Tobolsk Governorate

Tobolsk Governorate Тобольская Губерния
Former subdivision of Russian Empire (1796–1917) Russian Republic RSFSR (1917–1920)
1796–1920
Coat of arms
Toblosk Governorate within the Russian Empire
Capital	Tobolsk (1796-1919) Tyumen (1919–1920)
Area
• 1916	1,385,000 km2 (535,000 sq mi)
Population
• 1897	1,433,043
History
• Established	1796
• Disestablished	1920
Preceded by Succeeded by Tobolsk Viceroyalty Tyumen Governorate Tomsk Governorate Akmolinsk Oblast (Russian Empire)
Today part of	Russia

Tobolsk Governorate (Template:Lang-ru) was an administrative division (a guberniya) of the Russian Empire, Russian Republic and RSFSR located in the Ural Mountains and Siberia. It existed from 1796 to 1920; its seat was in the city of Tobolsk, in 1919–1920 in the city of Tyumen.

Windmills in the Yalutorovsky uezd of the Tobolsk Governorate (1912). Color photo by Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii

General Information

Total area 1,3 million km2 (1913). According to data at the end of the 19th century, the area of the Governorate was divided into 10 uezd (until 1898 - okrugs).

History

XVIII century

In official documents of the 2nd half of the 18th century, the name Tobolsk Governorate is often used as a designation of the Siberia Governorate at the last stage of its existence (1764-1782).

19 January (30 January) 1782 Tobolsk Governorate was formed by decree of the Empress of Russia Catherine II as part of Tobolsk Viceroyalty with two oblast: Tobolsk Oblast (included 10 uezds) and Tomsk Oblast (6 uezd), which became part of the Governorate -General.

December 12, 1796 the Tobolsk Governorate was formed by Emperor Paul I Decree to the Senate "On the new division of the State into the Governorates". Kolyvan Oblast was annexed to Tobolsk Governorate.

In 1797, Tobolsk Governorate consisted of 16 Uezds: Kuznetsk, Semipalatinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Ishimsky Uezd, Yalutorovsky Uezd, Kurgansky Uezd, Beryozovsky Uezd, Tarsky Uezd, Turinsky Uezd, Tyumensky Uezd, Tobolsky Uezd, Surgutsky Uezd, Tomsk, Narymsky, Yenisei, Turukhansky.

XIX century

In 1802, the Tobolsk Governorate along with the Irkutsk Governorate, became part of the Siberian General Governorate by decree of Emperor Alexander I.

In 1822, the Siberian General Governorate was divided into West Siberian General Governorate and East Siberian General Governorate. Tobolsk Governorate became part of the West Siberian Governor General, which existed until 1882.

On February 26 (March 9), 1804, part of the territory of the Tobolsk Governorate was allocated to the Tomsk Governorate. As part of the Tobolsk Governorate remained 9 uezds: Beryozovsky Uezd, Ishimsky Uezd, Kurgansky Uezd, Omsk, Tarsky Uezd, Tobolsky Uezd, Turinsky Uezd, Tyumensky Uezd and Yalutorovsky Uezd.

In 1822, the Omsk district and other territories were transferred to the Omsk Oblast (until 1838); Uezds of the Tobolsk Governorate were renamed into Okrugs, a new Tyukalinsky Okrug was formed (until 1838).

In 1838, the okrug city of Omsk became part of the Tobolsk Governorate.

In 1868 Omsk transferred to the newly formed the Akmolinsk Oblast. The Surgut Okrug was newly formed by separation from the Berezovsky Okrug.

In 1876, the Omsk District was transformed into the Tyukalinsky District.

Tobolsk Governorate was among the 17 regions recognized as seriously affected during the famine of 1891-1892.

In 1898, the okrugs of the Governorate were renamed into uyezds.

In 1885, permanent traffic was opened along the railway lines Yekaterinburg - Tura (Tyumen), and in 1896 Chelyabinsk - Omsk - Novonikolaevsk of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

XX century

In 1909-1916, Sergey Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky pioneer of color photography, traveled a significant part of the Russian Empire including Tobolsk Governorate, photographing ancient temples, monasteries, factories, types of cities and various household scenes.

In 1917, after the Bolsheviks came to power, there was the first attempt to organize Kalachinsky Uezd from part of Tyukalinsky Uezd for convenient control of the remote southeastern territories of the Governorate. The first member of the food committee of the Kalachinsky Uezd was Yakov Martynovich Kalnin, a Latvian poet and teacher. During 1917-1919, in the ups and downs of the Civil War, the Uezd was liquidated more than once and re-created by different authorities, transferred from the Tobolsk Governorate to the Akmolinsk Oblast (Omsk).

Coat of arms of the Tobolsk Governorate (1878)

On January 1 (January 14), 1918, according to the decree Article №158 of administration of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR the Troitskaya volost of the Tyukalinsky Uezd was included in the newly formed Tatarsky Uezd of the Akmolinsk Oblast.

