[1][2] Kiev Governorate on the right bank of Dnieper was officially established by Emperor Paul I's edict of November 30, 1796.

[4] At the turn of the 20th century, the governorate included twelve uyezds named by their centers: Berdychiv, Cherkasy, Chyhyryn, Kaniv, Kiev, Lipovets, Radomyshl, Skvyra, Tarashcha, Uman, Vasylkiv and Zvenyhorodka.

[7] By faith, 2,983,736 census respondents were Orthodox Christians, 433,728 were Jews and 106,733 were of the Roman Catholic Church.

Kiev Governorate consisted of 12 uyezds (their administrative centres in brackets): Russian Empire Census of 1897[10] In the times after the Russian revolution in 1917–1921, the lands of the Kiev Governorate switched hands on several occasions.

After the last Imperial governor Alexey Ignatyev (who ruled until March 6, 1917) fell from power, the local leaders were appointed by competing authorities.

[11] In the course of the Soviet administrative reform of 1923–1929 the Kiev Governorate of the Ukrainian SSR was transformed into six okruhas in 1923.