Poltava Governorate

Poltava Governorate Полтавская губернія
Governorate
Coat of arms
Location in the Russian Empire
Country	Russian Empire
Established	1802
Abolished	1925
Capital	Poltava
Area
• Total	49,894 km2 (19,264 sq mi)
Population  (1897)
• Total	2,778,151
• Density	56/km2 (140/sq mi)
• Urban	9.87%
• Rural	90.13%

The Poltava Governorate or Poltavshchyna was a gubernia (also called a province or government) in the historical Left-bank Ukraine region of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate, which was split between the Chernigov Governorate and Poltava Governorate with an administrative center of Poltava.

Administrative division

It was administered by 15 uezds (povits):

• Gadyachsky Uyezd (Gadyach – Гадячъ) (Hadiach)
• Zenkovsky Uyezd (Zenkov – Зеньковъ) (Zinkiv)
• Zolotonoshsky Uyezd (Zolotonosha – Золотоноша)
• Kobelyaksky Uyezd (Kobeliaky – Кобеляки)
• Konstantinogradsky Uyezd (Konstantinograd – Константиноградъ) (modern Krasnohrad)
• Kremenchugsky Uyezd (Kremenchug – Кременчугъ) (Kremenchuk)
• Lokhvitsky Uyezd (Lokhvytsia – Лохвица) (Lokhvytsia)
• Lubensky Uyezd (Lubny – Лубны)
• Mirgorodsky Uyezd (Mirgorod – Миргородъ) (Myrhorod)
• Pereyaslavsky Uyezd (Pereiaslav – Переяславъ)
• Piryatinsky Uyezd (Pyriatyn – Пирятинъ) (Pyriatyn)
• Poltavsky Uyezd (Poltava – Полтава)
• Priluksky Uyezd (Pryluky – Прилуки) (Pryluky)
• Romensky Uyezd (Romny – Ромны)
• Khorolsky Uyezd (Khorol – Хороль)

Most of these ended up in the modern Poltava Oblast of Ukraine, although some: Zolotonosha, Krasnohrad, Pereiaslav and Romny are now part of Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kyiv and Sumy Oblasts respectively.

The Poltava Governorate covered a total area of 49,365 km², and had a population of 2,778,151 according to the 1897 Russian Empire census. It was bordering the following Russian Governorates: Chernigov Governorate and Kursk Governorate to the north, Kiev Governorate to the west, Kharkov Governorate to the east, Kherson Governorate and Yekaterinoslav Governorate to the south. In 1914, the population was 2,794,727. After the formation of the Ukrainian SSR, the territory was wholly included into the new Soviet Republic. Initially the governorate system was retained although variations included the Kremenchug Governorate which was temporarily formed on its territory (August 1920 – December 1922), and the passing of the Pereyaslav uezd to the Kiev Governorate. However, on Third of June 1925 the guberniya was liquidated and replaced by five okrugs (which already were the uyezd subdivision as of seventh of March 1923): Kremenchutsky, Lubensky, Poltavsky, Prylutsky and Romensky (the rest two okrugs existed within the guberniya, Zolotonoshsky and Krasnohradsky, were also liquidated).

Principal cities

Imperial census of 1897.

Russian Census of 1897, the cities of more than 10,000 people. In bold are the cities of over 50,000.

• Kremenchug – 63,007 (Jewish – 29,577, Ukrainian – 18,980, Russian – 12,130)
• Poltava – 53,703 (Ukrainian – 30,086, Russian – 11,035, Jewish – 10,690)
• Romny – 22,510 (Ukrainian – 13,856, Jewish – 6,341, Russian – 1,933)
• Priluki – 18,532 (Ukrainian – 11,850, Jewish – 5,719, Russian – 821)
• Pereyaslav – 14,614 (Ukrainian – 8,348, Jewish – 5,737, Russian – 468)
• Kobeliaki – 10,487 (Ukrainian – 7,708, Jewish – 2,115, Russian – 564)
• Zenkov – 10,443 (Ukrainian – 8,957, Jewish – 1,261, Russian – 187)
• Lubny – 10,097 (Ukrainian – 5,975, Jewish – 3,001, Russian – 960)
• Mirgorod – 10,037 (Ukrainian – 8,290, Jewish – 1,248, Russian – 427)

Language

By the Imperial census of 1897, in bold are languages spoken by more people than the state language.

Comparison with other province (1897)

Language	Number	percentage (%)	males	females
Ukrainian	2,583,133	92.98
Yiddish	110,352	3.97
Russian	72 941	2.63
German	4 579	0.16
Polish	3 891	0.14
Belarusian	1 344	0.05
Persons that did not identify their native language	92	<0.01
Other	1 819	0.07

Religion

By the Imperial census of 1897, the major religion in the region that was virtually the state religion was the Eastern Orthodox with some population following Judaism. Other religions in the governorate were much less common.

Religion	Number	percentage (%)	males	females
Eastern Orthodox	2,654,645	95.55
Judaism	110,944	3.99
Other (Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Old Believers)	12 562	0.45

External links

• Poltava Guberniya – Article in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian)
• Poltava Governorate – Historical coat of arms (in Ukrainian and English)
• Chernihiv gubernia – Article in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine