Who created the provinces. Administrative-territorial division of the Russian empire. Number of tributary souls

Started on $ 18 $ December with $ 1708 edition of the decree "On the establishment of provinces and on the painting of cities for them"... The final form of the Peter's transformations in this area was acquired after the Second Provincial Reform, $ 1719.

Remark 1

The reason for the reform was to overcome the obsolete by the $ 18th century. administrative division and support of the army during the Northern War. The created provinces had direct contact with the regiments to be distributed.

The territory of the country was divided in $ 1708 into $ 8 provinces:

  1. Moscow
  2. Ingermanland (St. Petersburg)
  3. Kievskaya
  4. Smolensk
  5. Kazan
  6. Arkhangelsk
  7. Azov
  8. Siberian

By $ 1714, the number of provinces increased: Astrakhan, Riga and Nizhny Novgorod appeared.

According to the reform, the head of the province was appointed governor general, who had the fullness of military and judicial power. In addition, the governors organized the work of the police and the court. The governors-general had several assistants for gathering, organizing military administration, justice, search, etc.

Difficulties of the reform

The provincial reform was carried out in parallel with the introduction of the collegial system. Therefore, Tsar Peter I introduced advisers to the governors ( landrates), which had to be chosen from among the local nobles. However, in practice, the idea failed: the governors themselves selected their own people, so the councils were canceled.

Example 1

Only trusted people close to the king were appointed governors, for example, Menshikov A.D. was the governor-general of the St. Petersburg province.

But these trusted people were too busy with affairs to constantly rule the provinces, and the vice-governors did not have such breadth of authority, and in addition, they might not be too reliable.

It can be concluded that Peter I was well aware of the impossibility of ruling such a huge country solely by the forces of one center, so he tried to carry out moderate decentralization, to shift the center of gravity to the localities. But the First Provincial Reform was not very successful.

Second Regional Reform

After $ 10 $ years of work of the local administrative system on the First Provincial Reform, in $ 1718 the activities of the second stage began. The second reform absorbed the achievements and failures of the first reform. In addition, if the first reform was carried out primarily for the needs of the war, then with the approach of its end it was necessary to arrange life inside the country in peacetime.

The Senate was involved in the development of the reform. He carefully studied the experiences of European countries in this matter. In May, $ 1719, the introduction of a new administrative division began. At first he was accepted in the St. Petersburg province, and with $ 1720 in the whole country. Thus, the state was divided into provinces, provinces and districts... The main administrative unit was provinces, there were $ 50 in total. Lead the province voivode, by a smaller district - zemstvo commissar... The provinces continued to exist as military districts, but the voivode did not obey the governor (only in military matters).

Then, in order to collect the poll tax, the institute of elected new zemstvo commissars from local nobles was founded. But this second attempt at introducing self-government failed again, because the nobles did not even want to just come to the conventions.

The activities of the governor were extensive: collecting revenues from state industries, building fortresses, ensuring the security of the province, judicial functions, searching for fugitives. The governor and the provincial administration were appointed by the Senate, and they were subordinate to the collegia.

Results. Meaning

The regional reform of Peter I helped to win the Northern War thanks to the clear organization of the supply of troops by the provinces.

The judicial and administrative powers were divided among themselves. The control system was generally unified across the country, regardless of regional characteristics.

At the same time, the total number of institutions and employees increased greatly, which led to an increase in costs.

PROVINCE

the main administrative-territorial unit in tsarist Russia and in the early years Soviet power... The division of the country into Georgia was carried out in 1708 by decree of Peter I (initially, only 8 of them were created). Georgia was divided into counties (in 1715-1775, also into provinces). G. was headed by a governor, appointed and removed by the monarch. Some of the provinces were united into governorate-generals. The division into geographic regions and counties was carried out according to a strictly administrative principle, without taking into account geographical, national, and economic characteristics. By 1917, there were 78 G., 25 of them went to Poland and Finland. Baltic states. In 1924-1929. G. in the USSR were eliminated in their place. edges and regions are formed.

Lit .: Eroshkin N.P. The history of state institutions in pre-revolutionary Russia. 2nd ed. M., 1968.


Encyclopedia of the Lawyer. 2005 .

Synonyms:

See what "GUBERNIA" is in other dictionaries:

    - (new lat. gubernium, from gubernare to rule). 1) in Russia, an administrative division, a part of the empire entrusted to the management of the governor. 2) in Austria, the central provincial government. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

    See the place to go to the Kharkov province in the city of Mordasov ... Dictionary of Russian synonyms and expressions similar in meaning. under. ed. N. Abramova, M .: Russian dictionaries, 1999. province place Dictionary of Russian synonyms ... Synonym dictionary

    PROVINCES, provinces, wives. (source). The main administrative territorial unit in Russia and the USSR before zoning. || Provincial town (simple. Obsolete). ❖ The province went to write (colloquial joke) 1) the entire bureaucratic apparatus came into play; ... ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

    GUBERNIA, and, wives. In Russia from the beginning of the 18th century. and until 1929 (now in Finland): the main administrative territorial unit. Moscow city Kostroma city I went to write the province (outdated. Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

    Female a genus of a region or a large district of Russia, divided into counties, under the control of a governor. In common parlance, a province is also a provincial town, the main city in a province. Provincial, belonging to the province, belonging to it; places and positions ... Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary

    The main administrative territorial unit in Russia since 1708 was divided into counties. Some G. were united in the general of the governorship. By 1917, there were 78 G., 25 of them went to Poland, Finland, and the Baltic states. In 1923 1929 ... ... Legal Dictionary

    The main administrative territorial unit in Russia since 1708. It was divided into counties. Some of the provinces were united in the general of the governorship. By 1917, there were 78 provinces, 25 of them went to Poland, Finland, the Baltic states. In 1923 29 ... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

    GUBERNIA, the main administrative territorial unit in Russia in the 18th and early 20th centuries. The first 8 provinces were created by Peter I in 1708: St. Petersburg (up to 1710 In Germanland), Moscow, Khangelogorodskaya (Arkhangelsk), Smolensk, ... ... Russian history

    Province- (from Latin gubernius ruler; English province) in Russia from the beginning of the 18th century. the main administrative territorial unit that existed before the zoning (1924 1929). By the decree of Peter I in 1708, the country was divided into 8 G. Organization ... ... Encyclopedia of Law

    PROVINCE- the main administrative territorial unit in Russia since 1708. It was divided into counties. Some G. were united in the general of the governorship. By 1917, 78 Georgia existed, 25 of which went to Poland, Finland, and the Baltic states. In 1923 ... ... Legal encyclopedia

    The division of the Russian Empire into the province in 1914 Gubernia is the highest unit ... Wikipedia

Books

  • Gubernia, its zemstvo and government institutions. Part 1, AV Lokhvitsky. Reproduced in the author's original spelling…

Name given to the Senate

We command from now on to be the following provinces: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novgorod, Tver, Pskov, Smolensk, Tula, Kaluga, Yaroslavl, Kostroma, Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Vyatka, Kazan, Perm, Tobolsk, Oren, Irkutsk, before that there was Ufa, Simbirsk, Penza, Astrakhan, Voronezh, Tambov, Ryazan, Kursk, Oryol, Slobodsko-Ukrainian, instead of the former Kharkov, and Novorossiysk instead of Yekaterinoslav; yes, on special grounds in terms of rights and privileges of Little Russia, Livonia, Estland, Vyborg, Courland, Lithuanian, Minsk, Belorussian, Volyn, Podolsk and Kiev. As a result, 1. the former Olonets Gubernia, similar to the local situation, should be divided between Novgorod and Arkhangelsk, so that the parts closest to the North were assigned to the Arkhangelsk Gubernia, and the rest to Novgorod, leaving the governors of these latter to agree. 2. To restore the Slobodsko-Ukrainian Gubernia to the exact borders in which it was arranged in 1765, attributing to it those who had departed and deductions to others attributed to it after that place. 3. Kolyvan Province, having abolished its circumference, should be attributed to those to which it belonged until 1779. 4. Voznesenskaya Province and Taurida Oblast should be equally destroyed, and the Novorossiyskaya Province should be made up of everything that is behind the return of the separated districts to Little Russia, and from the former Voznesenskaya, assigned to it from the lands acquired from Poland, which are now being returned to the Slobodsko-Ukrainian Gubernia. , joining here and the Tauride Region, divided simply into districts, according to the number of inhabitants and the vastness of the local. 5. Saratov Gubernia will not exist, but the places that it contained should be added according to their ability to the Provinces of Penza and Astrakhan. 6. From the former Polish Ukraine, Volhynia and Podolia, to our Empire annexed, after secession enough souls and circles for drawing up the Kiev province, make up two provinces: Podolsk and Volyn. 7. Combine from Polotsk and Mogilev into one Belorussian Gubernia, appointing the Provincial town to be conveniently in Vitebsk. 8. From the Gubernias previously defined in Vilna and Slonim, make one Lithuanian in the first of the mentioned cities, providing in general about the borders between all adjacent Gubernias re-united by agreement of their governors, about which they must submit to the Senate for reporting to Us. However, we will not hesitate to supply all the aforementioned Provinces with states, which We recognize with the benefit of the state government and with the successful production of business.

