Kherson Governorate

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Kherson Governorate

Херсонская губерния

Херсонська губернія

A historic map by cartographer Yuly Shokalsky.
Capital city	Nikolayev (1802-1803) Kherson (1803-1922)
Area	70,600 km² (1920)
Population (1914) - Density	3,744,600 p/km²
Uyezds	5 (1809-1825) 6 (1825-1828) 7 (1828-1865) 6 (1897)
Major towns	Kherson, Nikolayev, Odessa
Nationalities (1914) - Ukrainians - Russians - Jews - Other	53% 22% 12% 13%
Dates of existence	1802 to 1922

Cathedral dedicated to Saint Catherine (Russian: Свято-Екаерининский Собор) in Kherson the governorates capital at the time.

The Kherson Governorate (Russian: Херсонская губерния, translit.: Khersonskaya guberniya; Ukrainian: Херсонська губернія, translit.: Khersons`ka huberniya) was an administrative territorial unit in the Southern Ukrainian region, between the Dnieper and Dniester Rivers, of the Russian Empire. It was one of three governorates created in 1802 when the Novorossiya guberniya was abolished. It was known as the Nikolayev Governorate until 1803, when Kherson replaced Nikolayev (Mykolaiv) as the governorate's capital.

The economy of the governorate was mainly based on agriculture. During the grain harvest, thousands of agricultural laborers from the other Ukrainian governorates 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.

[edit] Administrative divisions

From 1809, the governorate consisted of five uyezds: Kherson, Aleksandriya (Oleksandriia), Ovidiopol, Tiraspol, and Yelisavetgrad (Kirovohrad). In 1825, The Odessa uyezd was added into the territorial division of the Kherson Governorate. A seventh uyezd — Bobrynets, existed from 1828 to 1865. The cities of Odessa (Odesa) and Nikolayev (in 1803–1861) and their surronding vicinity were governed separately: Odessa by a gradonachalnik 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 Soviet rule, the governorates territory, 70,600 km², was divided to form the newer Odessa Governorate. The Kherson Governorate was renamed Nikolayev 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 okrugs: Kherson, Krivoy Rog (Kryvyi Rih), Nikolayev, Odessa, Pervomayske (Pershomaiske), and Zinoviivske. In 1932, much of this territory was incorporated into the new Odessa Oblast, now an administrative division of the modern Ukrainian nation, which was divided to form the Mykolaiv Oblast.

[edit] Demographics

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 %), Serbs, Greeks, and Gypsies. In 1914, Ukrainians composed only 53 % of the population, while Russians made up 22 % and Jews - 12 %. Urban dwellers made up 10–20 % of the population until the 1850s, from where the total number of urban dwellers increased, to about 30 % in 1897. Migration within the Russian Empire mainly accounted for the area's population growth, which is noted by 46 % of the population being born outside of the governorate in 1897.