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Yekaterinoslav Governorate

Екатеринославская губернiя

A historic map of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate.
Capital city	Yekaterinoslav
Area	76,912 km² (1925)
Population (1897)  - Density	2,113,700 p/km²
Uyezds	8 (1802-1874) 9 (1874-1887) 8 (1887-1925)
Major towns	Aleksandrovsk, Krovoy Rog, Mariupol, Pavlograd Yekaterinoslav
Nationalities (1914)  - Ukrainians  - Russians  - Jews  - Other	69.5% 18.2% 4.2% 8%
Dates of existence	1802 to 1925
An old postcard depicting Yekaterinoslav (Dnipopetrovsk) the governorate's capital at the time.

The Yekaterinoslav Governorate (Russian: Екатеринославская губернiя; translit.: Yekaterinoslavskaya guberniya) was an administrative-territorial unit in the Russian Empire. Its capital was the city of Yekaterinoslav, (modern Dnipropetrovsk).

In 1764, the Novorossiya guberniya had been created to administer much of the southern steppe after the removal of the Zaporozhian Host and integrating it into Russia proper. The governorate was replaced by the Yekaterinoslav Vicegerency in 1783 but was again reinstated in 1796. In 1802, its territory was divided among the newly created Nikolayev Governorate (from 1803 Kherson Governorate), Taurida Governorate, and Yekaterinoslav Governorate. The newly created Yekaterinoslav Governorate consisted was subdivided into the following uyezds:

• Yekaterinoslav (Екатеринославъ)
• Verkhnodneprovsk (Верходнѣпровскъ)
• Bakhmut (Бахмутъ)
• Novomoskovsk (Новомосковскъ)
• Aleksandrovsk (Александровскъ)
• Pavlograd (Павлоград)
• Slavyanoserbsk (Славяносербскъ)
• Rostov-na-Donu (Ростовъ-на-Дону)

In 1874, the Mariupol (Марiуполь) uyezd was split off the Aleksanrovsk one, and in 1887, the Rostov-na-Donu uyezd was transferred to the Oblast of the Don Host. In the course of the Russian Civil War the governorate was further divided and parts of its territory formed the breifly existing Aleksandrovsk (renamed Zaporozhye), Kremenchug and Donetsk governorates in 1920.

In 1923, the governorate of administration was terminated, and its territory, 76,912 km², was divided among seven okrugs: Yekaterinoslav, Aleksandrovsk, Berdyansk, Zaporozhye, Krivoy Rog, Melitopol, and Pavlograd. This eventually was condensed into the Oblast divisions, and the territory of the modern Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and the bulk of Zaporizhzhia Oblast correspond to the historical subdivision, as well as parts of the Luhansk Oblast including its present adminstrative centre - Luhansk.

The governorate's population, a majority of peasants, was 662,000 in 1811, 902,400 in 1851, 1,204,800 in 1863, and 1,792,800 in 1885. From the second half of the 19th century, the governorate was the coal-mining and metallurgical center of the then Ukraine, incorporating the Dnieper Industrial Region and the Donbass (Donets Basin).

Its population increased to 2,113,700 by 1897. The nationalities within the governorate were: Russians (then divided into archaic categorisation of Little Russian speakers - 69.5 % and Great Russian speakers - 18.2 %), Jews (4.2 %), Germans (4 %), Greeks (2.3 %), and Tatars (1.1 %). In 1924, the governorate had 3,424,100 (13.6 % urban) inhabitants, living in 5,165 settlements, 36 of them being cities and urban-type settlements. At that time about half of the inhabitants were non-Ukrainian, and the largest social class was that of workers (about 25 %).