Poltava Governorate

Poltava Governorate Полтавская губернiя
Governorate of Russian Empire
← 1802–1925 →
Location of Poltava An old map showing the Poltava Governorate.
Capital		Poltava
History
•	Established	27 February 1802
•	Disestablished	1 August 1925
Area
•	(1897)	49,365 km2 (19,060 sq mi)
Population
•	(1897)	2,778,151
	Density	56.3 /km2  (145.8 /sq mi)
Political subdivisions		uezds: 15 (1803)

File:Gubernia de Poltava - Imperio ruso.png

Ukrainian administrative division just before the revolution

The coat of arms of the Poltava Governorate.

The Poltava Governorate (Russian: Полтавская губернiя; translit.: Poltavskaya guberniya, Ukrainian: Полтавська Губернія) or Government of Poltava was a guberniya in the historical Left-bank Ukraine region of the Russian Empire, which was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Malorossiya 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):

• Gadyach – Гадячъ (Hadiach)
• Zenkov – Зеньковъ (Zinkiv)
• Zolotonosha – Золотоноша
• Kobeliaky – Кобеляки
• Konstantinograd – Константиноградъ (modern Krasnohrad)
• Kremenchug – Кременчугъ (Kremenchuk)
• Lokhvytsia – Лохвица (Lokhvytsia)
• Lubny – Лубны
• Mirgorod – Миргородъ (Myrhorod)
• Pereyaslav – Переяславъ (modern Pereyaslav-Khmelnytskyi)
• Pyriatyn – Пирятинъ (Pyriatyn)
• Poltava – Полтава
• Pryluky – Прилуки (Pryluky)
• Romny – Ромны
• Khorol – Хороль

Most of these ended up in the modern Poltava Oblast of Ukraine, although some: Zolotonosha, Konstantinograd, Pereyaslav and Romny are now part of Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Kiev 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 seven okrugs (which already were the uyezd subdivision as of seventh of March 1923): Zolotoninsky, Krasnohradsky, Kremenchutsky, Lubensky, Poltavsky, Prylutsky and Romensky.

Principal cities

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.

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
Belorussian	1 344	0.05
Persons, that did not identified their native language	92	<0.01
Other	1 819	0.07

Religion

• By the Imperial census of 1897. In bold are religions with more members than the Eastern Orthodox. 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 (Russian)
• Poltava Governorate – Historical coat of arms (Ukrainian)/(English)
• Chernihiv gubernia – Article in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine