Supernumerary town (russian: Заштатный город, zashtatny gorod; russian: безуездный город, bezuyezdny gorod, lit=county-less city, label=none, ") was a type of a city in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

which was not an

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or ...

of any territory. During the reign of

Catherine II of Russia , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anhal ...

, when an ''

uezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

'' was disbanded, its administratice centre typically lost its status as a city, with the corresponding loss of city privileges of its inhabitants. To bypass this, a new category of urban settlements was introduced. The 1796 reform of the administrative division by Emperor

Paul I of Russia Paul I (russian: Па́вел I Петро́вич ; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination. Officially, he was the only son of Peter III of Russia, Peter III and Catherine the Great, although Catherine hinted that he w ...

decreased the number of ''uyezds'' and their centers were reclassified as supernumerary towns. The reform established the population number as a criterion for a supernumerary town. In the second half of the 19th century the governorate centres constituted 8 percent of cities, ''uezd'' cities counted 71 percent, and supernumerary towns counted 21 percent. Over time the term ''zashtatny gorod'' has acquired the meaning of an insignificant/backwater city.

References

{{reflist Government of the Russian Empire Types of cities History of the administrative divisions of Russia

See also

References