Kherson Governorate

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coat of arms
Map from 1821 (Russian-French)

The Kherson Governorate ( Russian Херсонская губерния / Chersonskaja gubernija ) was an administrative unit in the southwestern part of the Russian Empire on the Black Sea between the mouths of the Dnestr and Dnieper . Today this area is mostly part of Ukraine , a smaller part today forms the Republic of Transnistria ( Moldova ).

It bordered (clockwise from the north) with Poltava , Yekaterinoslav , Tauria , Bessarabia , Podolia and Kiev .

It had an area of ​​71.284 km², the capital was Kherson .

The governorate was divided into six Ujesdy (districts):

The cities of Odessa and Nikolayev (Ukrainian Mykolaiv ) had a special status.

The governorate was founded in 1802 in the colonization area of New Russia . The capital was originally in Nikolaev and the area was called Nikolayev Governorate . After the capital was relocated in 1803, it was renamed accordingly. In 1920 it was divided into several governorates.

statistics

In 1897 the governorate had 2,733,612 inhabitants. Due to its history as a colonization area, the ethnic composition of the governorate was particularly colorful. Of the population, 1,462,039 were Minor Russians (Ukrainians), 575,375 Russians, 322,537 Jews , 147,218 Romanians or Moldovans, 123,453 Germans , 30,894 Poles, 25,685 Bulgarians, 22,958 Belarusians and, to a lesser extent, Greeks, Armenians and Tatars.

The main line of business was agriculture; 49% of the total area came from arable land, 45.1% from meadows and pastures, only 1.9% from forests and 4% from unproductive land. All types of grain were grown, especially wheat, maize, millet, also sugar beets (1901: 197,420 tons) and tobacco (approx. 20,000 poods annually ). The garden culture was important. There were peach, apricot, cherry, plum and mulberry trees on fruit trees, and a lot of vines were grown. Livestock was very considerable; in 1891 there were 493,000 horses, 794,000 cattle, 1,324,000 sheep and 254,000 pigs. Especially in relation to grafted sheep, the government was the nursery school for the Russian Empire. The fishing in the Black Sea and Limanen, as well as in the country's great rivers, was quite significant (around 10 million herrings alone). Some of the minerals were iron (1897: 446,238 quintals), salt (481,373 quintals) and kaolin (24,404 quintals). Industry advanced rapidly in the country, favored by the proximity of the sea, good waterways, and railways, but was limited to the Odessa and Nikolayev. Outside the cities, commercial activity was concentrated on distilling spirits, flour production and sugar-boiling. The trade was important. Great deals were made especially in wool, hides, grain, flour, and cattle.

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