Volhynia Governorate, also known as Volyn Governorate, was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire, established in the historical region of Volhynia. It consisted of an area of and a population of 2,989,482 inhabitants. The governorate bordered Grodno and Minsk Governorates to the north, Kiev Governorate to the east, Podolia Governorate to the south, Lublin and Siedlce Governorates, and after 1912, Kholm Governorate and Austria to the west. Its capital was in Novograd-Volynsky until 1804, and then Zhitomir. It corresponded to most of modern-day Volyn, Rivne and Zhytomyr Oblasts of Ukraine and some parts of Brest and Gomel Regions of Belarus.

It was created at the end of 1796 after the Third Partition of Poland from the territory of the short-lived Volhynian Vice-royalty and Wołyń Voivodeship. After the Peace of Riga, part of the governorate became the new Wołyń Voivodeship in the Second Polish Republic, while the other part stayed as a part of the Ukrainian SSR until 1925 when it was abolished on resolution of the All-Ukrainian Central Executive Committee and Counsel of People's Commissars.Vermenych, Ya Volhynian Governorate (Волинська губернія). Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine.

History

Until 1796, the guberniya was administered as a Viceroyalty (namestnichestvo). It was initially centred in Zaslav and was called the Zaslav Viceroyalty. It was primarily created from the Kyiv Voivodeship and in 1795 Volhynian Voivodeship whit boder lands of Ruthenian Voivodeship.

On 24 October 1795, the Third Partition of Poland was imposed by Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire.

Then, on 12 December 1796, Volhynia Governorate was established, encompassing the remaining territory of the Wolyn Voivodeship and the Kyiv Voivodeship.

In 1796, the administration moved to Novograd-Volynsky. However, due to the lack of suitable buildings for administrative purposes, the capital was moved once again to Zhitomir (Zhytomyr).

In 1802, Zhitomir was purchased the properties of Prince Ilyinsky, and in 1804, it officially became the seat of Volhynia Governorate.

From 1832 to 1915, Volhynia Governorate, along with Kiev Governorate and Podolia Governorate, formed part of the Southwestern Krai General-Governorate–a militarized administrative-territorial unit.

In the 1880s, the general-governorate was extended to include other governorates.

In 1897, the population of the guberniya was 2,989,482 and by 1905, it had grown to 3,920,400. The majority of the population in the governorate spoke the Ukrainian language with slight variety of dialects.

Under the Russian Provisional Government administrative power in the governorates was transferred to commissars, who preserved their positions after the proclamation of Ukrainian People's Republic in November 1917. Their power was mostly nominal due to the growth of Bolshevik Soviet influence, especially in industrial areas. During that time served as the gubernial commissar of Volhynia.

During the Ukrainian–Soviet War Zhitomir served as the provisional capital of Ukraine in 1918.

After the return of Central Rada in March 1918 new commissars were appointed along with military commandants. After the establishment of the Hetmanate, in May 1918 those were replaced with Governorate starosts.

After the Polish-Soviet war in 1920, and according to the Peace of Riga (1921) most of the territory became part of the Second Polish Republic and transformed into the Wołyń Voivodeship, with the capital in Łuck (Lutsk). The eastern portion existed until 1925 and was later split into three okruhas: Shepetivka Okruha, Zhytomyr Okruha, and Korosten Okruha.

Heads of Guberniya Revkom 1919 Mikhail Kruchinskiy (concurrently the head of Volyn Cheka)

Volyn Executive Committee 1920 Oleksandr Shumsky 1920 Vasiliy Averin – 1921 Danylevych 1921–1922 Ivan Nikolayenko

Head of Security Services Cheka 1919 Vasyl Viliavko 1919 M.Shuf 1919 Mikhail Kruchinskiy November 1919 – December 1919 Vsevolod Balytsky December 1919 Vasyl Levotsky (acting) – 2 November 1921 Semen Kesselman (Zapadny) January 1922 – 2 June 1922 Janis Biksons

GPU -1923 Pavel Ivonin March 1923 – October 1923 Foma Leoniuk 1 July 1923 – 1 September 1924 Symon Dukelsky 1924 – 1925 Aleksandr Safes (Grozny)

Principal cities Russian Census of 1897

Zhytomir – 65 895 (Jewish – 30 572, Russian – 16 944, Ukrainian – 9 152) Rovno – 24 573 (Jewish – 13 704, Russian – 4 278, Ukrainian – 4 071) Kremenets – 17 704 (Ukrainian – 8 322, Jewish – 6 476, Russian – 1 863) Kovel – 17 697 (Jewish – 8 502, Russian – 4 828, Ukrainian – 2 093) Novograd-Volynsky – 16 904 (Jewish – 9 363, Russian – 2 939, Ukrainian – 2 662) Starokonstantinov – 16 377 (Jewish – 9 164, Ukrainian – 4 886, Russian – 1 402) Lutsk – 15 804 (Jewish – 9 396, Russian – 2 830, Ukrainian – 1 478) Ostrog – 14 749 (Jewish – 9 185, Ukrainian – 2 446, Russian – 2 199) Dubno – 14 257 (Jewish – 7 096, Russian – 2 962, Ukrainian – 2 474) Zaslavl – 12 611 (Jewish – 5 991, Ukrainian – 3 990, Russian – 1 722)

Administrative division

County Capital Arms of capital Area Population(1897 census) Transliteration name Russian Cyrillic Vladimir-Volynsky Владиміро-Волынскій Vladimir-Volynsky 198,688 Dubensky Дубенскій Dubno 158,734 Zhitomirsky Житомірскій Zhitomir 281,387 Zaslavsky Заславскій Zaslavl 93,381 Kovelsky Ковельскій Kovel 121,326 Kremenetsky Кременецкій Kremenets 196,751 Lutsky Луцкій Lutsk 203,761 Novograd-Volynsky Новоградъ-Волынскій Novograd-Volynsky 273,123 Ovruchsky Овручскій Ovruch 194,796 Ostrozhsky Острожскій Ostrog 166,882 Rovensky Ровенскій Rovno 275,119 Starokonstantinovsky Староконстантиновскій Starokostiantinov 211,768

Demographics Language

According to the Russian Empire Census on , the Volhynian Governorate had a population of 2,982,482, including 1,502,803 men and 1,486,679 women. The majority of the population indicated Ukrainian to be their mother tongue, with significant Jewish, Polish, German, and Russian speaking minorities.

+ Linguistic composition of the Volhynian Governorate in 1897 Language Native speakers Percentage Ukrainian 2,095,537 70.26 Jewish 394,774 13.24 Polish 184,161 6.17 German 171,331 5.74 Russian 104,889 3.52 Czech 27,670 0.93 Tatar 3,817 0.13 Belarusian 3,794 0.13 Bashkir 983 0.03 Mordovian 375 0.01 Romanian 314 0.01 Chuvash 308 0.01 Gypsi 286 0.01 French 154 0.00 Cheremis 143 0.00 Latvian 113 0.00 Lithuanian 103 0.00 Votyak 102 0.00 Not-specified 97 0.00 Others 531 0.01 Total 2,982,482 100.00

Religion By the Imperial census of 1897.Religion Statistics of 1897 In bold are religions with more members than the Eastern Orthodox. + Religion Number percentage (%) males females Eastern Orthodox 2,106,521 70.46 Judaism 395,782 13.24 Roman Catholics 298,110 9.97 Lutherans 163,990 5.49 Baptists 10 375 0.35 OtherReligions, number of believers which in all gubernia were less than 10000 (Old Believers, Magometians) 14 704 0.49 +

Notes

References