The
Kazan Governorate ( ; / Казан губернасы ; ) or
Government of Kazan was a governorate (
guberniyaA guberniya was a major administrative subdivision of Imperial Russia, usually translated as government, governorate, or province. A guberniya was ruled by a governor , a word borrowed from Latin , in turn from Greek...
) of Imperial Russia from 1708–1920, with the city of
KazanKazan is the capital city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, and one of Russia's largest cities. It is a major industrial, commercial and cultural center, and remains the most important center of Tatar culture. Since April 2009 Kazan has the legal right to brand itself as the "Third Capital" of...
as its capital.
History
When created by
Peter the GreatPeter I the Great or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V....
, it was one of eight original guberniyas of Russia and included the lands of
KazanThe Khanate of Kazan was a medieval Tatar state which occupied the territory of former Volga Bulgaria between 1438 and 1552. The khanate covered contemporary Tatarstan, Mari El, Chuvashia, Mordovia, parts of Udmurtia and Bashkortostan; its capital was the city of Kazan...
,
SiberianThe Khanate of Sibir was a Tatar Turkic khanate in the later Russian Siberia. The Khanate had an ethnically diverse population of Siberian Tatars, Khanty, Mansi, Nenets and Selkup people.-History:...
, and
Astrakhan KhanateThe Khanate of Astrakhan was a Tatar feudal state that appeared after the collapse of the Golden Horde. The Khanate existed in the 15th and 16th centuries in the area adjacent to the mouth of the Volga river, where the contemporary city of Astrakhan/Hajji Tarkhan is now located.The Khanate was...
s, with addition of some lands from the Nogay Horde. These were the areas historically governed by the
Kazan Palace's PrikazPrikaz was an administrative or judicial office in Muscovy and Russia of 15th-18th centuries. The term is usually translated as "ministry", "office" or "department". In modern Russian "prikaz" means administrative or military order...
.
In 1717, Astrakhan Governorate was separated from Kazan Governorate; in 1719—Nizhny Novgorod; in 1744—Orenburg; in 1781—Vyatka, Simbirsk, and Ufa Governorates were separated. Under Catherine the Great (1781–1796) Kazan was the center of a
namestnichestvoNamestnik was an office position in the history of Russia. Its literal translation would be "deputy", "lieutenant" or literarly in place appointee...
(
viceroyA viceroy is a royal official who runs a country or province in the name of and as representative of the monarch. The term derives from the Latin prefix vice-, meaning "in the place of" and the French word roi, meaning king. His province or larger territory is called a viceroyalty. The relative...
alty), with Kazan, Penza, and Saratov Governorates as its integral parts.
At first the governorate was divided into lots , then into provinces in 1719, and into
uyezdUyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, and Russian Empire used from the 13th century, originally describing groups of several volosts formed around the most important cities...
s in 1775. Prior to 1796, there were Kazan,
KozmodemyanskKozmodemyansk is a town in the Mari El Republic, Russia, located at the confluence of the Vetluga and the Volga Rivers at . Kozmodemyansk is the administrative center of the Gornomariysky District of Mari El...
, Laishev,
MamadyshMamadysh is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the right bank of the Vyatka River , east of Kazan. Population:...
,
SviyazhskSviyazhsk or Zöyä is a village in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located at the confluence of the Volga and Sviyaga Rivers,...
,
SpasskSpassk may refer to:*Spassk, Penza Oblast, a town in Penza Oblast, Russia*Spassk, Kemerovo Oblast, an urban-type settlement in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia*Spassk-Dalny, a town in Primorsky Krai, Russia*Spassk-Ryazansky, a town in Ryazan Oblast, Russia...
,
TetyushiTetyushi is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the shore of Kuybyshev Reservoir, south of Kazan. Population: It was founded in the 16th century as Tetyushskaya zastava . It was granted town status in 1781....
, Tsaryovokokshaysk,
TsivilskTsivilsk is a town in the Chuvash Republic of Russia, and administrative center of Tsivilsky District. It is located 37 km from Chuvashia's capital Cheboksary, at the crossroad of the highways from Nizhny Novgorod to Kazan and from Tsivilsk to Ulyanovsk, at...
,
CheboksaryCheboksary is a city and the capital of the Chuvash Republic, Russia. It is a port on the Volga River...
,
ChistopolChistopol or Chistay is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the left bank of the Kuybyshev Reservoir, on the Kama River...
, and
YadrinYadrin is a town in the Chuvash Republic, Russia, located on the left bank of the Sura River, southwest of Cheboksary. It is the administrative center of Yadrinsky District. Population: 10,573 ; 10,149 ....
uyezds.
