Kharkov Governorate

Kharkov Governorate (Russian: Харьковское наместничество, after renaming back: Ха́рьковская губе́рния) or Kharkiv Governorate was a governorate of the Russian Empire originally founded in 1780. It succeeded the Sloboda Ukraine Governorate (Слободско-Украинской губернии) before (1765–1780). It was officially known as the Kharkov Viceroyalty (Харьковским наместничеством) during the period 1780–1796 and renamed back to Kharkov Governorate in 1835.

During the Civil War, on June 25, 1919, the whiteguards created military Kharkiv Oblast of the Armed Forces of South Russia (Харьковская область (ВСЮР)). On December 12, 1919 the Oblast was disestablished giving its place back to the Kharkov Governorate (1919–1923).

The administrative unit was initially preserved in early years of Soviet Ukraine (from 1922 a constituent republic of the USSR) with some territorial changes.

During the Soviet administrative reform of 1923–1929 (whereby most of the uyezds were transformed into raions), in 1925, the Kharkov Governorate was abolished and a part of it became subordinate to the capital (Kharkov) of the Ukrainian SSR until 1932 (Kharkov stopped being the capital of Ukraine in 1934, when the Soviet authorities moved the capital to Kiev).

The modern Kharkiv Oblast was established on 27 February 1932.