A povit (Ukrainian: повіт), also known as a county, was a type of historical territorial-administrative and judicial unit in Ukraine, administered by a starosta.[1] Under the Russian Empire, the Russian administration introduced the system of uezds which locally (in Ukrainian language) were still referred in old manner as povits.[2] After Ukraine declared its independence in 1918, povits remained in use until the introduction of raions in 1923.
| Povits of Ukraine | |
|---|---|
 Povits in 1921 following the Treaty of Riga | |
| Category | Second level of subdivision |
| Location |  Ukraine /  Ukrainian SSR |
| Found in | Governorates of Ukraine |
| Created |
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| Abolished |
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| Number | 99 (as of 1923) |
| Government |
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| Subdivisions |
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Description
editCounties were introduced in Ukrainian territories under Poland (the Commonwealth Rzeczpospolita to be more precise) in the second half of the 14th century (Polish: powiat). More detailed norms were adopted in the Second Statutes of Lithuania of 1566.
They were introduced in the eighteenth century in the Cossack State by the judicial reforms of Hetman Kyrylo Rozumovskyi – while the system of Cossack regiments and companies remained in use as well (see Cossack host) – and they became administrative and financial entities in 1782. Under the Russian Empire, counties were also introduced in Sloboda Ukraine, Southern Ukraine, and Right-Bank Ukraine (Russian: уезд, romanized: uezd).[1]
In 1913, there were 126 counties in Ukrainian-inhabited territories of the Russian Empire.[1] Under the Austrian Empire in 1914, there were 59 counties in Ukrainian-inhabited Galicia, 34 in Transcarpathia, and 10 in Bukovina.[1] Counties were retained by the independent Ukrainian People's Republic of 1917–1921, and in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Romania until the Soviet annexations at the start of World War II. 99 counties formed the Ukrainian SSR in 1919, where they were abolished in 1923–25 in favour of 53 okruhas (in turn replaced by oblasts in 1930–32), although they existed in the Zakarpattia Oblast until 1953.[1][3]
List of povits
editVolhynian Governorate
edit- Starokostiantyniv povit
- Iziaslav povit
- Novohrad-Volynskyi povit
- Polonne povit (created out of portions of Novohrad-Volynskyi povit)
- Zhytomyr povit
- Korosten povit (created out of portions of Ovruch povit)
- Ovruch povit
Kyiv Governorate
edit- Berdychiv povit
- Lypovets povit
- Uman povit
- Radomyshl povit
- Chornobyl povit (created out of portions of Radomyshl povit)
- Skvyra povit
- Zvenyhorodka povit
- Kyiv povit
- Bila Tserkva povit (renamed)
- Pereiaslav povit (transferred from Poltava Governorate)
- Bohuslav povit (renamed)
- Tarashcha povit