of citizens, which were aggregated to yield district and provincial totals. The data processing took eight years; publishing
238-860: The Ukrainian People's Republic , these governorates became subdivisions, which also annexed Ukrainian-inhabited parts of Mogilev , Kursk , Voronezh and Minsk governorates in 1918. By the end of the Soviet–Ukrainian War in 1920, the Bolsheviks had made them part of the Ukrainian SSR . Soviet Ukraine was reorganized into 12 governorates, which were reduced to nine in 1922 upon the Soviet Union 's founding, and then replaced with okruhas in 1925. The West Ukrainian People's Republic in former Austro-Hungarian Empire territory
272-813: The guberniya was administered as a Viceroyalty ( namestnichestvo ). It was initially centred in Izyaslav and was called the Izyaslav Viceroyalty. It was primarily created from the Kiev Voivodeship and the eastern part of the Wolyn Voivodeship. On 24 October 1795, the Third Partition of Poland was imposed by Prussia , the Habsburg monarchy , and the Russian Empire . Then, on 12 December 1796, Volhynia Governorate
306-640: The Empire according to the census: Each enumeration form was copied twice, with the three copies filed in the Volost (county) archives, the governorate archives, and the Central Statistical Bureau in St. Petersburg. The copies in St. Petersburg were destroyed after they had been tabulated. Most of the copies stored locally and regionally have also been destroyed; however, the complete census for
340-514: The Rus' population was then estimated at approximately 10 million people. The population in the Tsardom of Russia under the reign of Peter the Great was about 15 million in 1710. Previous censuses had been recorded for fiscal and military purposes. Until the eighteenth century, population records were sporadic, as in either scribal or census books. Audits began to be carried out at the beginning of
374-532: The Russian group and labeled those nationalities as Little Russian for Ukrainians and White Russian for Belarusians. The census did not contain a question on ethnicity, which was deduced from data on mother tongue, social estate and occupation. There was also a 1916 and 1917 "agricultural census" that was carried out throughout the empire (except in some parts of the Caucasus, Eastern Russia, and Siberia), and
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#1732802352499408-710: The Soviet Union into particular territorial units was subject to numerous changes, especially during the 1918–1929 period. Because of the Soviet Union's electrification program under the GOELRO plan , Ivan Alexandrov directed the Regionalisation Commission of Gosplan to divide the Soviet union into thirteen European and eight Asiatic oblasts , using rational economic planning rather than "the vestiges of lost sovereign rights". Eventually, in 1929,
442-461: The eighteenth century, and population censuses became relatively regular. Since 1858, the audit had been replaced by administrative and police registration of the population based on data from family lists. In total, three large administrative and police censuses of the population were carried out—in 1858, 1863, and 1885. Running population registrations – including births, marriages, and deaths – were carried out by religious organisations until 1918. All
476-472: The entire Courland Governorate was enumerated in 1863 and 1881, and in the governorates of Livonia and Estonia in the latter. Registration of the rural population was performed during household and other surveys of zemstvos . In 1871, under the general editorship of the professor of military statistics, Nikolai Obruchev , officers of the General Staff published a military statistical collection,
510-676: The four-volume edition of which contained data on the population of Russia as a whole, and was categorised by governorates and okrugs . In 1870, the project for an all-Russian population census was discussed at the First All-Russian Congress of Statisticians, and in 1876, at the eighth session of the International Statistical Congress. On 26 February 1877, the draft of "Regulations on the General National Census", which
544-461: The items mentioned above were characterised by inaccuracy and insufficient completeness. By 1897, significant experience had been accumulated in local, mainly urban, population censuses that had been conducted since the later half of the nineteenth century. Population censuses were performed in separate governorates ( Pskov in 1870 and 1887, Astrakhan in 1873, Akmola in 1877, etc.), in which residents in all cities were enumerated. The population in
578-615: The number of governorates was increased to 23 . By the reform of 1775, subdivision into governorates and further into uezds ( Russian : уезды ), was based on population size, and the term guberniya was replaced by the synonym of Russian origin: namestnichestvo ( наместничество ), sometimes translated as "viceroyalty", other times as " vicegerency ". The term guberniya , however, still remained in use. These viceroyalties were governed by namestniki ( наместник ) (literal translation: "deputy") or " governors general " ( генерал-губернатор , general-gubernator ). Correspondingly,
612-844: The population in the governorate spoke the Ukrainian language with slight variety of dialects. During the Ukrainian–Soviet War Zhitomir served as the provisional capital of Ukraine in 1918. After the Polish-Soviet war in 1920, and according to the Peace of Riga (1921) most of the territory became part of the Second Polish Republic and transformed into the Wołyń Voivodeship , with the capital in Łuck (Lutsk). The eastern portion existed until 1925 and
646-452: The questionnaires. The census was performed during winter as the population was less mobile then. Despite this being the only imperial census, historians are able to estimate the Russian Empire's population during earlier times by collecting city censuses. The data processing required 8 years using Hollerith card machines. Publication of the results started during 1898 and ended in 1905. In total, 119 volumes for 89 guberniyas , as well as
680-657: The results began in 1898 and was completed in 1905. In total, 119 books in 89 volumes were published for 89 governorates in the empire, including a two-volume summary. The next census had been planned for December 1915, but was cancelled due to World War I . It was not rescheduled before the Russian Revolution . The next census in Russia only occurred at the end of 1926 , almost three decades later. Population censuses in Eastern Europe, as well as throughout