Legislation of Emperor Paul I. - M., 2008. - P.3–4.

Legislation on the legal status of the population

GRANTED LITERATURE ON THE RIGHTS, Liberty, and Advantages of the Noble Russian Nobility (1785, April 24)

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Gubernia is the highest territorial and administrative division of the Russian state, which took shape in the 18th century as a result of the reforms of Peter I to form an absolutist state.

The decree of 1708 stated that the Russian empire was divided into 8 provinces.
At the head of the province was the governor or governor-general, who was appointed by the sovereign himself.

For the creation of such an administrative division, there were both economic and military-political prerequisites, in addition, the natural and geographical factor was of great importance.

Huge territories needed intelligent management.
The province consisted of the administrative center, which was the provincial city and the cities assigned to it. Each assigned city had its own county.
Somewhat later, after the second administrative reform. The number of provinces increased to 11, and later they were divided into 50 provinces, which became the main unit of the province.
The counties were united and formed provinces, and the provinces formed provinces.
In 1727, the territorial division of Russia was represented as follows: 250 counties formed 47 provinces, which, in turn, made up 14 provinces.

The governor remained the only governor of the tsar in the province, and in the provinces and counties such a body was the governor.
The district governor was directly subordinate to the provincial governor, who in turn was subordinate to the governor.

When were the provinces formed in Russia, how many were there and what were they called?

The governor in all his actions was guided by the instructions of the central institutions or, directly by the personal instructions of the sovereign.
The governor, like the governors, organized their activities through the office, available in every county, province and province.

In 1763, military commands were assigned to each governor, which were supposed to ensure unquestioning obedience to his orders. Also, chiefs of police and fiscal authorities were returned to the authority of governors and governors.
In the future, further reform of the province as a territorial administrative unit continued.
The Senate began to appoint governors, of course with the consent of the emperor.

As a result, a complex bureaucratic system of provincial administration was formed, in which the leading role belonged to the nobility.
The provincial administrative apparatus and territorial division were retained until the 20th century and were abolished after the establishment of Soviet power.

From this article, everyone will understand what a province is.

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Collegiate commissioner, college commissioner- State class rank in the Russian Empire.

He belonged to the XIV class of the Table of Ranks, was equal in status to the collegiate registrar, that is, he was lower than the provincial secretary, and was titled "your honor".

During the existence of this rank, the personal nobility complained about it.

The title of the rank came from the position of an authorized representative, an official for special assignments in the Peter's collegiums, a member of a commission or an official of the profile (in the areas of work) chancery, created under the collegium on a permanent or temporary basis. Initially, the rank was absent in the General Regulations of February 28, 1720, since it was assumed that the officials of the collegiums would solve a strictly outlined range of tasks, but by 1722 it had already become obvious that, as usual in Russia, a lot of completely unexpected and unforeseen questions arise (in including the smallest and smallest), often, moreover, requiring a trip to the place, the solution of which is impossible to constantly distract the staff of the office.

In addition, a number of tasks appeared on the ground, requiring the constant presence of a representative of the collegium. This is all they did collegiate commissioners, for example, they performed the functions of managers at state-owned factories and lands, controlled procurement for state needs, etc.

Later, the rank was also assigned to the owners of private industries, procurement offices, estates that carried out supplies in the public interest.

At the head of the commission, the profile office under the collegium, there was usually a collegiate chief commissar, to whom commissars were subordinate for the corresponding line of work. Accordingly, there could be several chief commissars in the collegium.

The rank quickly fell out of use, and the holders of universal ranks, as a rule, of the higher classes began to fulfill the corresponding duties, but in the 1770s, individual college commissars still met.

Changes in the administrative-territorial division of Russia over the past 300 years

Stood apart commissars at gunpowder and nitrate factories military and naval departments (despite the fact that in the respective colleges there were also ordinary collegiate commissars) - they did not have a civil rank, but a military rank, moreover, attributed to the IX class, with all the ensuing legal consequences: hereditary nobility complained about it , the commissar could curry favor with the majors or captains of the artillery.

Just like the civil rank, this title quickly fell out of use.

see also

Literature

The article is based on the materials of the book by P.M. Koryavtsev "The Great Abevega of Ranks and Ranks"

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Peter I

Peter I Alekseevich nicknamed Great(May 30, 1672 - January 28, 1725) - the last Tsar of All Russia (since 1682) and the first Emperor of All Russia (since 1721). From a young age, showing an interest in sciences and a foreign way of life, Peter was the first of the Russian tsars to make a long journey to the countries of Western Europe.

Upon his return from it, in 1698, Peter launched large-scale reforms of the Russian state and social order. One of the main achievements of Peter was the solution of the task set in the 16th century: the expansion of the territories of Russia in the Baltic region after the victory in the Great Northern War, which allowed him to accept the title of Russian emperor in 1721.

In historical science and in public opinion from the end of the 18th century to the present, there are diametrically opposite assessments of both the personality of Peter I and his role in the history of Russia.

In official Russian historiography, Peter was considered one of the most prominent statesmen who determined the direction of Russia's development in the 18th century.

However, many historians, including N.M. Karamzin, V.O. Klyuchevsky, P.N. Milyukov and others, expressed sharply critical assessments

Reforms of Peter I

Most of all, Peter I was concerned with the idea of ​​the fleet and the possibility of trade relations with Europe.

To put his ideas into practice, he equipped the Great Embassy and visited a number of European countries, where he saw how far Russia was behind in its development.

This event in the life of the young tsar marked the beginning of his reforming activity. The first reforms of Peter I were aimed at changing the external signs of Russian life: he ordered to shave off beards and ordered to dress in European clothes, introduced music, tobacco, balls and other innovations into the life of Moscow society, which shocked him.

Foreign policy of Peter I

The main goal foreign policy Peter I had access to the Baltic Sea, which would provide Russia with a connection with Western Europe. In 1699 Russia, having entered into an alliance with Poland and Denmark, declared war on Sweden. The outcome of the Northern War, which lasted 21 years, was influenced by the victory of the Russians in the Battle of Poltava on June 27, 1709.

On August 30, 1721, the Nishtadt Peace Treaty was signed, according to which Russia retained the conquered lands of Livonia, Estland, Ingermanland, part of Karelia and all the islands of the Gulf of Finland and Riga. Access to the Baltic Sea was ensured.

awarded the tsar with the title of Father of the Fatherland, Peter the Great and Emperor of All Russia.

In 1723, after a month and a half of hostilities with Persia, Peter I obtained the western coast of the Caspian Sea.

Simultaneously with the conduct of hostilities, the ebullient activity of Peter I was aimed at carrying out numerous reforms, the purpose of which was to bring the country closer to European civilization, raise the education of the Russian people, and strengthen the power and international position of Russia.

A lot was done by the great tsar, here are just the main reforms of Peter I.

Public administration reform of Peter I

Instead of the Boyar Duma, the Council of Ministers was created in 1700, which sat in the Near Chancellery, and in 1711 - the Senate, which by 1719 had become the highest state body. With the creation of the provinces, numerous Orders ceased their activities, they were replaced by the Collegia, which were subordinate to the Senate.

The control system also operated the Secret Police - the Preobrazhensky Prikaz (in charge of state crimes) and the Secret Chancellery. Both institutions were run by the emperor himself.

Administrative reforms of Peter I

Regional (provincial) reform of Peter I

The largest administrative reform of local government was the creation in 1708.

8 provinces headed by governors, in 1719 their number increased to 11.

1796, December 12 - On the new division of the State into the Provinces

The second administrative reform divided the provinces into provinces headed by voivods, and the provinces into districts (counties) headed by zemstvo commissars.

Urban reform (1699-1720)

To manage the city, the Burmister Chamber in Moscow was created, renamed in November 1699 the Town Hall, and magistrates subordinate to the Chief Magistrate in St. Petersburg (1720).

The members of the Town Hall and the magistrates were elected through elections.

Estate reforms

The main goal of the estate reform of Peter I was to formalize the rights and obligations of each class - the nobility, the peasantry and the urban population.

Nobility.

  1. The decree on estates (1704), according to which both boyars and nobles received estates and estates.
  2. Education decree (1706) - all boyar children are required to receive primary education.
  3. The decree on single inheritance (1714), according to which a nobleman could leave an inheritance to only one of his sons.
  4. Table of ranks (1722): service to the sovereign was divided into three departments - army, state and court - each of which was divided into 14 ranks.

