A governorate is an administrative division of a state. It is headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term governorate is often used in translation from non-English-speaking administrations.
The most common usage are as a translation of Persian "Farmandari" or the Arabic Muhafazah . [1] It may also refer to the guberniya and general-gubernatorstvo of Imperial Russia or the gobiernos of Imperial Spain.
The term governorate is widely used in Arab countries to describe an administrative unit. Some governorates combine more than one Muhafazah ; others closely follow traditional boundaries inherited from the Ottoman Empire's vilayet system.
With the exception of Tunisia, all translations into the term governorate originate in the Arabic word muhafazah.
In the Portuguese Empire, a governorate general (Portuguese: governo-geral) were a colonial administration. They usually were created in order to be a centralized government over smaller colonies or territories of the Portuguese Empire.
Governorate Generals of the Portuguese Empire:
In the Spanish Empire, the gobernaciones ("governorships" or "governorates") were an administrative division, roughly analogous to a province directly beneath the level of the audiencia or captaincy general, and the viceroy in areas directly under the viceroy's administration. The powers and duties of a governor were identical to a corregidor but a governor managed a larger or more prosperous area than the former.
In the modern German states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, and North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as others in the past, there are sub-state administrative regions called Regierungsbezirk , which is sometimes translated into English as "governorate" or "county." [2] [3]
During the time of the Third Reich, a "General Government for the Occupied Polish Areas" (German: Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete) existed. The German (based on a traditional Prussian term) is sometimes translated as General Governorate.
During World War II, Romania administrated three governorates: the Bessarabia Governorate, the Bukovina Governorate and the Transnistria Governorate.
When Ukraine claimed autonomy in 1917 and then independence from Russia in 1918, it inherited the imperial subdivision of its land with nine governorates, two okruhas, and three cities with special status. Each governorate (Ukrainian huberniia) was subdivided by the smaller unit of county ( povit ) and still smaller volost .
By the end of the Soviet-Ukrainian war in 1920, the Soviets had made them part of the Ukrainian SSR. [4] Soviet Ukraine was reorganized into twelve governorates, which were reduced to nine in 1922, and then replaced with okruhas in 1925. [5]
Under the Fundamental Law of Vatican City State, the pope's executive authority for Vatican City is exercised by the Governorate for Vatican City State. The President of Vatican City's legislative body is ex officio the President of the Governorate. The other key officers of the Governorate are the General Secretary and the Vice General Secretary. All three officers are appointed by the pope for five-year terms. [6]
An okrug is a type of administrative division in some Slavic states. The word okrug is a loanword in English, alternatively translated as area, district, or region.
A governorate, gubernia, province, or government, was a major and principal administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire. After the empire was ended by revolution, they remained as subdivisions in Belarus, the Russian republic, Ukraine, and in the Soviet Union from its formation until 1929. The term is also translated as government, governorate, or province. A governorate was ruled by a governor, a word borrowed from Latin gubernator, in turn from Greek κυβερνήτης.
A wilayah is an administrative division, usually translated as "state", "province" or occasionally as "governorate". The word comes from the Arabic root "w-l-y", "to govern": a wāli—"governor"—governs a wālāya, "that which is governed". Under the Caliphate, the term referred to any constituent near-sovereign state.
Slavo-Serbia or Slaveno-Serbia, was a territory of Imperial Russia from 1753 to 1764. It was located by the right bank of the Donets River between the Bakhmutka River (Bahmutka) and Luhan River. This area today constitutes the territories of the present-day Luhansk Oblast and Donetsk Oblast of Ukraine. The administrative centre of Slavo-Serbia was Bakhmut (Bahmut).
An uezd, or povit in a Ukrainian context, or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR, which was in use from the 13th century. For most of Russian history, uezds were a second-level administrative division. By sense, but not by etymology, uezd approximately corresponds to the English "county".
Heorhiy Narbut was the most important Ukrainian graphic designer of the twentieth century.
