Krai
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2008) |
A krai or kray (Russian: край, plural края́, kraya) was a type of geographical administrative division in the Russian Empire and in the Russian SFSR,[citation needed] and it is one of the types of the federal subjects of modern Russia.
Etymologically, the word is related to the verb "кроить" (kroit'), "to cut".[1] Historically, krais comprised vast territories located along the periphery of the Russian state, since the word krai also means border or edge, i.e., a place of the cut-off. In English the term is often translated as "territory". As of 2015[update] the administrative usage of the term is mostly traditional, as some oblasts also fit this description and there is no difference in legal status between the krais and the oblasts.[2]
See also
- Kraj, an equivalent term used in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
- Krajina
- Kreis, an administrative unit in Germany
- Ukraine
- Marches (Mark, in German) compare to Denmark (literally the borderland of Danes).
- Oblast
- Okrug
References
- ^ Etymology of the word Template:Ru icon
- ^ 12 декабря 1993 г «Конституция Российской Федерации. Статья 5.», в ред. Федерального конституционного закона №5-ФКЗ от 21 июля 2007 г. (December 12, 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation. Article 5., as amended by the Federal Constitutional Law #5-FKZ of July 21, 2007. ).