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Kherson Governorate

Coordinates: 46°38′00″N 32°36′00″E / 46.6333°N 32.6000°E / 46.6333; 32.6000
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Kherson Governorate
Херсонская губерния
Governorate
Coat of arms of Kherson Governorate
Coat of arms
Location in the Russian Empire
Location in the Russian Empire
CountryRussian Empire
Established1803
Abolished1920
CapitalKherson
Area
 • Total
71,936 km2 (27,775 sq mi)
Population
 (1897)
 • Total
2,733,612
 • Density38/km2 (98/sq mi)
 • Urban
28.86%
 • Rural
71.14%

Kherson Governorate,[a] known until 1803 as Nikolayev Governorate,[b] was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Kherson. It encompassed 71,936 square kilometres (27,775 sq mi) in area and had a population of 2,733,612 inhabitants. At the time of the census in 1897, it bordered Podolia Governorate to the northwest, Kiev Governorate to the north, Poltava Governorate to the northeast, Yekaterinoslav Governorate to the east, Taurida Governorate to the southeast, Black Sea to the south, and Bessarabia Governorate to the west. It roughly corresponds to what is now most of Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad and Odesa Oblasts in Ukraine and some parts of Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts.

The economy of the governorate was mainly based on agriculture. During the grain harvest, thousands of agricultural laborers from the parts of the Empire found work in the area. The industrial part of the economy, consisting primarily of flour milling, distilling, metalworking industry, iron mining, beet-sugar processing, and brick industry, was underdeveloped.

Map of Kherson province, 1913

Administrative divisions

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The governorate bordered Bessarabia Governorate to the west, with Kiev and Poltava Governorates to the north, to the east could be found Yekaterinoslav Governorate, and in the southward direction was located Taurida Governorate.

From 1809, the governorate consisted of five uyezds: Khersonsky Uyezd, Aleksandriysky Uyezd, Ovidiopol, Tiraspolsky Uyezd, and Yelisavetgradsky Uyezd. The city of Odessa carried a special status. In 1825, Odessky Uyezd and in 1834, Ananyevsky Uyezd were added into the territorial division of the Kherson Governorate. A seventh uyezd – Bobrynets, existed from 1828 to 1865. The cities of Odessa and Nikolayev (in 1803–1861) and their surrounding vicinity were governed separately: Odessa by a gradonachalnik (Russian: градоначальник), answerable directly to the tsar and (from 1822) the governor-general of Novorossiya and Bessarabia, and Nikolayev by a military governor.

In 1920, while being under the Bolshevik rule, the governorate's territory, 70,600 km2 (27,259 sq mi), was divided to form the newer Odessa Governorate. The Kherson Governorate was renamed Mykolaiv Governorate in 1921, and in 1922 – merged with the Odessa Governorate. In 1925, the Odessa Governorate was abolished, and its territory was divided into six okruhas: Kherson, Kryvyi Rih, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Pershotravneve, and Zinoviivske. In 1932, much of this territory was incorporated into the new Odesa Oblast, now an administrative division of the modern Ukrainian nation, which was divided to form the Mykolaiv Oblast.

County Capital Arms of capital Area Population
(1897 census)
Transliteration name Russian Cyrillic
Aleksandriysky Александрійскій Aleksandriya
11,165 km2
(4,311 sq mi)		 327,199
Ananyevsky Ананьевскій Ananev
10,289.2 km2
(3,972.7 sq mi)		 187,226
Yelisavetgradsky Елисаветградскій Yelisavetgrad
15,866.8 km2
(6,126.2 sq mi)		 507,660
Odessky Одесскій Odessa
10,552.1 km2
(4,074.2 sq mi)		 532,729
Tiraspolsky Тираспольскій Tiraspol
7,228.9 km2
(2,791.1 sq mi)		 206,568
Khersonsky Херсонскій Kherson
19,553 km2
(7,549 sq mi)		 532,956
Nikolayev War Governorate Николаевское воѣнное губернаторство Nikolayev
197.3 km2
(76.2 sq mi)		 92,000

Principal cities

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From the Russian Census of 1897
Cathedral dedicated to Saint Catherine (Russian: Свято-Екаерининский Собор) in Kherson that was the governorate's seat at the tim
  • Odessa – 403,815 (Russian – 198,233, Jewish – 124,511, Ukrainian – 37,925)
  • Nikolayev – 92,012 (Russian – 61,023, Jewish – 17,949, Ukrainian – 7,780)
  • Yelizavetgrad – 61,488 (Jewish – 23,256, Russian – 21,301, Ukrainian – 14,523)
  • Kherson – 59,076 (Russian – 27,902, Jewish – 17,162, Ukrainian – 11,591)
  • Tiraspol – 31,616 (Russian – 14,013, Jewish – 8,568, Ukrainian – 3,708)
  • Ananiv – 16,684 (Ukrainian – 7,205, Romanian – 4,174, Jewish – 3,514)
  • Voznesensk – 15,748 (Jewish – 5,879, Ukrainian – 5,644, Russian – 2,583)
  • Bobrinets – 14,281 (Ukrainian – 9,529, Jewish – 3,464, Russian – 837)
  • Aleksandriya – 14,007 (Ukrainian – 7,658, Jewish – 3,687, Russian – 2,364)
  • Beryslav – 12,149 (Ukrainian – 8,852, Jewish – 2,639, Russian – 524)
  • Dubossary – 12,089 (Jewish – 5,326, Romanian – 3,383, Ukrainian – 2,841)
  • Novogeorgiyevsk – 11,863 (Russian – 6,631, Ukrainian – 3,372, Jewish – 1,424)
  • Ochakov – 10,786 (Ukrainian – 5,204, Russian – 3,508, Jewish – 1,430)
  • Novomirgorod – 9,364 (Russian – 7,025, Jewish – 1,617, Ukrainian – 572)
  • Grigoriopol – 7,605 (Romanian – 3,740, Russian – 1,832, Jewish – 832)
  • Olviopol – 6,884 (Ukrainian – 5,022, Jewish – 1,480, Russian – 271)
  • Ovidiopol – 5,187 (Ukrainian – 2,785, Russian – 1,997, Jewish – 387)
  • Maiaky – 4,575 (Russian – 2,865, Ukrainian – 944, Jewish – 644)