    This document allowed a man of the lower class to curry favor with the nobility.

Peasantry

Most of the peasants were serfs. Serfs could enroll in soldiers, which freed them from serfdom.

Among the free peasants were:

  • state, with personal freedom, but limited in the right of movement (i.e.

    at the will of the monarch, they could be transferred to serfs);

  • palace ones that belonged to the tsar personally;
  • possessory attributed to manufactories. The owner had no right to sell them.

Urban estate

Urban people were divided into "regular" and "irregular". Regular ones were divided into guilds: 1st guild - the richest, 2nd guild - small merchants and wealthy artisans.

Irregulars, or "vile people", made up the majority of the urban population. In 1722, workshops appeared that united masters of the same craft.

Judicial reform of Peter I

The functions of the supreme court were carried out by the Senate and the Justitz Collegium.

In the provinces, there were court appellate courts and provincial courts headed by governors. Provincial courts dealt with peasants (except for monasteries) and townspeople who were not included in the posad.

Since 1721, the court cases of the townspeople included in the posad were conducted by the magistrate. In other cases, the cases were decided by the zemstvo or city judge alone.

Church reform of Peter I

Peter I abolished the patriarchate, deprived the church of power, and transferred its funds to the state treasury.

Instead of the post of patriarch, the tsar introduced a collegial supreme administrative church body - the Holy Synod.

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GUBERNIA, in the Russian Empire (in the USSR until 1929), the main administrative-territorial unit; at different times, the provinces existed along with the regions and territories. The first provinces were created in accordance with the decree of Tsar Peter I of 18 (29) .12.1708: Azov, Arkhangelsk, Ingermanland (from 1710 St. Petersburg), Kazan, Kiev, Moscow, Siberian and Smolensk. Their education and the formation of the state administration of the provinces was completed by 1710.

In the provinces, the county division was preserved [existed from the end of the 15th century; fixed by the tsar's decree of 17 (28) .12.1707], at the same time in 1710-19 in the administrative and fiscal terms, the provinces were divided into shares (5536 households in each). The number of provinces was constantly increasing: 23 by 1775, 41 by 1800, 78 by 1914 (see the essay "Administrative-territorial division" in the volume "Russia", section of the Appendix). During the reform of local government, 1719 provinces were divided into provinces (headed by voivods), and provinces into counties (from 1710 they were headed by commandants).

According to the provincial reform of 1775, two or three provinces were united into general governorships, most of the provinces began to be called governorships (the name “governorates” was returned as a result of the reforms of Emperor Paul I in 1796), the division of provinces and governorships into provinces was eliminated (the district divisions remained) ...

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Provinces were headed by governors, in some cases by governors-general (Azov province - in the early 18th century, St. Petersburg - in the 18-19th centuries, Moscow - in the 18th - early 20th centuries).

The provincial administration consisted of a number of officials subordinate to the governor, among them the vice-governor, in the 18-19 centuries - officials who were directly in charge of collecting taxes (chief commissar), military affairs (chief commandant), providing food and fodder stationed in the province troops (chief provisions master), court cases (landricht). In 1713, to resolve issues of local government in the provinces and represent the interests of the county nobility, a Landrat Council was formed under the governor.

It consisted of 8-12 landrates elected by the local nobility (depending on the size of the province), the governor in the council had two votes. Under the jurisdiction of the Landrates (two of them permanently stayed in the provincial town) were the Landrat Chanceries (disbanded in 1719).

In 1715, the Landrates were also entrusted with the responsibility of managing the shares. In 1719-20, the Landrats were transferred to the disposal of the Chamber Collegium for appointment to other places (in the Baltic provinces, the Landrat Councils were retained until 1786). At the same time, a number of local institutions were formed in the provinces: the chancellery - investigative affairs, waldmeister affairs, "testimonies of souls", as well as renters, offices of chamberlains and recruiting affairs, etc.

(some of them were liquidated in 1726-27). Since 1728, the direct management of the provinces was carried out by the governors through the provincial chancellery, to which the provincial chancelleries were subordinate, and to them, in turn, the county offices. According to the provincial reform of 1775, provincial boards, orders of public charity, as well as treasury chambers were created in the provincial cities (in 1862, the management of indirect taxes from them was transferred to excise departments).

The protection of order on the territory of the province in the European part of the Russian Empire in 1811-64 was carried out by internal guards, then by various formations of local troops. For the collection, processing and publication of statistical data from 1834/35, provincial statistical committees were created in the provinces. Since 1837, Gubernskie vedomosti newspapers have been published in a number of provinces. In 1864, in 34 provinces of European Russia (by 1916 - in 43 provinces), in accordance with the zemstvo reform, elected bodies of local all-estates self-government were formed - provincial and district zemstvos; they were in charge of issues of local economy, health care, education, statistics, etc.

In the 1860s, under the governor, provincial presences began to be created, most of which were local institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. The local bodies of the Ministry of State Property (since 1894, the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property) were chambers (1838-66, then - administrations) of state property operating within several provinces, and control chambers of the State Control (established in 1865-68).

To carry out the Stolypin agrarian reform in 1906, in a number of provinces (everywhere in 1911), land management commissions were created - local bodies of the Main Directorate of Land Management and Agriculture (since 1915, the Ministry of Agriculture). After the October Revolution of 1917, provincial executive committees, elected at the provincial congresses of councils, began to govern the provinces.

During the first Soviet reform of the administrative-territorial division (1923-29), the provinces were liquidated, they were replaced by regions and territories.

Lit .: Gradovsky A.

D. Beginnings of Russian state law. SPb., 1883.

ABOUT THE NEW DIVISION OF THE STATE IN THE PROVINCE

3; Bogoslovsky M. M. Regional reform of Peter the Great. Province 1719-1727 M., 1902; Eroshkin N.P. The history of state institutions of pre-revolutionary Russia. M., 1983.

B. Kamensky, S. G. Lanina.

Provincial reform of Peter I

At the first stage, minor changes took place in the system of local government: with the creation of the Burmister Chamber (1699), the townspeople were removed from the jurisdiction of the governor; 1702-1705 - local nobles are involved in the provincial administration.

This was the first provincial reform that completely changed the system of local government. In its final form, it was formed only by 1719, on the eve of the second regional reform. The main goal of this reform is to provide the army with everything it needs: direct communication of the provinces was established with the army regiments distributed across the provinces through a specially created institute of Kriegscommissars.

According to this decree, the entire territory of the country was divided into eight provinces:

Initially, the Moscow, Ingermanland, Smolensk, Kiev, Azov, Kazan, Arkhangelsk and Siberian provinces were formed. In 1711 there were 9 provinces, and in 1714 - 11 (Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod, Riga).

Administrative division of the Russian Empire

This was the first administrative reform of Peter.

At the head of the provinces were governors, governor-generals, who united in their hands the administrative, military and judicial powers.

Other duties were added to the functions of the governor - the organization and activities of the court and the police. The provincial reform strengthened the power of the landowners in the localities.

Peter made an attempt to put into operation the provincial administration of a collegial and electoral principle. Under the governor, a council of "landrates" (8-12 councilors) was formed, which was to be elected by the local nobility.

However, life turned the aforementioned undertaking of Peter into something exactly the opposite of what the reformer dreamed of. Landrats were not elected, but were appointed from the nobility by the Senate or the governor (the latter selected the people he needed).

The surrounding of the governor by the Landrat Council did not create any benefit for the Russian provincial self-government. The Landrats did not last even five years, they were liquidated. The province did not become a self-governing public union.

Governors were appointed by royal decrees only from among the nobles close to Peter I (Menshikov, Apraksin, Streshnev, etc.). The governors had assistants overseeing the branches of government:

  • chief commandant - military administration;
  • chief commissar and chief food master - provincial and other fees;
  • Landrichter - provincial justice, financial surveying and investigative affairs;
  • chief inspector - tax collection from cities and counties.

The essence of the reform was to shift the center of gravity in management to the localities. Given the enormous distances in our country and the means of communication of that time, it was impossible to efficiently manage such a huge territory directly from the center, as they tried to do in the previous period. Reasonable decentralization of power was necessary, but the reform failed at the first stage.

Appointing major statesmen as governors, Peter I wanted these people on the spot on behalf of the tsar to be able to quickly make decisions. However, this step also had negative consequences - these people were for the most part burdened with numerous responsibilities (for example, Menshikov and Apraksin - presidents of the "first" collegia, senators) and practically could not continuously stay in their provinces, and the vice-governors who ruled in their place were not had such authority and trust of the king.

The second regional reform was carried out on the basis of the transformations that have already been made.

