Podolia Governorate

The Podolia Governorate[lower-alpha 1] or Podillia Governorate[lower-alpha 2][2] was an administrative unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire from 1793 until 1925. Created from the Second Partition of Poland, the governorate was formed from the former Polish Bracław and Podole voivodeships, which are part of the Southwestern Krai along with Volhynia and Kiev. Its capital was located in Kamianets-Podilskyi, which later moved to Vinnytsia. The governorate still existed until the administrative reforms of the Ukrainian SSR, which dissolved it into five okruhas.

Podolian Governorate
Подольская губерния
Подільська губернія
Governorate of Russian Empire (1796–1917), Ukrainian People's Republic (1917–1921), and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1922–1991)
1796–1925
Coat of arms of Podolia
Coat of arms

Podolian Governorate within the Russian Empire
Capital
Area 
• 
42,017 km2 (16,223 sq mi)
Population 
• 1897[1]
3,018,299
History
History 
• Established
23 December 1796
• Abolished
1 August 1925
Preceded by
Podole Voivodeship
Bracław Voivodeship

History
A market scene in Podolia, c. 1864

The Government of Podolia was established right after the Second Partition of Poland in place of the former Podole and Bracław Voivodeships in 1793.

Location

The Podolian Governorate occupied the southwestern frontier of the former Russian empire, bordering Austria-Hungary, and had an area of about 42,000 km2. The administrative centre was Kamenets-Podolskiy until 1914 when it moved to Vinnytsia.

Podolia Governorate was one of the three governorates of the Southwestern Krai administration. In 1917 it was recognized by the Russian Provisional Government to be governed by the General Secretariat of Ukraine as the representative of the Russian Provisional Government in the region.

Administrative division

Uyezd subdivision

Until 1918 the governorate consisted of 12 uyezds (counties):

CountyCounty TownArms of County TownAreaPopulation
(1897 census)
Transliteration nameRussian Cyrillic
BaltskyБалтскийBalta
7,766.25 km2
(2,998.57 sq mi)		391,018
BratslavskyБрацлавскийBratslav
3,079.93 km2
(1,189.17 sq mi)		241,868
VinnitskyВинницкийVinnitsa
2,980.92 km2
(1,150.94 sq mi)		248,314
GaysinskyГайсинскийGaysin
3,383.11 km2
(1,306.23 sq mi)		248,142
Kamenets-PodolskyКаменец-ПодольскийKamenets-Podolsky
2,884.19 km2
(1,113.59 sq mi)		266,350
LetichevskyЛетичевскийLetichev
2,699.14 km2
(1,042.14 sq mi)		184,477
LitinskyЛитинскийLitin
3,322 km2
(1,283 sq mi)		210,502
MogilyovskyМогилёвскийMogilyov
2,746.14 km2
(1,060.29 sq mi)		227,672
NovoushitskyНовоушицкийNovaya Ushitsa
2,840.26 km2
(1,096.63 sq mi)		223,312
OlgopolskyОльгопольскийOlgopol
4,008.14 km2
(1,547.55 sq mi)		284,253
ProskurovskyПроскуровскийProskurov
2,691.06 km2
(1,039.02 sq mi)		226,091
YampolskyЯмпольскийYampol
3,618.01 km2
(1,396.92 sq mi)		266,300
Podolian korchma

Okruha subdivision

On 12 April 1923 all uyezds (counties) were transformed into okruhas (counties), while volosts (districts) – into raions (districts). Okruhas served as a subdivision of government until it was abolished on 1 August 1925. Together with the government of Podilia, the Haisyn okruha was dissolved as well. Some territory of Tulchyn okruha were included into the newly formed Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

  • Vinnytsia
  • Haisyn
  • Kamianets
  • Mohyliv
  • Proskuriv
  • Tulchyn

Principal cities

Russian Census of 1897:

