Kiev Governorate[a] was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire.

In territorial reform of Catherine the Great changed the name for government to the Russian vice royalty in 1781.

[2] The original territory was roughly based on the Siever land surrounded by Smolensk, Moscow, and Azov Governorates.

At the time of its foundation the governorate covered 231,000 square kilometers (89,000 sq mi)[2] of territory of parts of modern Ukraine and southwestern Russia.

Initially divided into uyezds and razryads, the governorate abolished the obsolete administrative system of the rapidly growing empire.

Lots were abolished and the governorate was subdivided into four provinces centered on Belgorod, Kiev, Oryol, and Sevsk, and named accordingly.