Yekaterinoslav Governorate

Yekaterinoslav Governorate[a] was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yekaterinoslav. It bordered Poltava Governorate to the north, Don Host Oblast to the east, Sea of Azov to the southeast, Taurida Governorate to the south, and Kherson Governorate to the east, and covered the area of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts of modern Ukraine.

Yekaterinoslav Governorate
Екатеринославская губерния
Coat of arms of Yekaterinoslav Governorate
Location in the Russian Empire
Location in the Russian Empire
CountryRussian Empire
Established1802
Abolished1925
CapitalYekaterinoslav
Area
 • Total63,391.61 km2 (24,475.64 sq mi)
Population
 (1897)
 • Total2,113,674[1][2]
 • Urban
11.40%
 • Rural
88.60%
Yekaterinoslav Governorate in 1913

Location

The government was created in 1802 when the Novorossiya Governorate was split into three governorates. The Yekaterinoslav Governorate bordered to the north with the Kharkov Governorate and Poltava Governorate, to the west and southwest with the Kherson Governorate, to the south with the Taurida Governorate and Sea of Azov, and to the east with Don Host Oblast.

Administrative divisions

The governorate was created in place of Novorossiysk Governorate in 1802 and encompassed a huge area of the southern Ukraine. Officially, the new governorate was created as Ekaterinoslav Governorate in 1802 and subdivided into the following uyezds with centres in:

CountyCounty TownArms of County TownAreaPopulation
(1897 census)
Transliteration nameRussian Cyrillic
AleksandrovskyАлександровскійAleksandrovsk
10,015.8 km2
(3,867.1 sq mi)
271,678
BakhmutskyБахмутскійBakhmut
9,224.8 km2
(3,561.7 sq mi)
332,478
VerkhnedneprovskyВерхнеднѣпровскійVerkhnedniprovsk
6,862.3 km2
(2,649.5 sq mi)
211,674
YekaterinoslavskyЕкатеринославскійYekaterinoslav
7,858 km2
(3,034 sq mi)
357,207
MariupolskyМаріупольскійMariupol
8,989.2 km2
(3,470.7 sq mi)
254,056
NovomoskovskyНевомосковскійNovomoskovsk
6,532 km2
(2,522 sq mi)
260,368
PavlogradskyПавлоградскійPavlograd
8,815.7 km2
(3,403.8 sq mi)
251,460
SlavyanoserbskyСлавяносербскійLugansk
5,089 km2
(1,965 sq mi)
174,753
  1. Taganrog city (Таганрог) 1802–1887
  2. Rostov upon Don city 1802–1887
Ukraine's modern border superimposed on the administrative division of 1900 for both the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian Empires. The borders of the uyezds can be seen from this map

Changes in Russian Empire

  • 1874, the Mariupol (Марiуполь) uyezd was split off the Aleksandrovsk uyezd.
  • 1887, Rostov-na-Donu city as well as Taganrog city with its uyezd were transferred back to the Don Host Oblast.

Ukraine

  • 1918, Taganrog uyezd was transferred once again, but without the Taganrog city and later again returned to the Don Voisko Province. The Ukrainian People's Republic passed the law for the reformation of the Ukrainian administrative division dividing the governorate into five new lands. The law has failed to be implemented and was canceled due to the conservative coup d'état of Pavlo Skoropadsky and establishment of the Ukrainian State. Thus the territory of the governorate was left unchanged and sustained without any major changes until 1919.

South Russia

  • 1919 Krivyi Rih uyezd was created partially out of the newly annexed lands of the Kherson Governorate.

Soviet Ukraine

  • 1920 Governorate yielded few territories in favor of the newly created Olexandrivsk Governorate and Donetsk Governorate
  • 1922 Zaporizhia Governorate was abolished and its territories returned under the subordination of Yekaterinoslav Governorate together with some of Kremenchuk Governorate.
  • 1923 All Governorates uyezds were reformed into seven okrugs with two of them (Berdiansk and Oleksandriysk okrugs) liquidated on 3 June 1925.
  • On 1 August 1925, the Yekaterinoslav Governorate administration was discontinued.

Okrugs

List of okruhas of Ukraine upon the dissolution of the Governorate:

  1. Yekaterinoslav
  2. Zaporizhia
  3. Kryvyi Rih
  4. Melitopol
  5. Pavlohrad

Demographics

The governorate's population, a majority of peasants, was 662,000 in 1811, 902,400 in 1851, 1,204,800 in 1863, and 1,792,800 in 1885. From the second half of the 19th century, with the founding of Yuzovka (Donetsk), the governorate became the coal-mining and metallurgical center of the then Ukraine, incorporating the Dnieper Industrial Region and the Donbass (Donets Basin).

Its population increased to 2,113,674 by 1897. The nationalities within the governorate were Ukrainians68.9%, Russians17.3%, Jews (4.7%), Germans (3.8%), Greeks (2.3%), and Tatars (0.8%). In 1924, the governorate had 3,424,100 (13.6% urban) inhabitants, living in 5,165 settlements, 36 of them being cities and urban-type settlements. The largest social class was that of workers (about 25%).

Principal cities

An old postcard depicting Yekaterinoslav, the governorate's capital at the time.

The data is taken from demoscope.ru. Here is also the most common language composition.

