| Poltava Governorate Полтавская губерния | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governorate of theRussian Empire (1802–1917) andUkrainian successor states (1917–25) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1802–1925 | |||||||||||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||||||||||
.png) Poltava Governorate in 1913 | |||||||||||||||||
.svg) Location in the Russian Empire | |||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Poltava | ||||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||||
• (1897) | 49,894 km2 (19,264 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||
• (1897) | 2,778,151 | ||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||
• Established | 1802 | ||||||||||||||||
• Abolished | 1925 | ||||||||||||||||
| Political subdivisions | 15uezds (1802–1923) 7okruhas (1923–25) | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Today part of | Poltava Oblast Kharkiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast Sumy Oblast | ||||||||||||||||
Poltava Governorate[a] was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of theRussian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbandedLittle Russia Governorate and had its capital inPoltava.
Its borders encompassed the modernPoltava Oblast ofUkraine, in addition toBerestyn,Pereiaslav,Romny andZolotonosha.
It was bordering theChernigov andKursk Governorates to thenorth,Kiev Governorate to thewest,Kharkov Governorate to theeast and theKherson andYekaterinoslav Governorates to thesouth.
In 1802, theLittle Russia Governorate was disbanded and its territory split between the newChernigov and Poltava Governorates.
The governorate was part of theUkrainian People's Republic from 1917 to 1920, interrupted in 1918 by theUkrainian State.
After the formation of theUkrainian SSR, the territory was wholly included into the new Soviet Republic. Initially the governorate system was retained – although variations included theKremenchug Governorate [uk] which was temporarily formed on its territory (August 1920 – December 1922), and the passing of thePereyaslavsky Uyezd to theKiev Governorate.However, on June 3, 1925, the governorate was liquidated and succeeded by fiveokruhas (which already were its subdivisions as of March 7, 1923): Kremenchutsky, Lubensky, Poltavsky, Prylutsky and Romensky (the remaining two okrugs existed within the governate, Zolotonoshsky and Krasnohradsky, were also liquidated).
The governorate had a population of 2,778,151 according to the1897 Russian Empire census.[1] Most people (90.13%) lived on the countryside, while a tenth (9.87%) lived in towns and cities.[2][3] In 1914, the population had increased to 2,794,727.[citation needed]
According to the1897 census, nine settlements had more than 10,000 people.
Inbold are cities with a population of over 50,000.
By the 1897 census,[4]Ukrainian was by far the most native spoken language in the governorate, followed byYiddish andRussian.
| Language | Number | percentage (%) | males | females |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ukrainian | 2,583,133 | 92.98 | 1,276,578 | 1,306,555 |
| Yiddish | 110,352 | 3.97 | 53,860 | 56,492 |
| Russian | 72,941 | 2.63 | 38,851 | 34,090 |
| German | 4,579 | 0.16 | 2,257 | 2,322 |
| Polish | 3,891 | 0.14 | 2,782 | 1,109 |
| Belarusian | 1,344 | 0.05 | 823 | 521 |
| Persons that did not identify their native language | 92 | <0.01 | 65 | 27 |
| Other[b] | 1,819 | 0.07 | 1,323 | 496 |
Inbold are native languages spoken by more people than the state language.
By the 1897 census,[5] the majority religion in the governorate and virtually the state religion wasEastern Orthodox Christianity with some of the population followingJudaism. Other religions were much less common.
| Religion | Number | percentage (%) | males | females |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Orthodoxy | 2,654,645 | 95.55 | 1,314,851 | 1,339,794 |
| Judaism | 110,944 | 3.99 | 54,073 | 56,871 |
| Other[c](Roman Catholicism,Lutheranism,Old Believers) | 12,562 | 0.45 | 7,615 | 4,947 |
The governorate was divided into 15uezds (povits in Ukrainian):
| Uezd | Administrative seat | Area | Population (1897 census) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Transliteration (Cyrillic) | Coat of arms | Transliteration (Cyrillic) | ||
| Gadyachsky (Гадячский) | _(1782).png) | Gadyach (Гадячъ) | 2,460.9 km2 (950.2 sq mi) | 142,806 |
| Zenkovsky (Зеньковский) | _(1782).gif) | Zenkov (Зеньковъ) | 2,250.5 km2 (868.9 sq mi) | 140,304 |
| Zolotonoshsky (Золотоношский) | _(1782).gif) | Zolotonosha (Золотоноша) | 4,425.5 km2 (1,708.7 sq mi) | 227,594 |
| Kobelyaksky (Кобелякский) | _(1842).gif) | Kobeliaki (Кобеляки) | 3,672.8 km2 (1,418.1 sq mi) | 217,875 |
| Konstantinogradsky (Константиноградский) | _(1842).gif) | Konstantinograd (Константиноградъ) | 6,079.2 km2 (2,347.2 sq mi) | 230,310 |
| Kremenchugsky (Кременчугский) | _(1798).gif) | Kremenchug (Кременчугъ) | 3,429.2 km2 (1,324.0 sq mi) | 244,894 |
| Lokhvitsky (Лохвицкий) | _(1782).gif) | Lokhvitsa (Лохвица) | 2,640.9 km2 (1,019.6 sq mi) | 150,985 |
| Lubensky (Лубенский) | _(1782).gif) | Lubny (Лубны) | 2,344.0 km2 (905.0 sq mi) | 136,613 |
| Mirgorodsky (Миргородский) | _(1782).gif) | Mirgorod (Миргородъ) | 2,659.3 km2 (1,026.8 sq mi) | 157,790 |
| Pereyaslavsky (Переяславский) | _(1782).png) | Pereyaslav (Переяславъ) | 4,091.6 km2 (1,579.8 sq mi) | 185,306 |
| Piryatinsky (Пирятинский) | _(1782).png) | Piryatin (Пирятинъ) | 3,268.1 km2 (1,261.8 sq mi) | 163,505 |
| Poltavsky (Полтавский) | _(1803).gif) | Poltava (Полтава) | 3,389.0 km2 (1,308.5 sq mi) | 227,795 |
| Priluksky (Прилукский) | _(1782).gif) | Priluki (Прилуки) | 3,274.7 km2 (1,264.4 sq mi) | 192,502 |
| Romensky (Роменский) | _(1782).gif) | Romny (Ромны) | 2,600.7 km2 (1,004.1 sq mi) | 186,497 |
| Khorolsky (Хорольский) | _(1782).png) | Khorol (Хороль) | 3,311.0 km2 (1,278.4 sq mi) | 173,375 |
49°34′28″N34°34′07″E / 49.5744°N 34.5686°E /49.5744; 34.5686
