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Taurida Governorate

Таврическая губерния

Таврійська губернія

The Coat of Arms of the Taurida Governorate used since the second half of the 19th century. However, only a simplified version has been officially adopted.
Capital city	Simferopol
Area	39,497 km² (1925)
Population (1906)  - Density	1,634,700 p/km²
Uyezds	8 (1802-1874) 9 (1874-1887) 8 (1887-1925)
Major towns	Simferopol, Sevastopol, Theodosia, Bakhchisaray Yalta, Tsyurupynsk, Berdiansk, Melitopol
Dates of existence	~1783 to 1918
← Crimean Khanate • Crimean ASSR →

Taurida Governorate (Russian: Таврическая губерния; Ukrainian: Таврійська губернія, Crimean Tatar: Tavrida guberniyası) was a historical governorate of Russia that is now part of Ukraine. It included the Crimean peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River and the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov. The governorate's centre was the city of Simferopol. The province was named after the ancient Greek name of Crimea - Taurida.

The mainland and the peninsular parts of the region differed a lot. The total area of the governorate was 39,497 km² of which the mainland portion consisted of 23,583 km² and is largely black earth steppe land. The population of the whole region was 1,634,700 in 1906. At that time, mainland part of the governorate was mostly populated by Ukrainians and Russians but had significant ethnic minorities of Germans, Bulgarians, and Armenians as well as a Jewish religious minority, while major ethnic groups of the Crimean peninsula were Crimean Tatars and Russians with German, Greek, Armenian and Karaim minorities. Major urban centres were Simferopol, Sevastopol, Theodosia, Bakhchisaray and Yalta in Crimea, and Aleshki (now Tsyurupynsk), Berdyansk, and Melitopol on the mainland.

For further history see: History of Crimea

In 1783, the Khanate of Crimea was annexed by Catherine the Great’s Russia. Soon after this Taurida Governorate (guberniya) was established. It was a part of the Russian Empire until the Russian Revolution of 1918.

Following the 1917 October Revolution, the governorate was reformed as the Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic (Russian: Советская Социалистическая Республика Тавриды - Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika Tavridy) briefly in early 1918 before being overrun by the World War I Central Powers. After the reassertion of Soviet control in 1921, the lands of the governorate were divided between the peninsular Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic under the Russian SFSR and the mainland portions which accrued to the Ukrainian SSR and were divided between what would become (in 1932) the Kherson and Dnepropetrovsk Oblasts. Today the mainland portion forms parts of Kherson and Zaporizhia Oblasts while Crimea is the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, all subdivisions of Ukraine.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

• Map of Taurida (1882)