Kamenets/Podolsky
  • Kamenets/Podolsky – 35 934 (Jewish – 16 112, Ukrainian – 9 755, Russian – 7 420)
  • Vinnitsa – 30 563 (Jewish – 11 456, Ukrainian – 10 862, Russian – 5 206)
  • Balta – 23 363 (Jewish – 13 164, Russian – 5 385, Ukrainian – 4 124)
  • Proskurov – 22 855 (Jewish – 11 369, Ukrainian – 4 425, Russian – 3 483)
  • Mogilev/Dnestr – 22 315 (Jewish – 12 188, Ukrainian – 6 512, Russian – 2 668)
  • Zhmerinka – 12 908
  • Khmelnik – 11 657 (Jewish – 5 979, Ukrainian – 5 375, Polish – 150)

Smaller cities
  • Bar – 9 982 (Jewish – 5 764, Ukrainian – 3 332, Russian – 485)
  • Lityn – 9 420 (Jewish – 3 828, Ukrainian – 3 047, Russian – 2 126)
  • Gaysin – 9 374 (Jewish – 4 322, Ukrainian – 3 946, Russian – 884)
  • Olgopol – 8 134 (Ukrainian – 4 837, Jewish – 2 465, Russian – 625)
  • Bratslav – 7 863 (Jewish – 3 275, Ukrainian – 2 608, Russian – 1 782)
  • Letichev – 7 248 (Jewish – 4 105, Ukrainian – 1 719, Polish – 741)
  • Yampol – 6 605 (Ukrainian – 3 282, Jewish – 2 819, Russian – 275)
  • Novaya Ushytsa – 6 371 (Jewish – 2 214, Russian – 2 120, Ukrainian – 1 836)
  • Staraya Ushytsa – 4 176 (Ukrainian – 2 488, Jewish – 1 584, Polish – 57)
  • Salnitsa – 3 699 (Ukrainian – 2 758, Jewish – 899, Polish – 19)
  • Verbovets – 2 311 (Ukrainian – 1 282, Jewish – 661, Polish – 326)

Language
Imperial census of 1897.

The Imperial census of 1897[3] produced the following statistics. Bold type marks languages spoken by more people than the state language. In 1897 3,018,299 people lived in the governorate of Podolia.

Linguistic composition of the Podolia Governorate in 1897[4]
LanguageNative speakersPercentage
Little Russian[lower-alpha 3]2,442,81980.93
Jewish369,30612.24
Great Russian[lower-alpha 3]98,9843.28
Polish69,1562.29
Romanian26,7640.89
German4,0690.13
Tatar2,2960.08
Bashkir1,1130.04
Czech8860.03
White Russian[lower-alpha 3]8340.03
Roma5100.02
Votyak2540.01
French2450.01
Chuvash1370.00
Mordovian1360.00
Latvian1120.00
Cheremis1010.00
Other languages5770.02
TOTAL3,018,299100.00
The Baal Shem Tov's shul in Medzhybizh, Ukraine (c. 1915). The shul no longer exists.
Religious structures

See also

Notes
  1. Russian: Подольская губернія, romanized: Podol'skaya guberniya
  2. Ukrainian: Подільська губернія, romanized: Podilska huberniia
  3. Prior 1918, the Imperial Russian Government classified Russians as the Great Russians, Ukrainians as the Little Russians, and Belarusians as the White Russians. After the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918, the Little Russians identified themselves as "Ukrainian".[5] Also, the Belarusian Democratic Republic which the White Russians identified themselves as "Belarusian".[6]

References
  1. "Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г." [The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire in 1897]. Demoscope Weekly (in Russian).
  2. Mikhail Levchenko. Hanshchyna (Ганьщина Україна). Opyt russko-ukrainskago slovari︠a︡. Tip. Gubernskago upravlenii︠a︡, 1874.
  3. Language Statistics of 1897 (in Russian)
  4. "Demoscope Weekly - Annex. Statistical indicators reference". www.demoscape.ru. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  5. Hamm, Michael F. (2014). Kiev: A Portrait, 1800-1917. Princeton University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-4008-5151-5.
  6. Fortson IV, Benjamin W. (2011). Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. p. 429. ISBN 978-1-4443-5968-8.

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