In 1718 the Senate established the states and nomenclature of posts for provincial institutions, and in May 1719 a clear timetable of provinces, provinces and cities by provinces and provinces was given. From this period, division into provinces was introduced throughout the country.

The province becomes the main unit of regional government.

In accordance with the second reform of local government, 11 provinces were divided into 45 provinces, headed by governors.

The provinces were divided into districts - districts, where the chamber collegium appointed such leaders as zemstvo commissars. In 1724, a new tax, the poll tax, began to be levied on the population. To collect the poll tax, the institute of new zemstvo commissars elected by the local noble society for 1 year is established.

This was the second, after the Landrates, an attempt by Peter's legislation to increase the initiative of the nobility in local government.

However, the institution of elected commissars did not last long; it faced the pronounced absenteeism of local nobles (many of their congresses could not take place due to the absence of nobles). The zemstvo commissar, who handed over the poll tax to the colonel, became completely dependent on the latter.

The domination of the civil bureaucracy in the province (governor, voivode, zemstvo commissar) was further complicated by the domination of the military regimental command. Under the double pressure of both, the embryos of self-government quickly died away. Under the weight of fiscal responsibilities was the rural land community - the subject of self-government in the countryside (collection of taxes, supply of recruits).

In estates, where management was based on secular (communal) representation (a gathering of peasants, who elected the village headman and his deputies - forestry, land, hayfields, etc.).

The social dualism of the community was most clearly manifested as an instrument of patrimonial administration, on the one hand, and on the other, as an instrument for protecting and preserving the interests of the peasants before the feudal lord and the tsarist administration.

The provincial governors were subordinate to the governors only for military affairs, otherwise they were independent from the governors. The governors were engaged in the search for fugitive peasants and soldiers, building fortresses, collecting income from state-owned factories, took care of the external security of the provinces, and from 1722

carried out judicial functions. The governors and provincial administrations were appointed by the Senate and were directly subordinate to the collegia. Four collegia (Kamer, Shtats-kontor, Yustits and Votchinnaya) had their own apparatus of chamberlains, commandants and treasurers in the localities.

The province was usually headed by a voivode; in the county, financial and police administration was entrusted to the zemstvo commissars, partly elected by the county nobles, partly appointed from above.

The decree on the establishment of provinces completed the first stage of the reform of local government.

Provincial administration was carried out by governors and vice-governors, who performed mainly military and financial management functions. However, this division turned out to be too large and did not allow the administration of the provinces in practice, especially with the communications that existed at that time.

Therefore, in each province there were big cities, in which the management was carried out by the former city administration.

The provinces, in turn, were divided into districts ruled by zemstvo commissars.

Thus, a three-tier system was created at the local level: province, province, and district.

Gradually, the number of provinces grew both due to the annexation of new lands to Russia, and due to the downsizing of excessively large provinces. As a result, by the time of the new provincial reform by Catherine II, by 1775 there were already 23 provinces in the empire, and by the end of the century their number had reached fifty. The growth in the number of provinces, and, consequently, the decrease in their territories, led to the abolition in principle of the provinces created at the beginning of the century, which became an unnecessary intermediate link.

True, in some provinces the provinces have survived.

(1 028 kb).

The main processes of change in the ATD network include an increase or decrease in the number of administrative units, consolidation (consolidation of small units into larger ones) and unbundling of the units themselves. These changes occur as a result of the ATD reforms, the implementation of which is dictated by the current political needs of the state (a change in the political principles of managing the territory and its parts). For Russia, with its vast territory, the ATD grid and the principle of the structure of the ATD itself are one of the main foundations of its statehood.

This work analyzes the evolution of the ATD network of Russia in the period from 1708 (the first reforms of Peter I) to the present day at the unit level of the highest (first) level of the hierarchy (province, region, territory, republic). The period before 1917 is considered within the borders of the Russian Empire, and after - within the borders of the RSFSR.

The process of evolution of the administrative-territorial division (ATD) of Russia is divided into 13 stages. The material is illustrated with tables, which, if possible, provide information on the size and population, dates of formation of each unit of ATD.

The first Peter's reform

Before it was held, the territory of Russia was divided into counties (former princely lands, appanages, orders, ranks, cheti). Their number, according to V. Snegirev, in the 17th century. was 166, not counting many volosts - some of them were actually close to counties in size.

By the decree of Peter I of December 18, 1708, the territory of the Russian Empire was divided into 8 huge provinces. The Moscow region included the territory of the present-day Moscow region, significant parts of the Vladimir, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Ivanovo, Kostroma regions. Ingermanland - the current regions of Leningrad, Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, southern parts of the Arkhangelsk, west of the Vologda and Yaroslavl regions, part of the present Karelia (this province was renamed to St. Petersburg in 1710). Arkhangelsk - the current Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Murmansk regions, part of the Kostroma region., Karelia and Komi. The Kiev region included Little Russia, the Sevsk and Belgorod categories, parts of the current Bryansk, Belgorod, Oryol, Kursk, Kaluga, Tula regions. Smolensk covered the present Smolensk region., Parts of the Bryansk, Kaluga, Tver, Tula regions. Kazan - all the Volga region, present-day Bashkiria, Volgo-Vyatka, parts of the present Perm, Tambov, Penza, Kostroma, Ivanovo regions, as well as the north of Dagestan and Kalmykia. The Azov province included the eastern parts of the present Tula, Ryazan, Oryol, Kursk, Belgorod regions, completely the Voronezh, Tambov, Rostov regions, as well as parts of the Kharkov, Donetsk, Lugansk, Penza regions (the center was the city of Azov). Siberian province (centered in Tobolsk) covered all of Siberia, almost the entire Urals, parts of the present-day Kirov region. and the Komi Republic. The size of these provinces was enormous (Table 1).

Table 1
Provinces of the Russian Empire in 1708

Provinces

Area, thousand km 2

Number of households, 1710

Azov

Arkhangelsk

Ingermanland

Kazan

Kievskaya

Moscow

Siberian

Smolensk

Empire total area

Sources: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron (1899, v. 54, p. 211-213); Milyukov (1905, p. 198).

Provinces were not divided into counties, but were made up of cities and adjacent lands, as well as ranks and orders. In 1710-1713. they were divided into shares (administrative-fiscal units), which were managed by the Landrat.

In 1713, the Riga province was formed from the newly annexed lands in the northwest. In this regard, the Smolensk province was abolished, and its territory was divided between the Riga and Moscow provinces. In January 1714, a new Nizhny Novgorod province was separated from the northwestern parts of the huge Kazan province, and in 1717 a new Astrakhan province was formed from the southern part of the Kazan province (it included Simbirsk, Samara, Saratov, Tsaritsyn, Guryev, Tersk region. ). As of 1714, the empire was divided into 9 provinces (Table 2). In the same 1717, the Nizhny Novgorod province was abolished, and its territory again became part of the Kazan province.

table 2
Provinces of the Russian Empire in 1714

Provinces

Number of tributary souls

Number of yards

Azov

Arkhangelsk

Kazan

Kievskaya

Moscow

Nizhny Novgorod

St. Petersburg

Siberian

Total for the empire

Source: Milyukov (1905, p. 205).

Second Peter's reform

The second Peter's reform began to be carried out by decree of May 29, 1719. In accordance with it, shares were abolished, provinces were divided into provinces, and provinces - into districts. The Nizhny Novgorod province was restored, and the Revel province was formed on the newly annexed lands in the Baltic States. Only two provinces (Astrakhan, Revel) were not divided into provinces. In 9 other provinces, 47 provinces were established (Table 3).

Table 3
Provinces of the Russian Empire in 1719

Provinces

Number of provinces

Number of cities

Provinces

Azov

Voronezh, Tambov, Shatskaya,

Eletskaya, Bakhmutskaya

Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelskaya, Vologda,

Ustyuzhskaya, Galitskaya

Astrakhan

Kazan

Kazan, Sviyazhskaya, Penza,

Ufa

Kievskaya

Kievskaya, Belgorodskaya, Sevskaya,

Orlovskaya

Moscow

Moscow, Pereyaslav-Ryazan,

Pereslav-Zalesskaya, Kaluga,

Tulskaya, Vladimirskaya,

Yuryevo-Polskaya, Suzdal,

Kostroma

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod, Arzamas,

Alatyrskaya

Revelskaya

Riga, Smolenskaya

St. Petersburg

Petersburg, Vyborg, Narvskaya,

Velikolutskaya, Novgorod,

Pskov, Tverskaya, Yaroslavl,

Uglitskaya, Poshekhonskaya, Belozerskaya

Siberian

Vyatka, Sol-Kama, Tobolsk,

Yenisei, Irkutsk

Total for the empire

Sources: Den (1902); Milyukov (1905).