  • Yekaterinoslav – 112,839[3] (1897), (Russian – 47,140, Jewish – 39,979, Ukrainian – 17,787)
  • Mariupol – 31,116 (Russian – 19,670, Jewish – 4,710, Ukrainian – 3,125)
  • Lugansk – 20,404 (Russian – 13,907, Ukrainian – 3,902, Jewish – 1,449)
  • Bakhmut – 19,316 (Ukrainian – 11,928, Russian – 3,659, Jewish – 3,223)
  • Aleksandrovsk – 18,849 (Ukrainian – 8,101, Jewish – 5,248, Russian – 4,667)
  • Pavlograd 15,775 (Russian – 5,421, Ukrainian – 5,273, Jewish – 4,353)
  • Novomoskovsk – 12,883 (Ukrainian – 9,956, Jewish – 1,436, Russian – 1,237)
  • Verkhnedneprovsk – 6,501 (Ukrainian – 3,752, Jewish – 2,061, Russian – 739)
  • Slavianoserbsk – 3,122 (Russian – 1,607, Ukrainian – 1,342, Jewish – 143)

From the turn of the 19th century until 1887 city of Rostov-na-Donu and all the Taganrog uyezd were part of the governorate, but before the census of 1897 took place they were transferred to the Don oblast. Note that the biggest city of the guberniya was the city of Rostov-na-Donu while Taganrog was not much smaller and the third in size. Here is the data on them:

  • Rostov-na-Donu – 119,476 (Russian – 94,673, Jewish – 11,183, Ukrainian – 5,612)
  • Taganrog – 51,437 (Russian – 40,899, Ukrainian – 4,676, Jewish – 2,685)

Language

  • By the Imperial census of 1897.
Native languageYekaterinoslav Governorate
Екатеринославская губерния[2]
For each uyezd (district)
Yekaterinoslav
Екатеринославский уезд[4]
Pavlograd
Павлоградский уезд[5]
Bakhmut
Бахмутский уезд[6]
Novomoskovsk
Новомосковский уезд[7]
Mariupol
Мариупольский уезд[8]
Alexandrovsk
Александровский уезд[9]
Slavyanoserbsk
Славяносербский уезд[10]
Verkhnedneprovsk
Верхнеднепровский уезд[11]
Number%NumberNumberNumberNumberNumberNumberNumberNumber
Total2,113,674100%357,207251,460332,478260,368254,056271,678174,753211,674
Great Russian (Russian)364,97417.27%75,19036,164103,7029,62835,69115,44579,2819,873
Little Russian (Ukrainian)1,456,26968.90%198,982200,434193,510242,737117,206224,12288,218191,160
White Russian (Belarusian)14,0520.66%4,0335052,4681961,6973,3531,564236
Polish12,3650.59%7,9335532,000316528293511231
German80,9793.83%20,6095,80612,6463,45219,10414,0148964,452
French9080.04%197845150461812216
Italian1460.01%2113703914259
Romanian and Moldovan9,1750.43%1,771296,371095283968
English3690.02%14128404121314
Greek48,7402.31%19338142948,29045149
Jewish99,1524.69%46,4417,3639,4573,63510,29113,8862,6315,448
Tatar17,2530.82%868255346715,47212815126
Turkish5,5550.26%168152095,3171448
Roma (Gypsy)1,2930.06%1031722552722120317790
Other1,8880.09%51971655281647725123
Unidentified5560.03%165451342954625611

Religion

  • By the Imperial census of 1897.[12]

Governors

General-Governors
Governors
  • 1802–1803 Sergei Bekleshov
  • 1803–1809 Pyotr Berg
  • 1809–1817 Kirill Gladkiy
  • 1817–1820 Ivan Kalageorgiy
  • 1820–1823 Viktor Shemiot
  • 1823–1824 Trofim Tsalaban
  • 1824–1828 Alexei Svyechin
  • 1828–1831 Dmitriy Zakhorzhevskiy
  • 1831–1832 Otto Frank
  • 1832–1836 Nikanor Longinov
  • 1836–1837 Dmitriy Safonov (vice-governor)

Chairmen of the Governorate

Revkoms
Ispolkom
  • February 1919 – 1920 Vasiliy Averin
  • 1920 – 1921 Ivan Klymenko
  • 1921 Stepan Vlasenko
  • ? – 1923 Yakov Kuznetsov
  • 1923 – 1924 Samokhvalov
  • February 1925 – August 1925 Ivan Gavrilov

Chekists

As an independent governmental organization
Membership ticket of Committees of Poor Peasants, Oleksandriia district, 1924 (for Kyrylo Ivanovych Turbaivskyi)
  • 1919: Vasyl Valiavko (transferred to Volyn Cheka)
  • 1919–1920: Aleksandr Alpov (transferred to Mykolaiv Cheka)
As part of the State Political Directorate (GPU)
  • 24 May 1922 – 16 February 1923: Izrail Leplevskiy (transferred to Podolia Cheka)
  • 1923: P. Onishchenko
  • 1 September 1924 – 1 September 1925: Semyon Dukelsky

Notable people

See also

Notes

References

48°27′00″N 34°59′00″E / 48.4500°N 34.9833°E / 48.4500; 34.9833

🔥 Top keywords: Main PageSpecial:SearchPage 3Wikipedia:Featured picturesHouse of the DragonUEFA Euro 2024Bryson DeChambeauJuneteenthInside Out 2Eid al-AdhaCleopatraDeaths in 2024Merrily We Roll Along (musical)Jonathan GroffJude Bellingham.xxx77th Tony AwardsBridgertonGary PlauchéKylian MbappéDaniel RadcliffeUEFA European Championship2024 ICC Men's T20 World CupUnit 731The Boys (TV series)Rory McIlroyN'Golo KantéUEFA Euro 2020YouTubeRomelu LukakuOpinion polling for the 2024 United Kingdom general electionThe Boys season 4Romania national football teamNicola CoughlanStereophonic (play)Gene WilderErin DarkeAntoine GriezmannProject 2025