Guberniya
Guberniya (
IPA: ) (also
gubernia,
guberniia,
gubernya) was a major administrative subdivision of the
Imperial Russia, usually translated as
governorate or
province. A guberniya was ruled by a
governor or (,
gubernator), a word borrowed from either Latin
gubernator or Greek
kybernates. Sometimes this term was informally used to refer to the office of a governor.
This subdivision type was created by the edict (
ukase) of
Peter the Great on
December 18 1708, which divided Russia into
eight guberniyas. In
1719, guberniyas were further subdivided into
provinces (провинции). Later the number of guberniyas
was increased to 23.
By the reform of
1775, subdivision into guberniyas and further into
uyezds (уезды) was based on the amount of population, and the term "guberniya" was replaced by the synonym of Russian origin: namestnichestvo (), sometimes translated as "viceroyalty". The term "guberniya", however, still remained in use. These viceroyalties were governed by
namestniks (наместник) (literal translation: "deputy"), also called
Governors General (генерал-губернатор). Correspondingly, the term
Governorate General (генерал-губернаторство) 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 guberniyas.
By the ukase of Russian
Senate by December 31,
1796, the office of Governorate General was demoted to the previous level of Governorate, and Russia was again divided into guberniyas, which were subdivided in
uyezds, further subdivided into
volosts (волость), nevertheless several Governorates General made from several guberniyas existed until 1917.
The latter subdivision existed until after the
Russian Revolution of 1917.
After the
February Revolution, the
Russian Provisional Government renamed governors into
guberniya commissars. The
October Revolution left the subdivision in place, but the governing apparatus was replaced by
guberniya soviets (губернский совет).
Actual subdivisions of the
Soviet Union into particular territorial units was subject to numerous changes, especially during the
1918–
1929 period. Eventually, in
1929, the subdivision was replaced by the notions of
oblast,
okrug, and
raion.
In modern Russia, although the term
Guberniya is obsolete, the word
gubernator is used when referring to a governor of an
oblast or a
krai.
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History of the administrative division of Russia
