Chernihiv Governorate

Chernihiv Governorate (Ukrainian: Чернігівська губернія, romanized: Chernihivska huberniia) was an administrative territorial subdivision of the Ukrainian State and the Ukrainian SSR, existing from 1918 to 1925. It was inherited from the Russian system of territorial subdivisions that existed prior to World War I. Specifically, the Chernigov Governorate (Russian: Черниговская губерния; translit.: Chernigovskaya guberniya; Ukrainian: Чернігівська губернія, romanized: Chernihivska huberniia), also known as the Government of Chernigov, was a guberniya in the historical Left-bank Ukraine region of the Russian Empire, which was officially created in 1802 from the Malorossiya Governorate with an administrative centre of Chernihiv. The Little Russian Governorate was transformed into the General Government of Little Russia and consisted of Chernigov Governorate, Poltava Governorate, and later Kharkov Governorate.

Chernihiv Governorate
Чернігівська губернія
Governorate of Ukrainian State and Ukrainian SSR
1918–1925

  Chernihiv Governorate
CapitalChernihiv
Area 
• (1897)
52,396 km2 (20,230 sq mi)
Population 
• (1897)
2298000
History
History 
• Established
27 February 1918
• Disestablished
1 August 1925
Political subdivisionscounties: 18 (1918–1919)
11 (1919–1923)
okruhas: 5 (1923–1925)
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Chernigov Governorate
Mogilev Governorate
Kursk Governorate
Hlukhiv Okruha
Konotop Okruha
Nizhyn Okruha
Chernihiv Okruha
Today part ofChernihiv Oblast
Kyiv Oblast
Bryansk Oblast
Kursk Oblast
Gomel Region
Chernigov Governorate
Черниговская губернія
Governorate of Russian Empire (1802–1917), and Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1918)
1802–1918
Coat of arms of Chernigov
Coat of arms

Chernigov Governorate within the Russian Empire
CapitalChernigov (Chernihiv)
Area 
• (1897)
52,396 km2 (20,230 sq mi)
Population 
• (1897)
2298000
History
History 
• Established
27 February 1802
• Disestablished
1 August 1918
Political subdivisionsuezds: 15
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802)
Chernihiv Governorate
Today part ofChernihiv Oblast
Kyiv Oblast
Bryansk Oblast
Chernigov Governorate map

Chernigov Governorate borders are roughly consistent with the modern Chernihiv Oblast, but also included a large section of Sumy Oblast and smaller sections of the Kyiv Oblast of Ukraine, in addition to most of the Bryansk Oblast, Russia.

Administrative division

When part of the Russian Empire, the governorate consisted of 15 uyezds (their administrative centres in brackets):

The Chernigov Governorate covered a total area of 52,396 km², and had a population of 2,298,000, according to the 1897 Russian Empire census. In 1914, the population was 2,340,000. In 1918 it became part of Ukraine and transformed into Chernihiv Governorate.

As part of the Ukrainian State and the Ukrainian SSR, the governorate consisted of 18 counties (povits):

  • Borzna County
  • Hlukhiv County
  • Horodnya County
  • Homel County (added from the Mogilev Governorate)
  • Kozelets County
  • Konotop County
  • Krolevets County
  • Nizhin County
  • Novhorod-Siversky County
  • Oster County
  • Putyvl County (added from the Kursk Governorate)
  • Rylsk County (added from the Kursk Governorate)
  • Sosnytsia County
  • Chernihiv County
  • Mhlyn County
  • Novozybkiv County
  • Starodub County
  • Surazh County

In 1919, the northern Mhlyn, Novozybkiv, Starodub, and Surazh counties, with their mixed Ukrainian–Belarusian–Russian population, were transferred from Ukraine to the newly established Gomel Governorate of the Russian republic.[2]

In 1925, the governorate’s territory was redistributed among Hlukhiv, Konotop, Nizhyn, and Chernihiv districts (okruhas).[2]

Principal cities

At the times of the Russian Census of 1897:

  • Nezhin – 32,113 (Ukrainian – 21,733, Jewish – 7,578, Russian – 2,366)
  • Chernigov – 27,716 (Ukrainian – 10,085, Jewish – 8,780, Russian – 7,985)
  • Konotop – 18,770 (Ukrainian – 10,290, Jewish – 4,415, Russian – 3,565)
  • Novozybkov – 15,362 (Russian – 11,055, Jewish – 3,787, Belarusian – 303)
  • Hlukhiv – 14,828 (Ukrainian – 8,621, Jewish – 3,837, Russian – 2,217)
  • Borzna – 12,526 (Ukrainian – 10,846, Jewish – 1,515, Russian – 109)
  • Starodub – 12,381 (Russian – 7,255, Jewish – 4,897, Ukrainian – 133)
  • Krolevets – 10,384 (Ukrainian – 8,328, Jewish – 1,815, Russian – 209)
  • Berezna – 9,922 (Ukrainian – 8,349, Jewish – 1,354, Russian – 144)
  • Novgorod-Seversky – 9,182 (Ukrainian – 4,884, Jewish – 2,941, Russian – 1,296)
  • Mglin – 7,640 (Russian – 4,840, Jewish – 2,675, Belarusian – 75)
  • Sosnytsia – 7,087 (Ukrainian – 5,068, Jewish – 1,840, Russian – 158)
  • Korop – 6,262 (Ukrainian – 5,309, Jewish – 865, Russian – 77)
  • Oster – 5,370 (Ukrainian – 3,229, Jewish – 1,596, Russian – 399)
  • Kozelets – 5,141 (Ukrainian – 2,834, Jewish – 1,632, Russian – 468)
  • Pogar – 4,965 (Russian – 3,800, Jewish – 1,159, Germans – 6)
  • Gorodnya – 4,310 (Ukrainian – 2,349, Jewish – 1,248, Russian – 604)
  • Surazh – 4,006 (Jewish – 2,400, Belarusian – 978, Russian – 559)
  • Novoye Mesto – 1,488 (Russian – 1,421, Jewish – 67)

Language
Imperial census of 1897.

At the time of the Imperial census of 1897.[3] In bold are languages spoken by more people than the state language.

Language Number percentage (%) males females
Ukrainian 1,526,072 66.41 747,721 778,351
Russian 495,963 21.58 236,842 259,121
Belarusian 151,465 6.59 73,691 77,774
Yiddish 113,787 4.95 54,724 59,063
German 5,306 0.23 2,664 2,642
Polish 3,302 0.14 1,775 1,527
Persons
that didn't name
their native language 		74 >0.01 32 42
Other[4] 1,885 >0.01 1,247 638
Total 2,297,854 100 1,118,696 1,179,158

Notable people

See also

References
  1. Генеральная карта Черниговской губерніи Съ показаніемъ почтовыхъ и большихъ проъзжихъ дорогъ, станціи и разстоянія между оными верстъ – Ст. Петербургъ, 1829. (in Russian) (Page title read as: "General map of the Chernihiv province. St. Petersburg, 1829.")
  2. "Chernihiv gubernia". www.encyclopediaofukraine.com. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  3. Language Statistics of 1897 Archived 22 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine (in Russian)
  4. Languages, number of speakers which in all gubernia were less than 1000

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