History of the administrative division of Russia

The modern administrative-territorial structure of Russia is a system of territorial organization which is a product of a centuries-long evolution and reforms.

The Kievan Rus' as it formed in the 10th century remained a more or less unified realm under the rule of Yaroslav the Wise (d. 1054), but in the later part of the 11th century, it disintegrated into a number of de facto independent and rivaling principalities, the most important of which were Galicia–Volhynia, the Novgorod Republic, and Vladimir-Suzdal.

Following the advance of the Mongols and the establishment of the Golden Horde in 1240, many parts of the former Kievan Rus' came under the direct administration of Sarai, while others became its dependencies.

The Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and later gradually and completely coming under the direct administration of the Crown of Poland.

The grand duchies of Lithuania and Moscow practically divided the former territories of Kievan Rus' between each other, both struggling to gain the seat of the Metropolitan of Kiev.

Near the end of the 15th century the Golden Horde fell apart into several smaller khanates and Muscovy for the first time became a sovereign state.

[1] During the 1680s, the Tsardom of Russia acquired a substantial expansion in Transbaikal after signing the Treaty of Nerchinsk with China (Qing dynasty).

By this time (at the end of the 17th century), an extensive territory from Yenisei to the Sea of Okhotsk was secured through colonization.

December 18], 1708, in order to improve the manageability of the vast territory of the state, Tsar Peter the Great issued an ukase (edict) dividing Russia into eight administrative divisions, called governorates (guberniyas), which replaced the 166 uyezds and razryads which existed before the reform:[2] The reform of 1708 established neither the borders of the governorates nor their internal divisions.

[3] In 1719, Peter enacted another administrative reform to fix the deficiencies of the original system, as the governorates were too big and unmanageable.

By 1775, the existing system of administrative divisions proved inefficient, which was further underlined by Pugachev's Rebellion, and Catherine the Great issued a document known as Decree on the Governorates (Russian: Учреждение о губерниях).

During the reform several already existing governments (guberniya) were combined under the office of the Russian viceroy and were called namestnichestvo.

The self-government of the mirs and volosts was tempered by the authority of the police commissaries (stanovoy) and by the power of general oversight given to the nominated "district committees for the affairs of the peasants".