In 1725 the Azov province was renamed into Voronezh, and in 1726 the Smolensk province was again separated from the Riga and Moscow provinces.

Reform of 1727

Districts were eliminated, and the provinces themselves began to be divided not only into provinces, but also into counties. A total of 166 counties were restored. At the same time, new provinces were formed. From the Kiev province, the Belgorod province was separated, which included the provinces of Belgorod, Oryol, Sevsk, as well as part of the Ukrainian line and 5 regiments of Slobod Cossacks of the Kiev province (10 Little Russian regiments remained in the Kiev province itself). In 1727, the Novgorod province was separated from the Petersburg province from its 5 former provinces (). At the same time, part of the Yaroslavl and Uglitskaya provinces of the Petersburg province were transferred to the Moscow province. The Petersburg province itself was significantly reduced and now consisted of only 2 provinces (Petersburg, Vyborg), and the Narva province went to Estland.

In the same 1727, the Vyatka and Solikamsk provinces of the Siberian province were transferred to the Kazan province (instead of it, the Ufa province was transferred to the Siberian province in 1728), and the Olonets lands were assigned to the Novgorod province.

At the end of 1727, the ATD of the Russian Empire had the following form (Table 4).

Table 4
Provinces of the Russian Empire in 1727

Provinces

Provinces

Arkhangelsk

Astrakhan

1 province

Belgorodskaya

Belgorodskaya, Sevskaya, Orlovskaya

Voronezh

Voronezh, Eletskaya, Tambov, Shatskaya, Bakhmutskaya

Kazan

Kazan, Vyatskaya, Solikamskaya, Sviyazhskaya, Penza, Ufa

Kievskaya

1 province (12 regiments of Little Russia)

Moscow

Nizhny Novgorod

Novgorod

Novgorod, Pskov, Velikolutskaya, Tverskaya, Belozerskaya

Revelskaya

1 province (Estland)

1 province (Livonia)

St. Petersburg

Petersburg, Vyborg

Smolensk

1 province

Siberian

Source: Gauthier (1913, pp. 108-110).

In total, after the reform of 1727, there were 14 provinces and about 250 counties in the empire. After the reform, a long period ensued when ATD was relatively stable. Minor changes during this period include the following.

In 1737, the Simbirsk province was formed as part of the Kazan province. In 1744, the Vyborg province was created from the Vyborg and Kexholm provinces of the Petersburg province and the newly annexed parts of Finland. In the same year, a new Orenburg province was formed (it included the Iset and Ufa provinces of the Siberian province and the Orenburg commission * of the Astrakhan province). In 1745, there were 16 provinces in the empire (Table 5). At the same time, the Baltic provinces were divided into districts instead of provinces and counties.

Table 5
Provinces of the Russian Empire in 1745

Provinces

Provinces

Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelskaya, Vologda, Ustyug, Galitskaya

Astrakhan

1 province

Belgorodskaya

Belgorodskaya, Sevskaya, Orlovskaya and the cities of Kharkov, Sumy, Akhtyrka, Raisins

Voronezh

Voronezh, Eletskaya, Tambov, Shatskaya, Bakhmutskaya and the lands of the Don Cossacks

Vyborgskaya

From 3 counties

Kazan

Kazan, Vyatka, Kungurskaya, Sviyazhskaya, Penza, Simbirskaya

Kievskaya

Moscow

Moscow, Yaroslavl, Uglitskaya, Kostroma, Suzdal, Yurievskaya,

Pereslav-Zalesskaya, Vladimirskaya, Pereyaslav-Ryazanskaya, Tula, Kaluga

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod, Arzamas, Alatyr

Novgorod

Novgorod, Pskov, Velikolutskaya, Tverskaya, Belozerskaya

Orenburg

Orenburg, Stavropol, Ufa

Revelskaya

Districts Harriensky, Viksky, Ervensky, Virlyandsky

Districts Riga, Vendensky, Derpt, Pernov and Ezel provinces

St. Petersburg

Districts Petersburg, Shlisselburgsky, Koporsky, Yamburgsky

Siberian

Tobolsk, Yenisei, Irkutsk

Smolensk

1 province

Source: Arseniev (1848, p. 83-88).

With the coming to power of Catherine II, some changes were made to the ATD in the country, which mainly included the formation of new provinces on the newly annexed lands. In 1764, the Irkutsk province of the Siberian province was separated as an independent Irkutsk province. In October 1764 counties in many provinces were united. In the south, from the Novoserbsk settlement, the Novorossiysk province (center - Kremenchug) was established, and in the left-bank Ukraine - Little Russia. And in 1765 from the southern part of the Belgorod and Voronezh provinces (regions of Slobozhanshchina) a new Slobodsko-Ukrainian province was formed with the center in Kharkov. Thus, in 1764-1766. 4 new provinces appeared, and there are 20 of them. Information about their size and population is given by K.I. Arseniev (Table 6).

Table 6
Provinces of the Russian Empire in 1766

Provinces

Number of provinces

Population, thousand people

Dimensions in length, km

Dimensions in width, km

Arkhangelsk

Astrakhan

Belgorodskaya

Voronezh

Vyborgskaya

Irkutsk

Kazan

Kievskaya

Little Russian

Moscow

Nizhny Novgorod

Novgorod

Novorossiysk

Orenburg

Revelskaya

St. Petersburg

Siberian

Slobodsko-Ukrainian

Smolensk

Source: Arseniev (1848, p. 93-102).

After the first partition of Poland in 1772, 2 new provinces were created in the Russian Empire from the newly annexed lands - Mogilev and Pskov. The second included 2 old provinces of the Novgorod province (Pskov and Velikolutsk), as well as two new ones - Dvinskaya (Polish Livonia) and Polotsk from the lands of the former Vitebsk voivodeship. At the end of the same year, the Vitebsk province of the Mogilev province was annexed to the new Pskov province. Until 1776 the city of Opochka was the center of the new province.

In 1775, the Irkutsk province was divided into 3 provinces (Irkutsk, Uda, Yakutsk), and due to the new lands acquired in the south through the Kuchuk-Kainardzhiyskiy world, a new Azov province was formed, which included, in addition to the lands between the Dnieper and the Bug , Slavic Serbia (Bakhmut province), Azov province (the cities of Azov and Taganrog) and the lands of the Don army (on these latter, a military civil law). In the same year, the Zaporozhye Sich was liquidated, and its lands were annexed to the Novorossiysk province. Before the start of the next reform of the ATD in 1775, the Russian Empire was divided into the following provinces (Table 7).

Table 7
Provinces of the Russian Empire in October 1775

Provinces

Date of formation

Number of provinces

Provinces

Number of counties

Azov

14.02.1775 (18.12.1708)

Azov, Bakhmutskaya

Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelskaya,

Vologda, Ustyug,

Galitskaya

Astrakhan

Belgorodskaya

Belgorodskaya, Sevskaya,

Orlovskaya

Voronezh

1725 (18.12.1708)

Voronezh, Eletskaya,

Tambov, Shatskaya

Vyborgskaya

Kyumenegorskaya,

Vyborgskaya,

Keksholm

Irkutsk

Irkutsk, Udinskaya,

Yakutsk

Kazan

Kazan, Vyatka,

Perm, Sviyazhsk,

Penza, Simbirsk

Kievskaya

Little Russian

Mogilev

Mogilevskaya,

Mstislavskaya,

Orshanskaya, Rogachevskaya

Moscow

Moscow, Yaroslavl,

Uglitskaya, Yurievskaya,

Kostroma,

Pereslav-Zalesskaya,

Vladimirskaya,

Suzdal, Tula,

Kaluga,

Pereyaslav-Ryazan

Nizhny Novgorod

01. 1714-1717, 29.05.1719

Nizhny Novgorod,

Alatyrskaya, Arzamasskaya

Novgorod

Novgorodskaya, Tverskaya,

Belozerskaya, Olonetskaya

Novorossiysk

Kremenchug,

Ekaterininskaya,

Elisavetgradskaya

Orenburg

Orenburg, Ufa,

Isetskaya

Pskov

Pskov, Velikolutskaya,

Dvinskaya, Polotskaya,

Vitebsk

Revelskaya

Riga, Ezelskaya

St. Petersburg

Siberian

Tobolskaya, Yeniseiskaya

Slobodsko-Ukrainian

Smolensk

18.12.1708-1713,1726

Thus, the territory of the empire was divided into 23 provinces, 62 provinces and 276 counties without taking into account the Novorossiysk province, the number of counties in which is unknown.

