Yekaterinoslav Governorate

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:

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 – 112,839 (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.

Religion

By the Imperial census of 1897.

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.