Kherson Governorate

The Kherson Governorate,[lower-alpha 1] known until 1803 as the Nikolaev Governorate,[lower-alpha 2] was a province (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with its centеr in Kherson. The governorate encompassed 71,936 square kilometres (27,775 sq mi) in area and had a population of 2,733,612 inhabitants. At the time of the census in 1897, it bordered the Podolia Governorate to the northwest, the Kiev Governorate to the north, the Poltava Governorate to the northeast, the Yekaterinoslav Governorate to the east, the Taurida Governorate to the southeast, the Black Sea to the south, and the Bessarabia Governorate to the west. It roughly corresponds to what is now most of Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad and Odesa Oblasts and some parts of Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts.

Kherson Governorate
Херсонская губернія
Governorate
Coat of arms of Kherson Governorate
Coat of arms
Location in the Russian Empire
Location in the Russian Empire
CountryRussian Empire
Established1803
Abolished1920
CapitalKherson
Area
 • Total71,936 km2 (27,775 sq mi)
Population
 (1897)
 • Total2,733,612
 • Density38/km2 (98/sq mi)
 • Urban
28.86%
 • Rural
71.14%
Cathedral dedicated to Saint Catherine (Russian: Свято-Екаерининский Собор) in Kherson that was the governorate's seat at the time.

The economy of the governorate was mainly based on agriculture. During the grain harvest, thousands of agricultural laborers from the parts of the Empire 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.

Administrative divisions

The governorate bordered Bessarabia Governorate to the west, with Kyiv and Poltava Governorates to the north, to the east could be found Yekaterinoslav Governorate, and in the southward direction was located Taurida Governorate.

From 1809, the governorate consisted of five uyezds: Khersonsky Uyezd, Aleksandriysky Uyezd, Ovidiopol, Tiraspolsky Uyezd, and Yelisavetgradsky Uyezd. The city of Odesa carried a special status. In 1825, Odessky Uyezd and in 1834, Ananyevsky Uyezd were added into the territorial division of the Kherson Governorate. A seventh uyezd – Bobrynets, existed from 1828 to 1865. The cities of Odesa and Mykolaiv (in 1803–1861) and their surrounding vicinity were governed separately: Odessa by a gradonachalnik (Russian: градоначальник), 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 the Bolshevik rule, the governorate's territory, 70,600 km2 (27,259 sq mi), was divided to form the newer Odessa Governorate. The Kherson Governorate was renamed Mykolaiv 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 okruhas: Kherson, Kryvyi Rih, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Pershotravneve, and Zinoviivske. In 1932, much of this territory was incorporated into the new Odesa Oblast, now an administrative division of the modern Ukrainian nation, which was divided to form the Mykolaiv Oblast.

CountyCapitalArms of capitalAreaPopulation
(1897 census)
Transliteration nameRussian Cyrillic
AleksandriyskyАлександрійскійAleksandriya
11,165 km2
(4,311 sq mi)		327,199
AnanyevskyАнаньевскійAnanev
10,289.2 km2
(3,972.7 sq mi)		187,226
YelisavetgradskyЕлисаветградскійYelisavetgrad
15,866.8 km2
(6,126.2 sq mi)		507,660
OdesskyОдесскійOdessa
10,552.1 km2
(4,074.2 sq mi)		532,729
TiraspolskyТираспольскійTiraspol
7,228.9 km2
(2,791.1 sq mi)		206,568
KhersonskyХерсонскійKherson
19,553 km2
(7,549 sq mi)		532,956
Nikolaev War GovernorateНиколаевское воѣнное губернаторствоNikolaev
197.3 km2
(76.2 sq mi)		92,000