Catherine's reform
(subdivision of administrative-territorial divisions)

On November 7, 1775, Catherine II signed the law “Institutions for the Governance of Provinces”, according to which the size of the provinces was reduced, their number was doubled, the provinces were liquidated (in a number of provinces, regions were allocated within them) and the division of counties was changed. On average, 300-400 thousand people lived in the province, and 20-30 thousand people in the county. The process of replacing old provinces with new ones, which began to be called "governorships", stretched for 10 years (1775-1785). During this period, 40 provinces and 2 regions were formed as provinces, 483 counties were allocated in them. The dynamics of the transformation and downsizing of old provinces into new ones was uneven: in 1780 and 1781. there were 7 provinces each, in other years - from 1 to 5.

The process of forming new provinces began (within the current borders of Russia) from the two central ones - Smolensk and Tver. The new Smolensk governorship in 1775 included the old Smolensk province, the western parts of the Moscow province and the Bryansk district of the Belgorod province, and the Tver governorship was made up of the Tver province and the Vyshnevolotsk district of the Novgorod province, Bezhetsk and Kashin districts Moscow province.

In 1776, the Pskov province was created (from the Pskov and Velikolutsk provinces of the old Pskov province and the Porkhov and Gdovsky districts of the Novgorod province), the Novgorod governorship (from parts of the old Novgorod province, it was divided into 2 regions - Novgorod and Olonets), Kaluga governorship ( from the southwestern districts of the Moscow province and the Bryansk district of the Belgorod province).

In 1777, Polotsk (from parts of the old Pskov province), Mogilev, Yaroslavskoe (separated from the Moscow province and parts of Novgorod, divided into two regions - Yaroslavl and Uglitskaya), Tula viceroyalty (from parts of the Moscow province) were established.

In 1778, the governorships of Ryazan (from parts of the old Moscow province), Volodimir (from the Vladimir province; from parts of the Moscow province), Kostroma (from parts of the Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Nizhny Novgorod provinces; it was divided into Kostroma and Unzhenskaya regions), Oryol (from parts Voronezh and Belgorod provinces).

In 1779, the Kursk province, the Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov and Voronezh governorates and the Kolyvan region were established. At the same time, the old Belgorod province was liquidated, which was divided between the Kursk province and the Voronezh governorship. The Kursk province included the districts of the liquidated Belgorod province and the districts of the Slobodsko-Ukrainian and Voronezh provinces. The neighboring Voronezh governorship was made up of the old Voronezh province and parts of the liquidated Belgorod province, as well as the Ostrogozh province of the Slobodsko-Ukrainian province. The Tambov governorship was established at the expense of the southern parts of the Ryazan (mainly Elatomsky district) and the northern parts of the Voronezh governorship. The Nizhny Novgorod governorate included the old Nizhny Novgorod province, as well as parts of the Ryazan and Volodimir (Vladimir) governorates, part of the Kazan province. From the southern regions of the Siberian province (Kuznetsk and Tomsk districts), an independent Kolyvan region was allocated with its center in the Berdsk prison (since 1783 - the city of Kolyvan).

In 1780, 7 new governorships and provinces were organized. In January of this year, the old Petersburg province was reorganized, which remained a province with 7 counties. From the old Arkhangelsk province, a new Vologda governorship was established, to which the Kargopol district of the Novgorod governorship and part of the Kologriv district of the Kostroma governorship were annexed. This new viceroyalty was divided into two regions - Vologda and Arkhangelsk. In the spring of 1780, the old Slobodsko-Ukrainian province was transformed into the Kharkov governorship, and parts of the abolished Belgorod province were included in it. Following this, a new Vyatka governorship was allocated from the northern parts of the Kazan and Orenburg provinces (its center, the city of Khlynov, was renamed Vyatka in this regard). And from the southern districts of the Kazan province, new Simbirsk and Penza governorships were allocated. A new Saratov viceroyalty was formed from the northern part of the Astrakhan province.

In 1781, an independent Perm governorship was allocated from the Tyumen province of the Siberian province with the division of its territory into 2 regions - Perm and Yekaterinburg. In the fall of 1781, the Little Russian province was abolished, which was divided into the Novgorod-Seversk and Chernigov governorates, and part of it was united with the old Kiev province into the Kiev governorship. At the same time, the remnants of the old Kazan province (minus the Simbirsk, Penza and Vyatka governorates) were transformed into a new Kazan governorship. In 1781, the Olonets region and the Novoladozhsky district were transferred from the Novgorod governorship to the St. Petersburg province, and the Gdovsky and Luga districts from the Pskov governorship. Petersburg province was divided into two regions - Petersburg and Olonets. In October 1781, a new Moscow province was established from the fragments of the former Moscow province. At the very end of the year, the Orenburg province was transformed into the Ufa governorship with the addition of the Chelyabinsk district of the Perm governorship. This new viceroyalty (centered in Ufa) was divided into 2 regions - Ufa and Orenburg.

In 1782 the Siberian province was abolished, instead of which a new Tobolsk governorship was established with two regions - Tobolsk and Tomsk. At the end of the same year, the Kolyvan region. was transformed into the Kolyvan governorship. In the next year, 1783, in Siberia, instead of the former Irkutsk province, the Irkutsk governorship was organized with the division of its territory into 4 regions (Irkutsk, Nerchinsk, Okhotsk, Yakutsk).

At the beginning of 1783, two southern provinces (Azov and Novorossiyskaya) were abolished, of which the new Yekaterinoslav viceroyalty was formed (with the center in Kremenchug). In the summer of the same year, the Revel province was transformed into the Revel governorate, the Riga governorate - into the Riga governorship, the Vyborg governorate - into the Vyborg governorship (without changing the territory). In February 1784, from the newly annexed southern lands in 1783 (Crimea, Taman, Kuban side), the Tauride region was formed with the rights of governorship. In March 1784 the Vologda governorship was divided into two independent governorships - Arkhangelsk and the smaller Vologda governorship (it was divided into 2 regions - Vologda and Velikoustyug). In May of the same year, on the basis of the Olonets province of the St. Petersburg province, the Olonets governorship with the center in Petrozavodsk was allocated as an independent province.

Finally, the last step of the Catherine reform of the ATD was the transformation in 1785 of the Astrakhan province into the Caucasian governorship with the transfer of its center from Astrakhan to the newly created center of Yekaterinograd at the confluence of the Malka and the Terek (in 1790, due to its lack of development, the center had to be returned to Astrakhan ). The Kuban side was included in the Caucasian governorship, and its territory was divided into two regions - Astrakhan and Caucasian.

The new division of the territory of the empire (the Catherine reform of 1775-1785) was completed, and it began to be divided into 38 governorships, 3 provinces (Petersburg, Moscow and Pskov) and 1 region with the rights of governorship (Taurida). According to Arseniev's data, in the Russian Empire at the end of 1785 there were the following provinces (Table 8).

Table 8
Provinces of the Russian Empire in 1785

Viceroyalty, provinces, regions

Date of formation

Population, shower

Arkhangelskoe

Vladimirskoe

Vologda

Voronezh

Vyborgskoe

Yekaterinoslavskoe

Irkutsk

Caucasian

Kazanskoe

Kaluga

Kievskoe

Kolyvanskoe

Kostroma

Mogilevskoe

Moscow province

Nizhny Novgorod

Novgorodskoe

Novgorod-Severskoe

Olonetskoe

Orlovskoe

Penza

Perm

Polotsk

Pskov province

Revelskoe

Ryazanskoe

Saint Petersburg province

Saratov

Simbirsk

Smolenskoe

Tauride region

Tambov

Tverskoe

Tobolskoe

Tula

Ufa

Kharkiv

Chernigov

Yaroslavskoe

Dwellings of the Don Cossacks

Source: Arseniev (1848, pp. 117-129), with corrections by the author.

The size and boundaries of most of the governorships in European Russia, formed in 1775-1785, remained practically unchanged until the 1920s, except for the short period of reforms of the ATD under Paul I.

With the acquisition by Russia of new lands in the south and west in the early 90s of the XVIII century. new governorships were formed: in 1793 - Minsk, Izyaslavskoe (Volyn), Bratslavskoe (Podolia); in 1795 - Voznesenskoe (south-west of Novorossiya) and Courland, and Izyaslavskoe viceroyalty was divided into two new ones - Volyn and Podolsk; in 1796 - Vilenskoe and Slonimskoe.

As a result, by the end of the reign of Catherine II, Russia was divided into 50 governorships and provinces and 1 region (a total of 51 top-level ATD units).

Pavlovsk reform (enlargement)

With the accession to the throne of Paul I, the previously created governorships were temporarily consolidated, which were officially renamed in the province. At the same time, by decree of December 12, 1796, the provinces of Olonets, Kolyvan, Bratslav, Chernigov, Novgorod-Severskaya, Voznesenskaya, Yekaterinoslav, Tauride regions, Saratov, Polotsk, Mogilev, Vilenskaya and Slonim (that is, 13 provinces) were abolished. In addition, a new division of provinces into counties was established, and the number of counties was reduced, some of the county towns were transferred to subordinate ones.