The Podolia Governorate or Podillia Governorate, set up after the Second Partition of Poland, was a governorate of the Russian Empire from 1793 to 1917, of the Ukrainian People's Republic from 1917 to 1921, and of the Ukrainian SSR from 1922 to 1991. From 1991 onwards it has been part of Ukraine.
The Kherson Governorate, was an administrative territorial unit, of the Russian Empire located between the Dnieper and Dniester Rivers. It was one of three governorates created in 1802 when the Novorossiya guberniya was abolished. It was known as the Mykolaiv or Nikolayev Governorate until 1803, when Nikolayev was separated into a special Nikolayev War Governorate as a center of the Black Sea Fleet and the governor seat was moved to Kherson.
The Wild Fields is a historical term used in the Polish–Lithuanian documents of the 16th to 18th centuries to refer to the Pontic steppe in the territory of present-day Eastern and Southern Ukraine and Western Russia, north of the Black Sea and Azov Sea. According to Ukrainian historian Vitaliy Shcherbak the term appeared sometime in the 15th century for territory between the Dniester and mid-Volga when colonization of the region by Zaporozhian Cossacks started. Shcherbak notes that the term's contemporaries, such as Michalo Lituanus, Blaise de Vigenère, and Józef Wereszczyński, wrote about the great natural riches of the steppes and the Dnieper basin.
Kiev Governorate was an administrative division of the Russian Empire from 1796 to 1919 and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1919 to 1925. It was formed as a governorate in the right-bank Ukraine region after a division of the Kiev Viceroyalty into the Kiev and the Little Russia Governorates in 1796, with its administrative centre in Kiev. By the early 20th century, it consisted of 12 uyezds, 12 cities, 111 miasteczkos and 7344 other settlements. After the October Revolution, it became part of the administrative division of the Ukrainian SSR. In 1923 it was divided into several okrugs and on 6 June 1925 it was abolished by the Soviet administrative reforms.
An okruha is an historical administrative division of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic that existed between 1923 and 1930. The system was intended as a transitional system between the Russian Imperial division of governorates and the modern equivalent of oblasts.
The Governorate General of Rio de Janeiro was a colonial administration of the Portuguese Empire.
The Governorate General of Bahia was a colonial administration of the Portuguese Empire.
The administrative division of Ukraine in 1918 was inherited from the Russian Empire, and based on the largest unit of the gubernia with smaller subdivisions county or district, and rural district.
Bereznehuvate Raion was a subdivision of Mykolaiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center was the urban-type settlement of Bereznehuvate. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Mykolaiv Oblast to four. The area of Bereznehuvate Raion was merged into Bashtanka Raion. The last estimate of the raion population was 19,344
Kolomak Raion was a raion (district) in Kharkiv Oblast of Ukraine. Its administrative center was the urban-type settlement of Kolomak. The raion was abolished on 18 July 2020 as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, which reduced the number of raions of Kharkiv Oblast to seven. The area of Kolomak Raion was merged into Bohodukhiv Raion. The last estimate of the raion population was 6,677
Novorossiya, literally "New Russia", is a historical name, used during the era of the Russian Empire for an administrative area that would later become the southern mainland of Ukraine: the region immediately north of the Black Sea and Crimea. The province fell largely within a slightly wider area known in Ukrainian as the Stepovyna "Steppe Land", or Nyz "Lower Land". The name Novorossiya entered official usage in 1764, after the Russian Empire conquered the Crimean Khanate, and annexed its territories, when Novorossiya Governorate was founded. Official usage of the name ceased after 1917, when the entire area was incorporated in the Ukrainian People's Republic.
Mykhaylo Osadchy was a Ukrainian journalist, poet, writer, and dissident.
The union of Bukovina with Romania was declared in 28 November 1918, being officially recognized by the international community in 1919 and 1920.
Ivan Katchanovski, Ukrainian: Іван Гнатович Качановський is a Ukrainian Canadian political scientist. He teaches at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. Katchanovski specializes in research in democratization, comparative politics, political communication, and conflicts, in particular, in Ukraine, and especially the origins of Russo-Ukrainian War.