Demographics

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Until 1858, a third of the population (military settlers, admiralty settlements, foreign colonists, etc.) was subject to martial law. The gubernia had a population of about 245,000 in 1812; 893,000 in 1851; 1,330,000 in 1863; 2,027,000 in 1885; 2,733,600 in 1897; and 3,744,600 in 1914. In the 1850s it consisted of Ukrainians (68–75 %), Romanians (8–11 %), Russians (3–7 %), Jews (6 %), Germans (4 %), Bulgarians (2 %), Poles, Greeks, and Gypsies. In 1914, Ukrainians composed only 53% of the population, while Russians made up 22% and Jews – 12%. Urban dwellers made up 10 to 20 percent of the population until the 1850s, after which the proportion of urban dwellers increased, to about 30% in 1897. Migration within the Russian Empire mainly accounted for the area's population growth, with 46% of the population born outside of the governorate in 1897.

See also: Jewish agricultural colonies in the Russian Empire

Russian Empire Census

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According to the Russian Empire Census on 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897, the Kherson Governorate had a population of 2,733,612, including 1,400,981 men and 1,332,631 women. The majority of the population indicated Little Russian[c] to be their mother tongue, with significant Russian, Jewish, Romanian, and German speaking minorities.[1]

Linguistic composition of the Kherson Governorate in 1897[1]
Language Native speakers Percentage
Little Russian[c] 1,462,039 53.48
Great Russian[c] 575,375 21.05
Jewish 322,537 11.80
Romanian 147,218 5.39
German 123,453 4.52
Polish 30,894 1.13
Bulgarian 25,685 0.94
White Russian[c] 22,958 0.84
Greek 8,257 0.30
Tatar 3,152 0.12
Armenian 2,070 0.08
Roma 1,671 0.06
French 1,353 0.05
Czech 1,351 0.05
Italian 834 0.03
Swedish 662 0.02
Latvian 619 0.02
Turkish 508 0.02
Lithuanian 478 0.01
English 475 0.01
Estonian 303 0.01
Georgian 201 0.01
Mordavian 170 0.01
Other languages 919 0.03
TOTAL 2,733,612 100.00
Religious composition of the Kherson Governorate in 1897[4]
Faith Male Female Both
Number Percentage
Eastern Orthodox 1,123,860 1,067,219 2,191,079 80.15
Judaism 168,425 171,485 339,910 12.43
Roman Catholic 53,140 42,087 95,227 3.48
Lutheran 29,229 27,328 56,557 2.07
Old Believer 13,923 14,131 28,054 1.03
Baptist 2,719 2,696 5,415 0.20
Mennonite 2,734 2,652 5,386 0.20
Reformed 2,507 2,503 5,010 0.18
Muslim 1,964 403 2,367 0.09
Armenian Apostolic 1,307 905 2,212 0.08
Karaite 954 1,054 2,008 0.07
Anglican 80 83 163 0.01
Armenian Catholic 59 19 78 0.00
Buddhist 13 11 24 0.00
Other Christian denomination 64 55 119 0.00
Other non-Christian denomination 3 0 3 0.00
Total 1,400,981 1,332,631 2,733,612 100.00

Notes

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  1. ^
    • Russian: Херсо́нская губе́рния, pre-1918: Херсо́нская губе́рнія, romanized: Khersónskaya gubérniya
    • Ukrainian: Херсо́нська губе́рнія, romanized: Khersónsʼka hubérniia
  2. ^
    • Russian: Никола́евская губе́рнія, romanized: Nikoláyevskaya gubérniya
    • Ukrainian: Микола́ївська губе́рнія, romanized: Mykoláïvsʼka hubérniia
  3. ^ a b c d Prior to 1918, the Imperial Russian Government classified Russians as the Great Russians, Ukrainians as the Little Russians, and Belarusians as the White Russians. After the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918, the Little Russians identified themselves as "Ukrainian".[2] Also, the Belarusian Democratic Republic which the White Russians identified themselves as "Belarusian".[3]

References and notes

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  1. ^ a b "Demoscope Weekly – Annex. Statistical indicators reference". www.demoscape.ru. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  2. ^ Hamm, Michael F. (2014). Kiev: A Portrait, 1800–1917. Princeton University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-4008-5151-5.
  3. ^ Fortson IV, Benjamin W. (2011). Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. p. 429. ISBN 978-1-4443-5968-8.
  4. ^ "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-06-30.
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46°38′00″N 32°36′00″E / 46.6333°N 32.6000°E / 46.6333; 32.6000

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