Olonets province was divided between Arkhangelsk and Novgorod, Kolyvan - between Tobolsk and Irkutsk, Saratov - between Penza and Astrakhan, Bratslav - between Podolsk and Kiev.

Abolished Voznesenskaya, Yekaterinoslavskaya provinces and Tauride regions. were united into the huge Novorossiysk province (its center Yekaterinoslav was renamed Novorossiysk).

The abolished Chernigov and Novgorod-Severskaya provinces were merged into one Little Russian province, the former Polotsk and Mogilev provinces - into one Belarusian province (center - Vitebsk), Vilna and Slonim - into one Lithuanian (center - Vilna).

Several provinces were renamed and enlarged: Kharkovskaya began to be called Slobodsko-Ukrainian (restored within the borders of 1780), Caucasian - again Astrakhan, Ufa - Orenburg (the center was transferred from Ufa to Orenburg). The Riga province began to be called the Livonian province, the Revel province - the Estland province.

In March 1797, the Penza province was renamed into Saratov, and its center was transferred from Penza to Saratov. In October of the same year, most of the former Penza province was divided between neighboring Tambov, Simbirsk, Nizhny Novgorod provinces. In July 1797, the enlargement of the Kiev province was carried out. Paul I canceled all the changes made by Potemkin to the control of the Don army.

In the course of the Pavlovsk reform, the number of provinces decreased from 51 to 42, and the counties were also enlarged. The main idea of ​​the reform of Paul I was the enlargement of the provinces (Table 9).

Restoration of Catherine's and the formation of new provinces in the 19th century

Table 9
Provinces of the Russian Empire in 1800

Provinces

Date of formation

Arkhangelsk

Astrakhan

Belarusian

Vladimirskaya

Vologda

Volynskaya

Voronezh

Vyborgskaya

Irkutsk

Kazan

Kaluga

Kievskaya

Kostroma

Courland

Lithuanian

Liflyandskaya

Little Russian

Moscow

Nizhny Novgorod

Novgorod

Novorossiysk

Orenburg

Orlovskaya

Perm

Podolskaya

Pskov

Ryazan

St. Petersburg

Saratov

Simbirsk

Slobodsko-Ukrainian

Smolensk

Tambov

Tverskaya

Tobolsk

Tula

Estland

Yaroslavl

Dwellings of the Don Cossacks

With the accession to the throne of Alexander I in 1801, the former grid of provinces was restored, but a number of new Pavlovian provinces remained. By the decree of September 9, 1801, 5 provinces abolished by Pavel were restored within the old borders until 1796, including Olonets, Penza; The Lithuanian province was abolished and divided into Vilna and Grodno (former Slonim). Included in the empire, Georgia received the status of a province.

In January 1802, the Little Russian province, created by Pavel, was abolished, which was divided into the old Chernigov and the new Poltava (which coincides in many respects with the Novgorod-Seversk province, which was liquidated in 1796). In March 1802, the Belarusian province was liquidated, which split into Mogilev and Vitebsk provinces. At the same time, the center of the Orenburg province from Orenburg was transferred again to Ufa. In October 1802, another Pavlovsk province, Novorossiysk, was reclassified. Its territory was divided between three provinces - Nikolaev (in 1803 its center was transferred from Nikolaev to Kherson and the name of the province changed to Kherson), Yekaterinoslav and Tauride. At the end of 1802, the Vyborg province was renamed Finland.

Thus, by the end of 1802, of the Pavlovian innovations of 1796, only the Slobodsko-Ukrainian province remained "alive", but only nominally, since 3 of its Slobozhansky districts (Bogucharsky, Ostrogozhsky, Starobelsky) were returned to the previous owner - the Voronezh province. True, the Kolyvan province was not restored. In fact, thanks to the reform of Alexander I, all of Paul's enlargement measures were reduced to zero. In addition, the number of counties was increased, that is, their size was reduced on average.

In 1803, the Astrakhan province was divided into two independent - the Caucasian (center - Georgievsk) and Astrakhan. In 1822, the Caucasian province was transformed into the Caucasian region, and its center was transferred to Stavropol.

In 1803-1805. there were small changes in Siberia. From the Irkutsk province in 1803, the Kamchatka region was separated into an independent region (however, already in 1822 it was deprived of independence and again subordinated to Irkutsk under the name of the Kamchatka Primorsky Administration), in 1805 - an independent Yakutsk region. In February 1804, instead of the Kolyvan province abolished by Pavel, a new Tomsk province was organized within approximately the same boundaries (separated from the Tobolsk province).

In 1808, from the annexed lands, the Bialystok region was formed, in 1809 Finland was annexed with its ATD, in 1810 - the Tarnopol region (returned to Austria in 1815), in 1810 - the Imereti region, in 1811 - Finland (former Vyborg) province was included in the Finnish principality. In 1812, Bessarabia was annexed to Russia (in 1818 the Bessarabian region was organized here, which was transformed in 1873 into the Bessarabian province), in 1815 according to the Vienna Congress - the Kingdom of Poland (Congressuvka).

In January 1822, according to the reform of M.M. Speransky, the entire territory of Siberia was divided into 2 general governorships - West Siberian (center - Omsk) and East Siberian (center - Irkutsk). The first of them included the provinces of Tobolsk and Tomsk, as well as the newly allocated Omsk region, and the second - the newly organized Yenisei (center - Krasnoyarsk) and the former Irkutsk province, as well as the Yakutsk region, the coastal departments of Okhotsk and Kamchatka, the Troitsk border with China. Savskoe management. Speransky put into effect the "Decree on Siberian Kirghiz", according to which special administration of the Kirghiz-Kaisaks (Kazakhs) was introduced in the territory of the present north of Kazakhstan with 2 districts subordinate to Omsk.

In 1825, there were 49 provinces in Russia (32 Russians, 13 special and 4 Siberian) and 7 regions (Bessarabian, Caucasian, troops of the Don, Belostok, Imereti, Omsk and Yakutsk; the number of "special" provinces included 3 Ostsee (Baltic) , 8 western (Belarus and western Ukraine) and 2 Little Russian.

In 1835, the lands of the Donskoy army were divided into 7 civil districts. In the same year, the Slobodsko-Ukrainian province was returned to its old Catherine's name - Kharkov.

In 1838, the Omsk region was abolished, part of which, including Omsk and Petropavlovsk, was assigned to the Tobolsk province, and the rest, including Semipalatinsk and Ust-Kamenogorsk, to the Tomsk province. At the same time, Omsk became the center of the frontier and military administration of the Governor-General of Western Siberia.

In 1840, in the western part of the Transcaucasus, the Georgian-Imereti province was created (center - Tiflis), and in the east - the Caspian region (center - Shemakha; Azerbaijan and Dagestan). The latter included the whole of Dagestan, which was included in Russia in parts in 1806-1813. In 1844 the Dzharo-Belokan region. and the Ilisu sultanate in Transcaucasia were united into the Dzharo-Belokansky district, which in 1859 was renamed Zakatala. In December 1846 Transcaucasia was divided into 4 new provinces: the Georgian-Imereti province - into Tiflis and Kutaisi, and the Caspian region. - to the Shemakha and Derbent provinces.

In 1842, a new Kovno province was separated from the northern parts of the Vilna province, and in 1843 the Bialystok region was liquidated, the territory of which was included in the Grodno province.

In May 1847 the Caucasian region. was renamed into the Stavropol province.

As of 1847, there were 55 provinces and 3 regions in the Russian Empire (Table 10).

Table 10
Provinces of the Russian Empire in 1846-1847

Provinces, regions

Date of formation

Population, shower

Area, km2

Arkhangelsk

Astrakhan

Bessarabian region

Vilenskaya

Vitebsk

Vladimirskaya

Vologda

Volynskaya

Voronezh

Grodno

Derbent

Ekaterinoslavskaya

Yeniseiskaya

Irkutsk

Kazan

Kaluga

Kievskaya

Kovenskaya

Kostroma

Courland

Kutaisi

Liflyandskaya

Mogilev

Moscow

Nizhny Novgorod

Novgorod

Olonetskaya

Orenburg

Orlovskaya

Penza

Perm

Podolskaya

Poltava

Pskov

Ryazan

St. Petersburg

Saratov

Simbirsk

Smolensk

Stavropol

Tavricheskaya

Tambov

Tverskaya

Tiflis

Tobolsk

Tula

Kharkiv

1780 (1796, 1835)

Kherson

1803 (1795, 1802)

Chernihiv

Shemakhinskaya

Estland

Yakutsk region

Yaroslavl

Land of the Donskoy army

The administrative-territorial division of the country into the provinces was introduced immediately after the uprisings of 1707-1709, when the inability of the old provincial administration to prevent unrest on the ground was revealed. Governors with great power were placed at the head of the provinces, and vice-governors were their assistants. The first governors appointed especially trusted persons from the entourage of Peter I (Moscow province - T.N. Streshnev, Petersburg province - A.D. Menshikov, who held this title since 1704, Azov province - Admiral F.M. Apraksin, Siberian province - M. P. Gagarin). In 1713-1719. the governors ruled the provinces together with the "landrates" elected (8-12 people in each province) by the local nobility. In 1719, the number of provinces was increased to 11 (the Riga, Revel, Astrakhan, Nizhny Novgorod provinces were established and the Smolensk province was abolished).