714-517: The seat of Volhynia Governorate. From 1832 to 1915, Volhynia Governorate, along with Kiev Governorate and Podolia Governorate , formed part of the Southwestern Krai General-Governorate–a militarized administrative-territorial unit. In the 1880s, the general-governorate was extended to include other governorates. In 1897, the population of the guberniya was 2,989,482 and by 1905, it had grown to 3,920,400. The majority of
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#1732802352499748-479: The south, Lublin and Siedlce Governorates , and after 1912, Kholm Governorate and Austria to the west. Its capital was in Novograd-Volynsky until 1804, and then Zhitomir . It corresponded to most of modern-day Volyn , Rivne and Zhytomyr Oblasts of Ukraine and some parts of Brest and Gomel Regions of Belarus . It was created at the end of 1796 after the Third Partition of Poland from
782-403: The subdivision was replaced by the notions of oblast, okrug , and raion . Oblast as a unit was used even before the revolution, although unlike governorates it designated remote areas that usually incorporated huge swaths of land. In post-Soviet states such as Russia and Ukraine, the term Guberniya is considered obsolete, yet the word gubernator was reinstated and is used when referring to
816-492: The term governorate general ( генерал-губернаторство , general-gubernatorstvo ) was in use to refer to the actual territory being governed. The office of governor general had more administrative power and was in a higher position than the previous office of governor. Sometimes a governor general ruled several governorates. By the ukase of the Russian Senate of December 31, 1796, the office of governorate general
850-582: The territory of the short-lived Volhynian Vice-royalty and Wołyń Voivodeship . After the Peace of Riga , part of the governorate became the new Wołyń Voivodeship in the Second Polish Republic , while the other part stayed as a part of the Ukrainian SSR until 1925 when it was abolished on resolution of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee and Counsel of People's Commissars. Until 1796,
884-460: The world, were carried out in one form or another throughout the existence of tribes, principalities, kingdoms, kaganates, khanates, kingdoms, empires, and states in order to determine the expected collection of income from subject territories and peoples. In the thirteenth century, the Golden Horde enumerated the population of the Rus' three times—1245, 1257, and 1274; according to censuses,
918-613: Was also applied to subdivisions of the Kingdom of Poland ("Russian Poland") and the Grand Duchy of Finland . After the February Revolution , the Russian Provisional Government renamed governors into governorate commissars . The October Revolution left the subdivision in place, but the governing apparatus was replaced by governorate soviets ( губернский совет ). Actual subdivisions of
952-466: Was approved by Czar Nicholas II in 1895. The census was performed in two stages. For the first stage (December 1896 — January 1897) the counters (135,000 persons: teachers, priests, and literate soldiers) visited all households and filled in the questionnaires, which were verified by local census managers. For the second stage (9 January 1898 [ O.S. 28 December 1897]) the counters simultaneously visited all households to verify and update
986-418: Was demoted to the previous level of governorate, and Russia was again divided into governorates, which were subdivided into uezds, further subdivided into volosts ( волость ); nevertheless several governorates general made from several governorates existed until the Russian Revolution of 1917 . The governorate ( Russian : губе́рния , Polish : gubernia , Swedish : län , Finnish : lääni ) system
1020-618: Was developed by a commission under the Ministry of Finance , was submitted to the State Council ; however, it was not discussed there, possibly due to the Russo-Turkish War that occurred from 1877 to 1878. In the early 80s of the nineteenth century, the Ministry of Internal Affairs began to receive statements from some zemstvo assemblies and governors about the need to conduct a population census as soon as possible; this
1054-429: Was due to the unbalanced distribution of taxes among peasant families and an increase in arrears in collections from the population. After the famine of 1891–1892 , the question of the obligation to have accurate figures of the population of the empire again arose. The census project was suggested during 1877 by Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shansky , a famous Russian geographer and director of the Central Statistical Bureau, and
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1088-541: Was established, encompassing the remaining territory of the Wolyn Voivodeship and the Kowel Voivodeship . In 1796, the administration moved to Novograd-Volynsky . However, due to the lack of suitable buildings for administrative purposes, the capital was moved once again to Zhitomir ( Zhytomyr ). In 1802, Zhitomir was purchased the properties of Prince Ilyinsky, and in 1804, it officially became
1122-835: Was later split into three okruhas: Shepetivka Okruha, Zhytomyr Okruha, and Korosten Okruha. Russian Census of 1897 According to the Russian Empire Census on 28 January [ O.S. 1897] 15 January, the Volhynian Governorate had a population of 2,982,482, including 1,502,803 men and 1,486,679 women. The majority of the population indicated Ukrainian to be their mother tongue, with significant Jewish , Polish , German , and Russian speaking minorities. 50°15′16″N 28°39′28″E / 50.2544°N 28.6578°E / 50.2544; 28.6578 Guberniya Selected governorates were united under an assigned governor-general such as
1156-602: Was not subdivided into governorates, and would be annexed by the Second Polish Republic from 1920 until the Soviet invasion of 1939 . There is another meaning of the word as it denoted a type of estate in Lithuania of the until 1917. Russian Empire Census The Russian Empire census , formally the First general census of the population of the Russian Empire in 1897 , was the first and only nation-wide census performed in
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