At present, few people can say what a province is, since the territorial division of the country is carried out differently. This phenomenon dates back to the times of the Russian Empire, the RSFSR and the USSR.
Provinces were considered the highest units of the administrative-territorial division of the state. They took shape from 1708 to 1929 as a result of the construction of an absolutist state. These territorial units were headed by governors.
Interpretation of the term
To answer the question of what a province is, let's turn to the etymology of the word. The term "province" comes from the Latin word "gubernator", which means "ruler". On December 29, 1708, Peter the Great issued a decree on the division of the state into new administrative-territorial units - provinces. Until this year, the Russian Empire consisted of 166 counties. Thus, 8 provinces were formed.
Above we have already explained what the word "province" means. Next, we will consider the issue of the history of the emergence of new territorial-administrative units in more detail.
Peter's first reforms
The creation of provinces took place in accordance with the decree of the sovereign. Initial line-upwas:
- Moscow province: the territory of today's Moscow region, large parts of the Tula, Vladimir, Kaluga, Kostroma, Ivanovo, Ryazan regions.
- Ingermanland province (renamed St. Petersburg province two years later). It included the modern Leningrad region, Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, the south of Arkhangelsk, the west of the Vologda, Yaroslavl regions and Karelia.
- Arkhangelsk province, which included Arkhangelsk, Murom, Vologda regions, part of Kostroma, Karelia and Komi.
- As part of the Kyiv province - Little Russia, Belgorod and Sevsky categories, part of the Oryol, Belgorod, Bryansk, Tula, Kaluga, Kursk regions.
- Smolensk province included the current Smolensk region, part of the Bryansk, Tver, Kaluga and Tula regions.
- Kazan province - the Volga region and Bashkiria, Volga-Vyatka, part of the Tambov, Penza, Perm, Ivanovo and Kostroma regions, the northern part of Dagestan and Kalmykia.
- Azov included part of the Tula, Orel, Ryazan, Kursk, Belgorod, all of Voronezh, Rostov, Tambov, part of Kharkov, Lugansk, Donetsk and Penza regions.
- As part of the Siberian province - Siberia, most of the Urals, the Kirov region and part of the Komi Republic.
Interestingly, by the end of 1719 there were eleven provinces. This happened due to the fact that the Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan and Riga provinces were separated. At the head of these territorial units was the governor-general, and each share of the provincesled by the Landrat.
Second administrative division of provinces (Second reform of Peter the Great)
The second reform took place on May 29, 1719. In its course, the provinces were divided into provinces headed by the governor, and the provinces, in turn, were divided into districts with commanders of the zemstvo commissars. Thus, 47 provinces were formed, which are part of 9 provinces, with the exception of Revel (now it is Tallinn) and Astrakhan (they were not divided into parts). The documents of that time described in detail what a province was and what powers it was vested with.
Third administrative reform
What were the provinces in a later period? During the third administrative reform, districts were removed and counties were reintroduced. As a result, there were 250 counties in 14 provinces. The Belgorod and Novgorod provinces were formed, the districts began to be headed by the leaders of the district nobility.
After all, the local nobility put pressure on the royal power in order to feel like the owners of the lands. The administrative structure remained stable for a long time, and if new units appeared, then at the expense of the acquired territories. At the end of October 1775, the Russian state included 23 provinces, 62 provinces, 276 counties.
Reform of Catherine the Great
Catherine's decree of November 7, 1775 stated that it was necessary to disaggregate the administrative territories of the state. The creation of provinces ceased, and their number decreased, the provincesremoved and changed the principle of formation of counties. The bottom line was that the county should have 20-30 thousand people, and in the province - about 300-400 thousand.
Also, the purpose of the reform was to strengthen power after the invasion of Yemelyan Pugachev. Governors and deputies were subordinate to the prosecutor's supervision, headed by the prosecutor general, and to the Senate.
By the end of the reign of Catherine II, Russia included 48 governorships, 2 provinces, 1 region and the Dwelling of the Don Cossacks. The governor-general was appointed by the empress, the counties were ruled by police captains. Until 1796, the creation of new governorships was due to the annexation of territories.
Among the population, the question of what a province is and why it was created has not arisen for a long time. The appearance of new administrative units remained almost unnoticed.
Reforms of Paul I and Alexander I
The formation of provinces during the reign of Paul I occurred as a result of the replacement of the names of administrative-territorial units. In the course of the reform in 1776, consolidation took place: the governorships officially became provinces, in territories where there was a likelihood of an uprising or a foreign attack, governors-general remained in place.
The government scheme of the provinces during the reign of Alexander I did not change, but in the period from 1801 to 1802 the abolished territories were restored.
Let's consider what were the provinces during this period. It should be noted the division of territorial units into 2 groups: in the European part of Russia,a general provincial organization (comprising 51 provinces), while on the outskirts a system of governor-generals is monitored (a total of 3 provinces). In some regions - Kuban, Ural, Trans-Baikal, Don Cossacks, Tersk - the governors were at the same time the chieftains of the Cossack troops. In 1816, 12 governorships arose, each consisting of 3-5 provinces.
From province to region
By the end of the 19th century, 20 regions were formed - these are administrative units similar to provinces. The word "oblast", in contrast to the overseas "province", is truly Old Slavonic, and means "possessions" (possession).
The regions were located on territories bordering other states, they did not have their own Duma and were infringed in other rights, they were controlled by military governors and were part of huge governor-generals. The apparatus of local self-government has been simplified and subordination to the governor himself has increased.
The first Governor-General in Russia - A. D. Menshikov - took office in 1703
Administrative staff as of 1914
Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the provincial apparatus had its own power in local government. From 1907 to 1910, during the Stolypin reform, the Council of the United Nobility was created.
The Provisional Government retained provincial divisions, they began to be headed by provincial commissars, and counties - county. In parallel with this, a system of Soviets was formed in opposition to the Provisional Government.
Soviet period
The original provincial division was preservedsome time after the revolution in October 1917, but the provincial executive committee was installed. This is the executive committee elected at the provincial congress of Soviets.
By the end of 1918, the state had 78 provinces, and in the period up to 1920, 25 of them joined Finland, Poland and the B altic states. From 1920 to 1923 new autonomous units appeared throughout the territory of the RSFSR - every year a new province was formed.
The composition changed regularly, but as a result of the reform, by 1929 the provinces completely disappeared, regions and territories appeared, and they, in turn, included districts, districts, village councils, which we observe to this day.
In closing
In the article we listed which provinces were on the territory of Russia. In addition, we considered key concepts and the history of the emergence of various territorial-administrative units.