In 1913, the area of the governorate comprised 55,900 square
verstA verst is an obsolete Russian unit of length. It is defined as being 500 sazhen long, which makes a verst equal to 3500 feet .In the English language, verst is singular with the normal plural versts...
s, its population was estimated at 2.85 million (38.9%
RussiansThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
, 31.2%
TatarsTatars , sometimes spelled Tartars, are a Turkic ethnic group mainly inhabiting Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. They numbered 10 million in the late 20th Century, which includes all subgroups of Tatar people, such as...
, 22.8%
ChuvashChuvash may refer to:*Chuvash people*Chuvash language*Chuvashia, a republic in Russia*Çuvaş, Azerbaijan...
, 5.1%
MariThe Mari are a Volga-Finnic people who have traditionally lived along the Volga and Kama rivers in Russia. The majority of Maris today live in the Mari El Republic, with significant populations in the Tatarstan and Bashkortostan republics...
, 1.2% Mordva). There were 7,272 settlements, including 13 towns: Kazan,
ArskArsk or Archa is a town and the administrative center of Arsky District of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the banks of the Kazanka River, from Kazan, the republic's capital. Arsk is also a station on the Kazan-Agryz railroad. It was founded in the 13th century by Volga Bulgarians...
,
SviyazhskSviyazhsk or Zöyä is a village in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located at the confluence of the Volga and Sviyaga Rivers,...
,
KozmodemyanskKozmodemyansk is a town in the Mari El Republic, Russia, located at the confluence of the Vetluga and the Volga Rivers at . Kozmodemyansk is the administrative center of the Gornomariysky District of Mari El...
,
LaishevLaishevo is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the shore of Kuybyshev Reservoir, southeast of Kazan. Population: Laishevo was re-granted town status in 2004.-External links:...
,
MamadyshMamadysh is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the right bank of the Vyatka River , east of Kazan. Population:...
,
SpasskSpassk may refer to:*Spassk, Penza Oblast, a town in Penza Oblast, Russia*Spassk, Kemerovo Oblast, an urban-type settlement in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia*Spassk-Dalny, a town in Primorsky Krai, Russia*Spassk-Ryazansky, a town in Ryazan Oblast, Russia...
,
TetyushiTetyushi is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the shore of Kuybyshev Reservoir, south of Kazan. Population: It was founded in the 16th century as Tetyushskaya zastava . It was granted town status in 1781....
, Tsaryovokokshaysk,
TsivilskTsivilsk is a town in the Chuvash Republic of Russia, and administrative center of Tsivilsky District. It is located 37 km from Chuvashia's capital Cheboksary, at the crossroad of the highways from Nizhny Novgorod to Kazan and from Tsivilsk to Ulyanovsk, at...
,
CheboksaryCheboksary is a city and the capital of the Chuvash Republic, Russia. It is a port on the Volga River...
,
ChistopolChistopol or Chistay is a town in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia, located on the left bank of the Kuybyshev Reservoir, on the Kama River...
,
YadrinYadrin is a town in the Chuvash Republic, Russia, located on the left bank of the Sura River, southwest of Cheboksary. It is the administrative center of Yadrinsky District. Population: 10,573 ; 10,149 ....
; and two
posadA posad was a settlement, often surrounded by bulwarks and a moat, by a town or a kremlin, but outside the town/kremlin, or by a monastery in the 10th to 15th centuries. Usually it was inhabited by craftsmen and merchants, known as posadskiye lyudi .In the Russian Empire a posad was a small...
s:
Mariinsky PosadMariinsky Posad is a town in the Chuvash Republic, Russia, located on the right bank of the Volga River some 36 km east of Cheboksary. Population: 10,200 ; 10,273 ....
and Troitsky Posad.
The governorate was finally abolished during the
BolshevikThe Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903...
administrative reform (see
Idel-Ural StateIdel-Ural literally means "Volga-Ural" in Tatar.Historically it refers to a short-lived Tatar republic with its centre in Kazan which united Tatars, Bashkirs and the Chuvash in the turmoil of the Russian Civil War...
). Thereupon its Eastern part was proclaimed the Tatar ASSR, while the Western part was eventually divided between
ChuvashiaChuvash Republic — Chuvashia , or Chuvashia is a federal subject of Russia located in central Russia. It is the homeland of Chuvash people.-Geography:...
and
Mari ElMari El Republic is a federal subject of Russia . The direct romanization of the republic's Russian and Mari names are Respublika Mariy El and Marii El Respublik, respectively. The republic is also sometimes called Mariy El or Marii El in English...
.
Main events in the governorate
- 1774 - Pugachev rebellion
- 1861 - Biznä Unrest
- 1880s - Wäisi movement
The Wäisi movement was a religious, social and political movement in Tatarstan and other Tatar-populated parts of Russia which took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It also incorporated elements of class struggle and nationalism...