What is the province and what is the process of formation of the provinces?

At present, few people can say what a province is, because the territorial division of the country is different. This phenomenon refers to the times of the Russian Empire, the RSFSR and the USSR.

The highest units of the administrative-territorial division of the state were considered to be gubernias. 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 us turn to the etymology of the word. The term "province" comes from the Latin word "gubernator", which means "ruler". December 29, 1708 Peter the Great issued a decree on the division of the state into new administrative-territorial units - the province. Until this year, the Russian Empire consisted of 166 counties. Thus, eight provinces were formed.

Above we have already explained what the word "gubernia" means. Next, consider the issue of the history of the emergence of new territorial administrative units in more detail.

The First Reforms of Peter

The creation of provinces took place in accordance with the decree of the sovereign. The initial composition was as follows:

1. Moscow Province: the territory of today's Moscow region, large parts of the Tula, Vladimir, Kaluga, Kostroma, Ivanovo, Ryazan regions.
2. Ingermanland province (two years later renamed the St. Petersburg). In its composition were the modern Leningrad region, Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, south Arkhangelsk, West Vologda, Yaroslavl regions and Karelia.
3. Arkhangelsk gubernia, which included Arkhangelsk, Murom, Vologda regions, part of Kostroma, Karelia and Komi.
4. In the province of Kiev - Malorossia, the Belgorod and Sevsky ranks, part of the Oryol, Belgorod, Bryansk, Tula, Kaluga, Kursk regions.
5. Smolensk province included the present Smolensk region, part of the Bryansk, Tver, Kaluga and Tula regions.
6. Kazan province - the Volga region and Bashkiria, the Volga-Vyatka, part of the Tambov, Penza, Perm, Ivanovo and Kostroma regions, the northern part of Dagestan and Kalmykia.
7. Azov included a part of the Tula, Orel, Ryazan, Kursk, Belgorod, all Voronezh, Rostov, Tambov, part of the Kharkov, Lugansk, Donetsk and Penza regions.
8. In the Siberian province - Siberia, most of the Urals, the Kirov region and part of the Komi Republic.

Interestingly, by the end of 1719 the provinces had become eleven. This was due to the fact that the Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan and Riga provinces were allotted. At the head of these territorial units was the Governor-General, and each share of the provinces was headed by the Landrat.

The second administrative division of the provinces (Second Reform of Peter the Great)

The second reform took place in 1719, on May 29. In its course the provinces were divided into provinces led by the voivode, and the provinces, in turn, are divided into districts with the commanders of the zemstvo commissars. Thus, there were 47 provinces forming 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 the province is, and what powers it entrusts.

Third Administrative Reform

What were the provinces in the later period? In the course of the third administrative reform, the districts were deleted and the counties were reintroduced. As a result, it turned out 250 counties in the composition of 14 provinces. Formed Belgorod and Novgorod gubernias, the counties were led by the leaders of the uyezd nobility.

All the same, the local nobility pressed on the tsarist power, in order to feel themselves masters 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

Decree of Catherine 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 provinces removed and the principle of the formation of counties changed. The essence was that the county should be 20-30 thousand people, and in the province - about 300-400 thousand.

Also the goal of the reform was the strengthening of power after the invasion of Emelian Pugachev. The governors and governors obeyed the prosecutor's supervision, headed by the prosecutor-general, and the Senate.

By the end of the reign of Catherine II , 48 provinces, 2 gubernias, 1 oblast and the Donskoy Kazakov dwelling were part of Russia. The governor-general was appointed empress, the counties were ruled by captains of the police. Until 1796, the creation of new governorates was due to the annexation of territories.

For a long time the question of what the province was and why it was created has not been raised among the population. The appearance of new administrative units remained virtually unnoticed.

Reform of Paul I and Alexander I

The formation of provinces during the reign of Paul I was due to the replacement of the names of administrative-territorial units. During the reform in 1776 there was an enlargement: governorship officially became provinces, in the territories where there was a likelihood of an uprising or foreign attack, the governor-general remained on the ground.

The management scheme of the provinces under the reign of Alexander I did not change, but in the period from 1801 to 1802 the abolished territories were restored.

Let us consider what provinces were in this period. It should be noted the division of territorial units into 2 groups: in the European part of Russia there remains a general gubernia organization (consisting of 51 gubernias), while on the outskirts the system of governor general-governorships is monitored (total 3 gubernias). In some areas - the Kuban, Ural, Zabaikalsk, Don, Tersk - governors were simultaneously atamans of Cossack troops. In 1816, there were 12 governorates, having in the composition of 3-5 provinces.

From the province to the region

By the end of the XIX century, 20 regions are formed - these are administrative units similar to the provinces. The word "region", unlike the overseas "province", is truly Old Slavonic, and means "possessed" (possession).

The regions were located on territories bordering other states, they did not have their own Duma and were infringed in other rights, governed by military governors and part of the vast governor-general. The apparatus of local self-government was simplified and the submission to the governor personally increased.

The first general-governor in Russia - A.D. Menshikov - took office in 1703.

Administrative composition as of 1914

Prior to the beginning of the twentieth century, the provincial apparatus had its own power in the local administration. From 1907 to 1910, during the Stolypin reform, the Council of the United Nobility was created.

The Provisional Government retained the provincial divisions, they were headed by the provincial commissars, and the counties - by the county ones. At the same time, a system of Soviets was formed in opposition to the Provisional Government.

The Soviet period

The original provincial separation continued for some time after the revolution in October 1917, but was established by the executive committee. This executive committee, elected at the provincial congress of Soviets.

By the end of 1918 there were 78 provinces in the state, and up to 1920, 25 of them joined Finland, Poland and the Baltic. From 1920 to 1923. New autonomous units appeared on the entire territory of the RSFSR - a new province was formed every year.

The composition changed regularly, but as a result of reforming by 1929, the provinces finally disappeared, regions and regions appeared, and they in turn included districts, districts, village councils, which we observe to this day.

Finally

In the article we listed which provinces were on the territory of Russia. In addition, we examined key concepts and the history of the emergence of various territorial administrative units.