Azov Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, which existed from 1775 to 1783. Its capital was in Belyov Fortress and later in

Yekaterinoslav Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

Geography and history

Azov Governorate was located in the northeastern Azov littoral region and covered only the southern half of the previously existing Azov Governorate of 1708–25. The new division was created from the southern Bakhmut Province of Voronezh Governorate and the self-governed frontier region of

Slavo-Serbia Slavo-Serbia or Slaveno-Serbia was a territory of Imperial Russia from 1753 to 1764. It was located to the south of the Donets River, between the Bakhmutka River and Luhan River. This area today is located within present-day Luhansk Oblast a ...

, but primarily it was based on the recently created and quickly liquidated lands of the Don Host. Some of the lands of the Azov Governorate had been acquired by Russia from the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

per the terms of the

Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (; ), formerly often written Kuchuk-Kainarji, was a peace treaty signed on , in Küçük Kaynarca (today Kaynardzha, Bulgaria and Cuiugiuc, Romania) between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, ending the R ...

(signed in 1774) that were lost in 1711 due to the Pruth River Campaign in the

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n region. In terms of the modern administrative division of Russia, the southern part of

Rostov Oblast Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblastʹ, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast ...

was part of the second Azov Governorate. In terms of modern Ukraine, most of East Ukraine was part of the Azov Governorate. To the west it bordered the Novorossiysk Governorate (

Kremenchug Kremenchuk (; , , also spelt Kremenchug, ) is an industrial city in central Ukraine which stands on the banks of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. The city serves as the administrative center of Kremenchuk Raion and Kremenchuk urban hromada within ...

) created out of the recently liquidated

Zaporizhian Sich The Zaporozhian Sich (, , ; also ) was a semi-autonomous polity and proto-state of Zaporozhian Cossacks that existed between the 16th to 18th centuries, for the latter part of that period as an autonomous stratocratic state within the Cossa ...

, to the south - the Azov Sea and the

Kuban Kuban ( Russian and Ukrainian: Кубань; ) is a historical and geographical region in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, the Volga Delta and separated fr ...

region (under the

suzerainty A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy">polity.html" ;"title="state (polity)">state or polity">state (polity)">st ...

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...

), to the northwest - the

Sloboda Ukraine Governorate Kharkov Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire founded in 1835. It embraced the historical region of Sloboda Ukraine. From 1765 to 1780 and from 1796 to 1835 the governorate was called Sloboda U ...

(

Kharkov Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

), to the north - the Voronezh Governorate, and to the east - the Astrakhan Governorate. The Azov Governorate was also in charge of a number of fortresses around the Crimean peninsula that Russia received from Ottoman Empire and the city of

Kerch Kerch, also known as Keriç or Kerich, is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of Crimea. It has a population of Founded 2,600 years ago as the Colonies in antiquity#Greek colonies, ancient Greek colony Pantik ...

which controls the

Strait of Kerch The Kerch Strait is a strait in Eastern Europe. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west from the Taman Peninsula of Russia's Krasnodar Krai in the east. The strait is to wide and u ...

and access to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

Included territories

''In 1775:'' * lands: Bakhmut Province (including

) and portions of the

Don Host Oblast Don Host Oblast was a province (''oblast'') of the Russian Empire which consisted of the territory of the Don Cossacks, coinciding approximately with present-day Rostov Oblast in Russia. Its administrative center was Cherkassk, and later Nov ...

* fortresses: Saint Demetrius (today part of

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East European Plain on the Don River, from the Sea of Azov, directly north of t ...

), Yeni-Kale, Tor ( Sloviansk with adjacent lands), and Kinburn (including the Ochakov steppe, former Prohnoyivska palanka) * cities:

Taganrog Taganrog (, ) is a port city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, on the north shore of Taganrog Bay in the Sea of Azov, several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don (river), Don River. It is in the Black Sea region. Population: Located at the site of a ...

and

* New Dnieper Line (fortification line) ''1776:'' * Yekaterine Province from Novorossiysk Governorate * the autonomous administration in

was discontinued Beginning around the 1780s, the Azov Governorate was divided into counties (

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd or uiezd; rus, уе́зд ( pre-1918: уѣздъ), p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context () was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the R ...

). The governorate was divided into two provinces, Yekaterine and

Bakhmut Bakhmut is a city in eastern Ukraine. It is officially the administrative center of Bakhmut urban hromada and Bakhmut Raion in Donetsk Oblast. The city is located on the Bakhmutka River, about north of Donetsk, the administrative center ...

which in turn were divided into a total of nine

s. In less than ten years the government of Azov once again was liquidated after it was merged along with the Novorossiysk Governorate into the Vice-royalty of Yekaterinoslav in 1783.

List of uyezds

* Novomoskovsky Uyezd (Yekaterinoslavsky) * Alexandrovsky Uyezd * Pavlogradsky Uyezd (Pavlovsky) *

Mariupolsky Uyezd The Mariupol uezd (; ) was one of the subdivisions of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate of the Russian Empire. It was situated in the southeastern part of the governorate. Its administrative centre was Mariupol. Demographics At the time of the Russ ...

* Konstantinogradsky Uyezd * Taganrogsky Uyezd * Bakhmutsky Uyezd * Slovyansky Uyezd * Tsarychansky Uyezd

Administration

The Azov Government along with Novorossiysk, Astrakhan, and Saratov governments united under the Potyomkin's Novorossiysk General Government * 1775-1779

Grigory Potemkin Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tauricheski (A number of dates as late as 1742 have been found on record; the veracity of any one is unlikely to be proved. This is his "official" birth-date as given on his tombstone.) was a Russian mi ...

The administration of the governorate was performed by a governor. The governors of the second Azov Governorate were * 1775–1781 Vasily Alexeyevich Chertkov; * 1781-? Georgy Gavrilovich Gersevanov.

Nationality

* By the Imperial census of 1778.Language Statistics of 1897

References

External links

* * {{Coord, 47, 06, N, 39, 25, E, display=title Governorates of the Russian Empire States and territories established in 1775 1775 establishments in the Russian Empire 1783 disestablishments in the Russian Empire 1770s in Ukraine 1780s in Ukraine Sea of Azov