Volhynia Governorate, also known as Volyn Governorate, was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire, established in the historical region of Volhynia. It consisted of an area of 71,736 square kilometres (27,697 mi2) and a population of 2,989,482 inhabitants. The governorate bordered Grodno and Minsk Governorates to the north, Kiev Governorate to the east, Podolia Governorate to the south, Lublin and Siedlce Governorates, and after 1912, Kholm Governorate and Austria to the west. Its capital was in Novograd-Volynsky until 1804, and then Zhitomir. It corresponded to most of modern-day Volyn, Rivne and Zhytomyr Oblasts of Ukraine and some parts of Brest and Gomel Regions of Belarus.
It was created at the end of 1796 after the Third Partition of Poland from the territory of the short-lived Volhynian Vice-royalty and Wołyń Voivodeship. After the Peace of Riga, part of the governorate became the new Wołyń Voivodeship in the Second Polish Republic, while the other part stayed as a part of the Ukrainian SSR until 1925 when it was abolished on resolution of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee and Counsel of People's Commissars.
Contents
History
Until 1796, the guberniya was administered as a Viceroyalty (namestnichestvo). It was initially centred in Zaslav and was called the Zaslav Viceroyalty. It was primarily created from the Kyiv Voivodeship and in 1795 Volhynian Voivodeship whit boder lands of Ruthenian Voivodeship.
On 24 October 1795, the Third Partition of Poland was imposed by Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire.
Then, on 12 December 1796, Volhynia Governorate was established, encompassing the remaining territory of the Wolyn Voivodeship and the Kyiv Voivodeship.
In 1796, the administration moved to Novograd-Volynsky. However, due to the lack of suitable buildings for administrative purposes, the capital was moved once again to Zhitomir (Zhytomyr).
In 1802, Zhitomir was purchased the properties of Prince Ilyinsky, and in 1804, it officially became the seat of Volhynia Governorate.
From 1832 to 1915, Volhynia Governorate, along with Kiev Governorate and Podolia Governorate, formed part of the Southwestern Krai General-Governorate–a militarized administrative-territorial unit.
In the 1880s, the general-governorate was extended to include other governorates.
In 1897, the population of the guberniya was 2,989,482 and by 1905, it had grown to 3,920,400. The majority of the population in the governorate spoke the Ukrainian language with slight variety of dialects.
Under the Russian Provisional Government administrative power in the governorates was transferred to commissars, who preserved their positions after the proclamation of Ukrainian People's Republic in November 1917. Their power was mostly nominal due to the growth of Bolshevik Soviet influence, especially in industrial areas. During that time Andrii Vyazlov served as the gubernial commissar of Volhynia.
Heads of Guberniya
Revkom
1919 Mikhail Kruchinskiy (concurrently the head of Volyn Cheka)
Volyn Executive Committee
1920 Oleksandr Shumsky
1920 Vasiliy Averin
– 1921 Danylevych
1921–1922 Ivan Nikolayenko
Head of Security Services
Cheka
1919 Vasyl Viliavko
1919 M.Shuf
1919 Mikhail Kruchinskiy
November 1919 – December 1919 Vsevolod Balytsky
December 1919 Vasyl Levotsky (acting)
– 2 November 1921 Semen Kesselman (Zapadny)
January 1922 – 2 June 1922 Janis Biksons
GPU
-1923 Pavel Ivonin
March 1923 – October 1923 Foma Leoniuk
1 July 1923 – 1 September 1924 Symon Dukelsky
1924 – 1925 Aleksandr Safes (Grozny)
Principal cities
Russian Census of 1897
Zhytomir – 65 895 (Jewish – 30 572, Russian – 16 944, Ukrainian – 9 152)
Rovno – 24 573 (Jewish – 13 704, Russian – 4 278, Ukrainian – 4 071)
Kremenets – 17 704 (Ukrainian – 8 322, Jewish – 6 476, Russian – 1 863)
Kovel – 17 697 (Jewish – 8 502, Russian – 4 828, Ukrainian – 2 093)
Novograd-Volynsky – 16 904 (Jewish – 9 363, Russian – 2 939, Ukrainian – 2 662)
Starokonstantinov – 16 377 (Jewish – 9 164, Ukrainian – 4 886, Russian – 1 402)
Lutsk – 15 804 (Jewish – 9 396, Russian – 2 830, Ukrainian – 1 478)
Ostrog – 14 749 (Jewish – 9 185, Ukrainian – 2 446, Russian – 2 199)
Dubno – 14 257 (Jewish – 7 096, Russian – 2 962, Ukrainian – 2 474)
Zaslavl – 12 611 (Jewish – 5 991, Ukrainian – 3 990, Russian – 1 722)
Demographics
Language
According to the Russian Empire Census on 28 January [O.S. 1897] 15 January, the Volhynian Governorate had a population of 2,982,482, including 1,502,803 men and 1,486,679 women. The majority of the population indicated Ukrainian to be their mother tongue, with significant Jewish, Polish, German, and Russian speaking minorities.
Religion
By the Imperial census of 1897. In bold are religions with more members than the Eastern Orthodox.