For Russia, with its vast territory, the grid and the principle of administrative-territorial division have always been the most important components of the state structure. The division of the territory of the state into administrative-territorial units, their enlargement or downsizing were dictated by the current political needs of the state.

The process of evolution of the administrative-territorial division of Russia began in the 16th century, with the formation of a single Russian state, the development of which was accompanied by the gradual elimination of appanages. In the 17th century, the territory of Russia was divided into counties, in many cases roughly corresponding to the former principalities.

By the decree of Peter I of December 18, 1708, the territory of Russia was divided into 8 large provinces: Moscow, Ingermanland (from 1710 St. Petersburg), Arkhangelsk, Kiev, Smolensk, Kazan, Azov, Siberian. The internal division of the provinces changed: in 1710-1715. they were divided into chief-commandant provinces, in 1715-1719. - on Landrat shares (administrative and fiscal units). In 1713, on the newly annexed lands in the northwest, the Riga province was formed, at the same time the territory of the Smolensk province was divided between the Riga and Moscow provinces. In 1717, the Astrakhan province was separated from the southern part of the Kazan province.

By decree of May 29, 1719, a new reform of the provinces was carried out. Landrat shares were abolished, provinces were divided into provinces, and provinces into districts. Under the reform of 1727, the districts were liquidated, and the counties were restored instead. Gradually, new provinces arose due to the downsizing of the previous ones: Nizhegorodskaya, Revelskaya, Belgorodskaya, Novgorodskaya. In total, after the reform of 1727, there were 14 provinces and about 250 counties in the empire.

During the first period of the reign of Empress Catherine II (1762-1796), there were some changes in the administrative-territorial division. They mainly consisted in the formation of new provinces on the annexed lands. In the south, the Novorossiysk province was established (with the center in Kremenchug), and in the Left-Bank Ukraine - the Little Russian province, divided into 10 regiments, subordinate to the Little Russian governor-general. A new Slobodsko-Ukrainian province (centered in Kharkov) was formed from the southern parts of the Belgorod and Voronezh provinces. After the first partition of the Commonwealth in 1772, the Pskov (center - Opochka) and Mogilev provinces were created on the newly annexed lands. Due to the new lands acquired in the south by the Kuchuk-Kainardzhiyskiy peace of 1774, a new Azov province was formed (which included the lands of the Don troops). At the same time, the Zaporozhye Sich was liquidated, and its lands were annexed to the Novorossiysk province. In Siberia, a separate Irkutsk province was allocated. As a result, the territory of the empire began to be divided into 23 provinces and 62 provinces.

As a result of the provincial reform of 1775, the size of the provinces decreased, their number doubled, the provinces were liquidated, regions were allocated within a number of provinces, and the borders of the counties were changed. On average, 300-400 thousand people now lived in the province, and 20-30 thousand people in the district. The process of reorganizing the old provinces into new ones, which began to be called governorships (with the exception of the Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kolyvan provinces, as well as the Tauride region), stretched for 10 years (until 1785).

With the acquisition of new lands by the Russian Empire in the south and west, new governorships and provinces were formed. After the second partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1793, the Minsk, Izyaslav and Bratslav provinces appeared. In the same year, Empress Catherine II granted the Don Cossack an eternal possession of the land on which it was located, this territory was called the Land of the Don Cossacks. In 1795, Voznesenskoe (south-west of Novorossiya) and Courland governorship, Vilna and Slonim provinces were created on the annexed lands; Minsk and Bratslav provinces were transformed into governorships, Izyaslavskaya governorates were reorganized, as a result of which Podolsk and Volyn governorships were created. By 1796, the Russian Empire was divided into 44 governorships, 5 provinces, 1 region; the Land of the Don Cossacks was a separate unit.

During the reign of Emperor Paul I (1796-1801), a new reform of the administrative-territorial division took place. The names of the provinces were returned to all governorships. Many of them have been renamed and enlarged. During the Pavlovian reform, the number of higher administrative-territorial divisions decreased from 51 to 42.

Emperor Alexander I (1801-1825) began to restore the former grid of provinces. In fact, during the reform of Alexander I, all the "enlarging" measures of Paul I were canceled. Throughout the XIX century. the formation of new administrative-territorial units took place mainly in the newly annexed territories (Bessarabia, Finland, Poland, Transcaucasia, middle Asia), in part - due to the reform and downsizing of existing ones (in Siberia, the Volga region, in the Urals, Far East). In 1861, in connection with the peasant reform, there were changes in the structure of local government, since the counties began to be divided into volosts. Territories on the outskirts of the empire were usually called provinces, not provinces. By 1914, most of the regions were part of 4 general governorships (Irkutsk, Amur, Steppe, Turkestan) and the Caucasian governorship.

Provinces were headed by governors, in some cases by governors-general (Azov - at the beginning of the 18th century, St. Petersburg - in the 18th-19th centuries, Moscow - in the 18th - early 20th centuries). The provincial administration consisted of a number of officials subordinate to the governor, among them - the vice-governor, in the XVIII-XIX centuries. - officials directly in charge of collecting taxes (chief commissar), military affairs (chief commandant), providing food and fodder for troops stationed in the province (chief food master), court cases (landricht). In 1713, to resolve issues of local government in the province and represent the interests of the county nobility, a Landrat Council was formed under the governor. It consisted of 8-12 landrates elected by the local nobility (depending on the size of the province), the governor in the council had two votes. Under the jurisdiction of the Landrates (two of them permanently stayed in the provincial town) were the Landrat Chanceries (disbanded in 1719). In 1715, the Landrates were also entrusted with the responsibility of managing the shares. Landrats in 1719-1720 were transferred to the disposal of the Chamber Collegium for appointment to other places (in the Baltic provinces, the Landrat Councils remained until 1786). At the same time, a number of local institutions were formed in the provinces: offices - search files, waldmeister files, "testimonies of souls", as well as renters, offices of chamberlains and recruiting affairs, etc. (some of them were liquidated in 1726-1727). Since 1728, the direct management of the provinces was carried out by the governors through the provincial chancellery, to which the provincial chancelleries were subordinate, and to them, in turn, the county offices.

According to the provincial reform of 1775, provincial boards, orders of public charity, and also treasury chambers were created in the provincial cities (in 1862, the management of indirect taxes from them passed to the excise departments). Maintenance of order on the territory of the province in the European part of the Russian Empire in 1811-1864. carried out internal guard, then various formations of local troops. For the collection, processing and publication of statistical data from 1834-1835. in the provinces, provincial statistical committees were created. Since 1837, the Gubernskiye Vedomosti newspapers have been published in a number of provinces. In 1864, in 34 provinces of European Russia (by 1916 - in 43 provinces), in accordance with the zemstvo reform, elected bodies of local all-class self-government were formed - provincial and district zemstvos, in their jurisdiction were issues of local economy, health care, education, statistics, etc. . In the 1860s. under the governor, provincial presences began to be created, most of which were local institutions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. The local bodies of the Ministry of State Property (since 1894 - the Ministry of Agriculture and State Property) were chambers (since 1866 - management) of state property operating within several provinces. To carry out the Stolypin agrarian reform in 1906, first in a number of provinces, and since 1911, land management commissions - local bodies of the Main Directorate of Land Management and Agriculture (since 1915 - the Ministry of Agriculture) - operated everywhere.

After the February Revolution of 1917, the Provisional Government was faced with the need to make certain changes in the administrative-territorial division, since since the end of the 19th century. there were projects for its unbundling, as well as the device of new provinces in areas where industry was growing rapidly. In 1914-1917. the press actively discussed the need to organize new provinces in the central part of the country and in Siberia. The Provisional Government took the first steps in this direction, but they were interrupted by the October Revolution of 1917 and the outbreak of the Civil War. In the first years of the existence of the Soviet state, the provinces were preserved, they were governed by the provincial executive committees, elected at the provincial congresses of councils. During the first Soviet reform of the administrative-territorial division (1923-1929), the provinces were liquidated, they were replaced by regions and territories.