Caucasus Governorate (Russian: Кавказская губерния, romanized: Kavkazskaya guberniya) was an administrative division (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, which existed from 1802 until 1822. Its seat was located in Georgiyevsk. The governorate was located in the south of the European part of the Russian Empire. In 1822, the governorate was abolished and transformed into Caucasus Oblast, with the administrative center in Stavropol.
[1] In terms of modern administrative divisions of Russia, the area of Caucasus Governorate is currently split between Stavropol and Krasnodar Krais, Rostov Oblast, and the Republics of Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia–Alania, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, and Kalmykia, with the major part of it being located in Stavropol Krai.
Russian colonization of the Northern Caucasus started in the 1770s. In 1785, Caucasus Viceroyalty was established. It consisted of Caucasus Oblast with the seat in Yekaterinograd and Astrakhan Oblast with the seat in Astrakhan. In 1790, Caucasus Oblast was abolished and merged into Astrakhan Governorate. On November 15, 1802 Caucasus Governorate with the administrative center in Georgiyevsk was created. On July 24, 1822 the governorate was transformed into Caucasus Oblast, with the same borders, and its seat was moved to the city of Stavropol.[2]
The governorate consisted of five uyezds (the administrative centers, which all had the town status, are given in parentheses),[1]
^Историческая справка (in Russian). Комитет Ставропольского края по информационным технологиям и связи. Archived from the original on 2013-01-14. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
¹ Italics indicates renamed or abolished governorates, oblasts, etc on 1 January 1914. ² An asterisk (*) indicates governorates formed or created with renaming after 1 January 1914. ³ Ostsee or Baltic general-governorship was abolished in 1876.
