View source for Uezd

{{No footnotes|date=June 2025}}{{Short description|Historic Russian administrative subdivision}}
[[File:Subdivisions of the Russian Empire in 1897 (uyezd level).svg|thumb|right|250px|Uezds of the Russian Empire in 1897]]
An '''uezd''' (also spelled '''uyezd''' or '''uiezd'''; {{lang-rus|уе́зд ([[Reforms of Russian orthography|pre-1918]]: уѣздъ)|p=ʊˈjest}}), or '''[[povit]]''' in a Ukrainian context ({{langx|uk|повіт}}) was a type of administrative subdivision of the [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]], the [[Tsardom of Russia]], the [[Russian Empire]], the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]], and the early [[Soviet Union]], which was in use from the 13th century. For most of Russian history, uezds were a second-level [[administrative division]]. By sense, but not by etymology, ''uezd'' approximately corresponds to the English "[[county]]".

==General description==
Originally describing groups of several [[volost]]s, they formed around the most important cities. Uezds were ruled by the appointees (''[[namestnik]]i'') of a [[knyaz]] and, starting from the 17th century, by [[Voivode|voyevoda]]s.

In 1708, an [[Administrative divisions of Russia in 1708–1710|administrative reform]] was carried out by [[Peter the Great]], dividing Russia into [[governorate]]s. The subdivision into uyezds was abolished at that time but was reinstated in 1727, as a result of [[Catherine I of Russia|Catherine I]]'s [[Administrative divisions of Russia in 1727–1728|administrative reform]].

By the [[USSR]] administrative reform of 1923–1929, most of the uezds were transformed into [[raion]]s (districts). In [[UkSSR]], uezds were reformed into forty [[Okruhas of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|okruhas]] which were the primary-level of administrative division from 1925 to 1930.

==Baltic governorates==
In the [[Baltic governorates]] the type of division was known as Kreis.

==Bessarabia==
The uezds of [[Bessarabia Governorate]] were called {{Lang|ro|[[Ținut]]}} or {{Lang|ro|[[Județ]]}} in [[Romanian language|Romanian]], which would translate as "county".{{citation needed|date=December 2010}}

==Ukraine==
The Ukrainian word for ''uezd'' is ''[[povit]]'' ({{langx|uk|повіт}}, plural {{langx|uk|повіти|translit=povity|label=none}}).

==See also==
*[[List of uezds of the Russian Empire]]
*[[History of the administrative division of Russia]]
*[[Governorate (Russia)]]

==External links==
*{{in lang|ru}} [http://www.strana-oz.ru/?numid=7&article=294 "Administrative territorial division of Russia in the 18th-20th centuries" («Административно-территориальное деление России XVIII—XX веков»)] "Otechestvennye Zapiski", No.6, 2002.
*{{in lang|ru}} Тархов, Сергей, "Изменение административно-территориального деления России в XIII-XX в." ([http://www.ruthenia.ru/logos/number/46/03.pdf  pdf]), ''Логос'', [http://www.ruthenia.ru/logos/number/2005_01_46.htm #1 2005 (46)], {{ISSN|0869-5377}}

{{Slavic terms for country subdivisions}}

[[Category:Subdivisions of the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Local government in the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Types of administrative division]]
[[Category:Russian-language designations of territorial entities]]