Saratov Governorate
The Saratov Governorate ( Russian Саратовская губерния / Saratowskaja gubernija ) was between 1780 (or 1782 or 1797) and 1928 a governorate in the Russian Empire and the Russian Federal Soviet Socialist Republic . It bordered the following governorates (clockwise from the north): Simbirsk , Samara , Astrakhan , the Don Cossack Oblast , Voronezh , Tambov and Penza .
The capital was the city of Saratov . It covered an area of 84,492 km². In 1914 the following districts ( Ujesde ) belonged to the Saratov Governorate:
In 1897 the governorate had 2,405,809 inhabitants (28 per km²). Of these, 1,846,436 were Russians, 166,528 Germans , 123,893 Mordvins , 94,693 Tatars and 14,403 Chuvashes . According to religious beliefs, there were almost 89 percent Orthodox, 5.6 percent Protestants, 3.9 percent Muslims and 1.4 percent Catholics.
history
On January 11, 1780, Catherine II ordered the establishment of a Saratov governorship ( Саратовское наместничество / Saratowskoje namestnitschestvo). On February 3, 1781, the governorship was officially established with nine districts in the presence of the bishop and the governor of Astrakhan . In the same year the new administrative area received a coat of arms . At the beginning of 1782 the name was changed to Saratov Governorate (this name was first used in documents on April 2, 1782).
During the reorganization of the provinces, a decree of December 12, 1796 decreed the dissolution of the Saratov governorate and the division of the area into the governorates of Penza and Astrakhan . Only three months later, on March 5, 1797, another decree ordered the restoration of the Saratov Governorate.
On March 29, 1919, the southern parts of the governorate were spun off and formed part of the new governorate of Tsaritsyn . In return, the Saratov governorate received large areas on the left (eastern) bank of the Volga , which previously belonged to the Samara governorate . In 1922 part of these areas was returned to the Labor Commune , the later (from January 6, 1924) ASSR of the Volga Germans .
With the formation of the Lower Volga Oblast ( Нижневолжская область / Nizhnevolschskaja oblast) on May 21, 1928, the Saratov Governments, Stalingrad (as the Tsaritsyn Governorate was called since April 10, 1925), Astrach and other parts of the Samara Governorate were united. Capital of the administrative unit, which was renamed again on June 11, 1928, now in the Lower Volga Region ( Нижневолжский край / Nizhnevolschski krai), remained Saratov.