Chernigov Governorate
Chernigov Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Chernigov. Its borders encompassed the modern Chernihiv Oblast, but also included a large section of Sumy Oblast and smaller sections of the Kyiv Oblast of Ukraine, in addition to a large part of Bryansk Oblast of Russia.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Chernigov Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Chernigov. Its borders encompassed the modern Chernihiv Oblast, but also included a large section of Sumy Oblast and smaller sections of the Kyiv Oblast of Ukraine, in addition to a large part of Bryansk Oblast of Russia.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Chernigov Governorate. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- unresolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Overview
Overview
From 1918 to 1925, it was referred to as Chernihiv Governorate as part of Ukrainian successor states of the Russian Empire during and after the civil war, namely of the Ukrainian People's Republic, the Ukrainian State and the Ukrainian SSR.
Key facts
Key facts
• Native Name — Черниговская губерния (Russian) Чернігівська губернія (Ukrainian) • Conventional Long Name — Chernigov Governorate Chernihiv Governorate • Common Name — Chernigov • Subdivision — Governorate • Nation — the Russian Empire (1802–1917) and Ukrainian successor states (1917–1925) • Capital — Chernigov • Political Subdiv — uezds:5 okruhas (1923–25) • Today — Bryansk Oblast Chernihiv Oblast Kyiv Oblast Sumy Oblast • Event Start — Established • Year Start — 1802 • Event End — Abolished • Year End — 1925 • P1 — Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802) • S1 — Chernihiv Okruha • S2 — Hlukhiv Okruha • S3 — Konotop Okruha • S4 — Nizhyn Okruha • S5 — Gomel Governorate • Stat Year1 — (1897) • Stat Area1 — 52,396 • Stat Pop1 — 2,298,000
Administrative division
Administrative division
When part of the Russian Empire, the governorate consisted of 15 uyezds (their administrative centres in brackets): • Borznyansky Uyezd (Borzna) • Glukhovsky Uezd (Hlukhiv) • Gorodnyansky Uyezd (Gorodnya/Horodnia) • Kozeletsky Uyezd (Kozelets) • Konotopsky Uyezd (Konotop) • Krolevetsky Uyezd (Krolevets) • Mglinsky Uyezd (Mglin) • Nezhinsky Uyezd (Nezhin/Nizhyn) • Novgorod-Seversky Uyezd (Novgorod-Seversky/Novhorod-Siverskyi) • Novozybkovsky Uyezd (Novozybkov) • Ostyorsky Uyezd (Ostyor/Oster) • Sosnitsky Uyezd (Sosnitsa/Sosnytsia) • Starodubsky Uyezd (Starodub) • Surazhsky Uyezd (Surazh) • Chernigovsky Uyezd (Chernigov/Chernihiv) Of these, 11 were in territory inhabited by Ukrainians: Borzna, Hlukhiv, Horodnia, Kozelets, Konotop, Krolovets, Nizhyn, Novhorod-Siverksyi, Oster, Sosnytsia, and Chernihiv. Chernigov Governorate covered a total area of 52,396 km², and had a population of 2,298,000, according to the 1897 Russian Empire census. In 1914, the population was 2,340,000. In 1918 it became part of Ukraine and transformed into Chernihiv Governorate. As part of the Ukrainian State and the Ukrainian SSR, the governorate consisted of 18 counties (povits): • Borzna County • Hlukhiv County • Horodnya County • Homel County (added from the Mogilev Governorate) • Kozelets County • Konotop County • Krolevets County • Nizhyn County • Novhorod-Siversky County • Oster County • Putyvl County (added from the Kursk Governorate) • Rylsk County (added from the Kursk Governorate) • Sosnytsia County • Chernihiv County • Mhlyn County • Novozybkiv County • Starodub County • Surazh County In 1919, the northern Mhlyn, Novozybkiv, Starodub, and Surazh counties, with their mixed Ukrainian–Belarusian–Russian population, were transferred from Ukraine to the newly established Gomel Governorate of the Russian republic. In 1925, the governorate’s territory was redistributed among Hlukhiv, Konotop, Nizhyn, and Chernihiv districts (okruhas).
Principal cities
Principal cities
• Illustration — Chernihiv Governorate (blue) in the Ukrainian State At the times of the Russian Census of 1897: • Nezhin – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian –) • Chernigov – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian –) • Konotop – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian –) • Novozybkov – (Russian –, Jewish –, Belarusian – 303) • Hlukhiv – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian –) • Borzna – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian – 109) • Starodub – (Russian –, Jewish –, Ukrainian – 133) • Krolevets – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian – 209) • Berezna – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian – 144) • Novgorod-Seversky – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian –) • Mglin – (Russian –, Jewish –, Belarusian – 75) • Sosnytsia – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian – 158) • Korop – (Ukrainian –, Jewish – 865, Russian – 77) • Oster – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian – 399) • Kozelets – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian – 468) • Pogar – (Russian –, Jewish –, Germans – 6) • Gorodnya – (Ukrainian –, Jewish –, Russian – 604) • Surazh – (Jewish –, Belarusian – 978, Russian – 559) • Novoye Mesto – (Russian –, Jewish – 67)
Language
Language
• Illustration — Imperial census of 1897. At the time of the Imperial census of 1897. In bold are languages spoken by more people than the state language. align="center" • |Language — |Number — |percentage (%) — |males — |females • Ukrainian — 66.41 • Russian — 21.58 • Belarusian — 6.59 • Yiddish — 4.95 • German — 0.23 • Polish — 0.14 • Persons that didn't name their native language — 74 — >0.01 — 32 — 42 • Other — >0.01 — 638 • Total — 100
Notable people
Notable people
• Yehuda Leib Tsirelson (1859–1941), Rabbi, philosopher, member of the Parliament of Romania, acting Mayor of Chisinau • Elizaveta I. Gnevusheva (1916–1994), historian, orientalist, university lecturer, publicist • Dmitry Ivanyuk (1900–1941), Red Army colonel who was killed in World War II • Dmytro Doroshenko (1882-1951), Ukrainian historian, gubernial commissar of Chernihiv under the Ukrainian People's Republic
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 27 September 2026.
Elsewhere in General
22,759 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- CherdynPlace
- CherepovetsPlace
- Cherikovsky CountyPlace
- CherkesskPlace
- ChernihivPlace
- ChernivtsiPlace
- ChernobylPlace
- ChernyakhovskPlace
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with Chernigov Governorate?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.