Principal cities
From the Russian Census of 1897
  • Odessa – 403,815 (Russian – 198,233, Jewish – 124,511, Ukrainian – 37,925)
  • Nikolayev – 92,012 (Russian – 61,023, Jewish – 17,949, Ukrainian – 7,780)
  • Yelizavetgrad – 61,488 (Jewish – 23,256, Russian – 21,301, Ukrainian – 14,523)
  • Kherson – 59,076 (Russian – 27,902, Jewish – 17,162, Ukrainian – 11,591)
  • Tiraspol – 31,616 (Russian – 14,013, Jewish – 8,568, Ukrainian – 3,708)
  • Ananiv – 16,684 (Ukrainian – 7,205, Romanian – 4,174, Jewish – 3,514)
  • Voznesensk – 15,748 (Jewish – 5,879, Ukrainian – 5,644, Russian – 2,583)
  • Bobrinets – 14,281 (Ukrainian – 9,529, Jewish – 3,464, Russian – 837)
  • Aleksandriya – 14,007 (Ukrainian – 7,658, Jewish – 3,687, Russian – 2,364)
  • Beryslav – 12,149 (Ukrainian – 8,852, Jewish – 2,639, Russian – 524)
  • Dubossary – 12,089 (Jewish – 5,326, Romanian – 3,383, Ukrainian – 2,841)
  • Novogeorgiyevsk – 11,594 (Russian – 6,631, Ukrainian – 3,372, Jewish – 1,424)
  • Ochakov – 10,786 (Ukrainian – 5,204, Russian – 3,508, Jewish – 1,430)
  • Novomirgorod – 9,364 (Russian – 7,025, Jewish – 1,617, Ukrainian – 572)
  • Grigoriopol – 7,605 (Romanian – 3,740, Russian – 1,832, Jewish – 832)
  • Olviopol – 6,884 (Ukrainian – 5,022, Jewish – 1,480, Russian – 271)
  • Ovidiopol – 5,187 (Ukrainian – 2,785, Russian – 1,997, Jewish – 387)
  • Mayaky – 4,575 (Russian – 2,865, Ukrainian – 944, Jewish – 644)

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 %), Poles, 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 to 20 percent of the population until the 1850s, after which the proportion of urban dwellers increased, to about 30% in 1897. Migration within the Russian Empire mainly accounted for the area's population growth, with 46% of the population born outside of the governorate in 1897.

See also: Jewish agricultural colonies in the Russian Empire

Russian Empire Census

According to the Russian Empire Census on 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897, the Kherson Governorate had a population of 2,733,612, including 1,400,981 men and 1,332,631 women. The majority of the population indicated Little Russian[lower-alpha 3] to be their mother tongue, with significant Russian, Jewish, Romanian, and German speaking minorities.[1]

Linguistic composition of the Kherson Governorate in 1897[1]
LanguageNative speakersPercentage
Little Russian[lower-alpha 3]1,462,03953.48
Great Russian[lower-alpha 3]575,37521.05
Jewish322,53711.80
Romanian147,2185.39
German123,4534.52
Polish30,8941.13
Bulgarian25,6850.94
White Russian[lower-alpha 3]22,9580.84
Greek8,2570.30
Tatar3,1520.12
Armenian2,0700.08
Roma1,6710.06
French1,3530.05
Czech1,3510.05
Italian8340.03
Swedish6620.02
Latvian6190.02
Turkish5080.02
Lithuanian4780.01
English4750.01
Estonian3030.01
Georgian2010.01
Mordavian1700.01
Other languages9190.03
TOTAL2,733,612100.00
Religious composition of the Kherson Governorate in 1897[4]
FaithMaleFemaleBoth
NumberPercentage
Eastern Orthodox1,123,8601,067,2192,191,07980.15
Judaism168,425171,485339,91012.43
Roman Catholic53,14042,08795,2273.48
Lutheran29,22927,32856,5572.07
Old Believer13,92314,13128,0541.03
Baptist2,7192,6965,4150.20
Mennonite2,7342,6525,3860.20
Reformed2,5072,5035,0100.18
Muslim1,9644032,3670.09
Armenian Apostolic1,3079052,2120.08
Karaite9541,0542,0080.07
Anglican80831630.01
Armenian Catholic5919780.00
Buddhist1311240.00
Other Christian denomination64551190.00
Other non-Christian denomination3030.00
Total1,400,9811,332,6312,733,612100.00

Notes
    • Russian: Херсо́нская губе́рнія, romanized: Khersónskaya gubérniya
    • Ukrainian: Херсо́нська губе́рнія, romanized: Khersónsʼka hubérniia
    • Russian: Никола́евская губе́рнія, romanized: Nikoláyevskaya gubérniya
    • Ukrainian: Микола́ївська губе́рнія, romanized: Mykoláïvsʼka hubérniia
  3. Prior to 1918, the Imperial Russian Government classified Russians as the Great Russians, Ukrainians as the Little Russians, and Belarusians as the White Russians. After the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918, the Little Russians identified themselves as "Ukrainian".[2] Also, the Belarusian Democratic Republic which the White Russians identified themselves as "Belarusian".[3]

References and notes
  1. "Demoscope Weekly – Annex. Statistical indicators reference". www.demoscape.ru. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  2. Hamm, Michael F. (2014). Kiev: A Portrait, 1800–1917. Princeton University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-4008-5151-5.
  3. Fortson IV, Benjamin W. (2011). Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. p. 429. ISBN 978-1-4443-5968-8.
  4. "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2022-06-30.

46.6333°N 32.6000°E / 46.6333; 32.6000

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