On February 1(February 10), 1918, the First Extraordinary Session of the Tobolsk Governorate Zemstvo Assembly aproved separation of Kalachinsky uyezd from Tyukalinsky Uezd, Tarsky Uezd and Tyukalinsky Uezd moved to the Omsk Oblast, Kurgan Uezd stand out as an independent Governorate, proclaimed Tyumen Governorate with Ishimsky Uezd, Yalutorovsky Uezd, Tyumensky Uezd and Turinsky Uezd.

Soviet power was established by the spring of 1918.

On April 3-5, 1918, the governorate conference of Soviets decided to transfer the administrative center from Tobolsk to Tyumen and rename the province to Tyumen. The Tobolsk Soviets opposed this and on April 30, 1918, proclaimed itself governorate.

In June 1918, the Tobolsk Governorate came under the control of the White Army. The revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion temporarily restored the status quo.

In August - November 1919, as a result of the offensive of the Eastern Front, Tyumen and Tobolsk pass to the Bolsheviks and the Governorate institutions move to Tyumen.

August 27, 1919, by the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR Tobolsk Governorate consisted of the following 6 uezds: Obdorsky Uezd, Beryozovsky Uezd, Surgutsky Uezd, Tobolsky Uezd, Tyumensky Uezd and Yalutorovsky Uezd. Ishimsky Uezd, Tarsky Uezd and Tyukalinsky Uezd (including the territory of Kalachinsky Uezd, which actually existed since 1918, but was not officially registered) went to the Omsk Governorate. Kurgansky Uezd became part of the Chelyabinsk Governorate.

By a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee dated October 6, 1919, the Turin uezd was returned to the Tobolsk Governorate.

In October 1919 - April 1920 the Governorate was called either Tobolsk or Tyumen; the renaming of the Tobolsk Governorate into the Tyumen Governorate was finally fixed by the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of April 21 (March 2), 1920.

Coat of arms of the Tobolsk Governorate

The coat of arms of the Tobolsk Governorate was approved on July 5, 1878:

“In the golden shield there is a scarlet ataman's mace, on which is Yermak's black shield, round, decorated with precious stones, between two scarlet banners with black shafts and points from a spear placed obliquely across. The shield is surmounted by the Imperial crown and surrounded by golden oak leaves connected by St. Andrew's ribbon.

Subdivisions

№	Uezd	Uezd Town (population)		Area sq. verst	Pppulation (1916)
1	Beryozovsky Uezd	Beryozovo (1,301)		604 442,2	29 190
2	Ishimsky Uezd	Ishim (14,226)		37 604,6	367 066
3	Kurgansky Uezd	Kurgan (39,854)		20 281,6	359 223
4	Surgutsky Uezd	Surgut (1,602)		220 452,4	11 561
5	Tarsky Uezd	Tara (11,229)		71 542,1	268 410
6	Tobolsky Uezd	Tobolsk (23,357)		108 296,0	147 719
7	Turinsky Uezd	Turinsk (2,821)		67 008,6	96 942
8	Tyukalinsky Uezd	Tyukalinsk (2,702)		55 049,3	344 601
9	Tyumensky Uezd	Tyumen (56,668)		15 608,0	171 032
10	Yalutorovsky Uezd	Yalutorovsk (3,835)		18 944,9	216 792

Demographics

At the end of XVIII - beginning of XX century Tobolsk Governorate was a place of exile, including the Decembrists. Sending convicts to Siberia took two years 1826-1828. The wives, brides, sisters, mothers of the Decembrists sentenced to hard labor voluntarily followed them to Siberia.

In the XVIII - early XX in the southern counties of the Tobolsk province, peasant colonization continued.

Population 831,100 (1846), 1,433,043 (1897), 2,100 000 (1916).

At the time of the Russian Empire Census of 1897, Tobolsk Governorate had a population of 1,433,043, of which 87,351 people lived in cities. Of these, 88.6% spoke Russian, 4.0% Siberian Tatar, 2.6% Ukrainian, 1.3% Khanty, 0.5% Kazakh, 0.5% Komi-Zyrian, 0.4% Polish, 0.3% Mansi, 0.3% Nenets, 0.3% Belarusian, 0.2% Latvian, 0.2% Yiddish, 0.1% Estonian, 0.1% Romani, 0.1% Mordvin, 0.1% German and 0.1% Finnish as their native language.

The religious composition was dominated by the Orthodox - 89.0%. 5.1% were Old Believers and “devoids of Orthodoxy”, 4.5% were Muslims.

Literate was 11.3% (men - 17.7%, women - 5.0%)

Economics

In the southern and central regions, agriculture played the main role in the economy.

Animal husbandry developed (including deer breeding in the north of the Tobolsk province), butter-making.

In the northern and central regions of the Tobolsk Governorate, hunting, fishing, collecting pine nuts (predominated among inorodtsy), woodworking, etc. were important.

Permanent traffic was opened along the railway lines Yekaterinburg - Tura (Tyumen) (1885), as well as Chelyabinsk - Omsk - Novonikolaevsk (1896) of the Trans-Siberian Railway.