Yekaterinoslav Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Yekaterinoslav. Covering an area of , and having 2,113,674 inhabitants according to the census of 1897, 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 west, and covered the area of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts of modern Ukraine.

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:

County County Town Arms of County Town Area Population(1897 census) Transliteration name Russian Cyrillic Aleksandrovsky Александровскій Aleksandrovsk 271,678 Bakhmutsky Бахмутскій Bakhmut 332,478 Verkhnedneprovsky Верхнеднѣпровскій Verkhnedniprovsk 211,674 Yekaterinoslavsky Екатеринославскій Yekaterinoslav 357,207 Mariupolsky Маріупольскій Mariupol 254,056 Novomoskovsky Невомосковскій Novomoskovsk 260,368 Pavlogradsky Павлоградскій Pavlograd 251,460 Slavyanoserbsky Славяносербскій Lugansk 174,753

Taganrog city (Таганрог) 1802–1887 Rostov upon Don city 1802–1887

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 (Alexandrovsk) Governorate and Donetsk Governorate 1922 Zaporizhia Governorate, as renamed, 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 (okruhas) List of okruhas of Ukraine upon the dissolution of the Governorate: Yekaterinoslav Zaporizhia Kryvyi Rih Melitopol 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 Ukrainians – 68.9%, Russians – 17.3%, 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

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

Yekaterinoslav – 112,839Population of Yekaterinoslav (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 For each uyezd (district)YekaterinoslavЕкатеринославский уездPavlogradПавлоградский уездBakhmutБахмутский уездNovomoskovskНовомосковский уездMariupolМариупольский уездAlexandrovskАлександровский уездSlavyanoserbskСлавяносербский уездVerkhnedneprovsk Верхнеднепровский уезд Number% Number Number Number Number Number Number Number Number Total 2,113,674 100% 357,207 251,460 332,478 260,368 254,056 271,678 174,753 211,674 Great Russian (Russian) 364,974 17.27% 75,190 36,164 103,702 9,628 35,691 15,445 79,281 9,873 Little Russian (Ukrainian) 1,456,269 68.90% 198,982 200,434 193,510 242,737 117,206 224,122 88,218 191,160 White Russian (Belarusian) 14,052 0.66% 4,033 505 2,468 196 1,697 3,353 1,564 236 Polish 12,365 0.59% 7,933 553 2,000 316 528 293 511 231 German 80,979 3.83% 20,609 5,806 12,646 3,452 19,104 14,014 896 4,452 French 908 0.04% 197 8 451 50 46 18 122 16 Italian 146 0.01% 21 1 37 0 39 14 25 9 Romanian and Moldovan 9,175 0.43% 1,771 29 6,371 0 95 2 839 68 English 369 0.02% 14 1 284 0 41 2 13 14 Greek 48,740 2.31% 193 38 142 9 48,290 45 14 9 Jewish 99,152 4.69% 46,441 7,363 9,457 3,635 10,291 13,886 2,631 5,448 Tatar 17,253 0.82% 868 255 346 7 15,472 128 151 26 Turkish 5,555 0.26% 168 15 20 9 5,317 14 4 8 Roma (Gypsy) 1,293 0.06% 103 172 255 272 21 203 177 90 Other 1,888 0.09% 519 71 655 28 164 77 251 23 Unidentified 556 0.03% 165 45 134 29 54 62 56 11

Religion By the Imperial census of 1897.The first national census of the Russian Empire in 1897, Ed. N.A.Troynitskogo. t.I. The total body of the Empire's first general census of population development results produced by 28 January 1897. St. Petersburg, 1905. Table XII. Population by religions.Religion Statistics of 1897 Yekaterinoslav Religion Statistics of 1897 Yekaterinoslav in the cities + Religion Number percentage (%) males females In the cities Outside the cities Eastern Orthodox 1,903,264 90.05% 982,616 920,648 167,263 1,736,001 Judaism 101,088 4.78% 51,679 49,409 64,024 37,064 Lutherans 39,530 1.87% 19,972 19,558 2,085 37,445 Roman Catholics 32,154 1.52% 17,658 14,496 5,388 26,766 Mennonites 23,922 1.13% 12,132 11,790 208 23,714 Old Believers and deviants from orthodoxy 9,393 0.44% 4,699 4,694 421 8,972 Muslims 2,090 0.10% 1,700 390 1,039 1,051 Baptists 1,150 0.05% 606 544 5 1,145 Armenian-Gregorian 448 0.02% 301 147 225 223 Karaites 359 0.02% 178 181 302 57 Reformed Christian 157 0.01% 95 62 15 142 Anglican 46 0.00% 26 20 16 30 Other 73 0.00% 53 20 14 43 Total 2,113,674 100% 1,091,715 1,021,959 241,005 1,872,669 +

Governors General-Governors 1823–1844 Mikhail Vorontsov

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 26 October 1917 – ? Emmanuil Kviring November 1919 – 1920 Sergei Minin 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

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

Fedir Shchus, (Ukrainian: Федір Щусь, 25 March 1893 – 30 June 1921) also Fyodor Shuss or Feodosiy Shchus, was an Anarchist revolutionary, commander (ataman) in the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine of Nestor Makhno. Viktor Bilash, (Ukrainian: Віктор Федорович Білаш; 1893 – 24 January 1938) was the Anarchist Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine (RIAU) under Nestor Makhno.

See also Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty Governor's House (Dnipro)

Notes

References

External links

Yekaterinoslav Guberniya – Historical coat of arms Katerinoslav gubernia – Article in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine