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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 Grand Duchy of Moscow, Muscovite Russia, Muscovite Rus' or Grand Principality of Moscow (russian: Великое княжество Московское, Velikoye knyazhestvo Moskovskoye; also known in English simply as Muscovy from the Lat ...
, the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, 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 th ...
, and the early
Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
, 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 A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
".


General description

Originally describing groups of several
volost Volost ( rus, во́лость, p=ˈvoləsʲtʲ; ) was a traditional administrative subdivision in Eastern Europe. In earlier East Slavic history, '' volost'' was a name for the territory ruled by the knyaz, a principality; either as an absolut ...
s, they formed around the most important cities. Uezds were ruled by the appointees ('' namestniki'') of a
knyaz , or (Old Church Slavonic: Кнѧзь) is a historical Slavic title, used both as a royal and noble title in different times of history and different ancient Slavic lands. It is usually translated into English as prince or duke, dependi ...
and, starting from the 17th century, by voyevodas. In 1708, an administrative reform was carried out by
Peter the Great Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
, dividing Russia into governorates. The subdivision into uyezds was abolished at that time but was reinstated in 1727, as a result of
Catherine I Catherine I ( rus, Екатери́на I Алексе́евна Миха́йлова, Yekaterína I Alekséyevna Mikháylova; born , ; – ) was the second wife and empress consort of Peter the Great, and Empress Regnant of Russia from 1725 u ...
's administrative reform. By the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
administrative reform of 1923–1929, most of the uezds were transformed into
raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is co ...
s (districts). In Ukraine, uezds were reformed into forty okruhas which were the primary-level of administrative division from 1925 to 1930.


Baltic governorates

In the Baltic governorates the type of division was known as Kreis.


Bessarabia

The uezds of
Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate (, ) was a part of the Russian Empire from 1812 to 1917. Initially known as Bessarabia Oblast (Бессарабская область, ''Bessarabskaya oblast'') as well as, following 1871, a governorate, it included ...
were called Ținut or
Județ A ''județ'' (, plural ) is an administrative division in Romania, and was also used from 1940 to 1947 in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and from 1998 to 2003 in Moldova. ''Județ'' translates into English as "jurisdiction", but is co ...
in Romanian, which would translate as "county".


Ukraine

The Ukrainian word for ''uezd'' is '' povit'' ( uk, повіт, plural uk, повіти, translit=povity, label=none), also called ''
powiat A ''powiat'' (pronounced ; Polish plural: ''powiaty'') is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture ( LAU-1, formerly NUTS-4) in other countries. The term "''powiat ...
'' under Polish administration.


See also

* List of uezds of the Russian Empire * History of the administrative division of Russia * Gubernia


External links


"Administrative territorial division of Russia in the 18th-20th centuries" («Административно-территориальное деление России XVIII—XX веков»)
"Otechestvennye Zapiski", No.6, 2002. * Тархов, Сергей, "Изменение административно-территориального деления России в XIII-XX в."
pdf
, ''Логос''

{{Slavic terms for country subdivisions Subdivisions of the Russian Empire Local government in the Russian Empire Types of administrative division Russian-language designations of territorial entities