Grodno province

In 1501, during the administrative division of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into voivodships, the northwestern part of the Grodno province belonged to the Trok voivodship , the northeastern part belonged to Novogrudok, and the south part was originally Narewskoye, and since 1520 the Podlaskie voivodship , which formed the Brest Voivodship in 1596 .

This administrative division remained until the third division of the Commonwealth in 1795. From the part that passed to the Russian Empire in 1795 , the Slonim province was formed in 1796 as a part of 8 counties: Slonim , Novogrudok , Grodno , Volkovysk , Brest , Kobrinsky , Pruzhany and Lida . A year later, in 1797 , the Slonim province was merged with Vilenskaya , under the name of the Lithuanian province , and five years later, by decree of 1801, it was separated in the previous structure from Vilenskaya, renamed Grodno.

In this form, it existed 40 years before the accession to it in 1842 of the Bialystok region , which included 4 counties: Bialystok , Sokolsky , Belsky and Drogichinsky , the latter being connected to Belsky in one county; Lida County went to the Vilnius province , and Novogrudok - to Minsk .

It was located between 51 ° 30 '- 54 ° 3' s. w. and 26 ° 44'— 30 ° 16 'in. d .; It borders: to the north - from the Vilnius province, to the east - from Minsk, to the south - from Volyn and to the west and north-west - to the Privislyansky region , from which pp. Neman , Beaver , Narew , Lisa , Nurets and Western Bug .

According to the occupied space of 33,979 square miles , it was one of the smallest provinces in Russia.

The entire surface of the middle, and especially the southern part of the Grodno province, is a continuous plain and only the northern and north-eastern parts of the province are somewhat wavy, however, with gentle hills not exceeding 924 feet above sea level - at the Tarasovets of Slonim Uyezd.

By the structure of its soil, the Grodno province belongs mainly to the system of the Middle and Lower Tertiary and only along the Neman, and partly, in limited places - in the counties of Bialystok, Belsky and Brest - there is a chalk formation with the remains of Belemnites in it. On the Western Bug - granite prevails, passing lower into gneiss . In beams on the river. Peat coal is found in salmon and near Grodno, and also in many places - deposits of lake and bog iron ores. The most widespread soils throughout the province: sandy with more or less admixture of clay or humus, sandy loam and loamy soil occupy more than _5/7 parts of the entire province. Loose sands are found most often in the northern part of the Grodno district, and in other districts - along the course of the rivers Nareva, Nurtz, Zap. Buga and Lesne. Sandy-stony soil occupies about a quarter of the entire territory of the districts of Sokolsky and Bialystok. Black soils (forest and swamp) have a relatively small distribution, occupying up to 140,000 acres , in the districts of Grodno, Pruzhany, in the middle of Brest and in the north-west of Kobrinsky. Soils - podzolic (77,600 acres), peat (3,320 acres) and marshes (196,000 acres) are most common in the southern part of the province, and peat deposits are found in all counties, with the exception of Pruzhany; their depth in places reaches 2-3 arshins ; they are partly developed by the local population.

Most of the Grodno province lies on the outskirts of the Baltic basin and only its southeastern part belongs to the Black Sea; lips. satisfactorily irrigated by waters. The Neman, entering from the west into the province, initially flows through an insignificant part of the Slonim and Volkovysk districts, and then cuts through the entire Grodno district . The length of the river in the province is up to 140 miles, its width is from 20 to 110 fathoms, the depth is from 3 to 12 feet with a slight fall of the river from 1 to 1.5 feet per mile; the river freezes on December 9, and opens on March 28; 256 days free of ice (at Grodno). The Neman is navigable throughout the space, but shallows prevent proper navigation. The river is of great importance for the local trade movement, which is facilitated by artificial connections - the Oginsky canal of its tributary. Shchary with r. Yaselda , which flows into Pripyat , and from Zapadn. Bug - the Augustow Canal . The left tributaries of the Neman are more significant than the right; there are 13 of them, and the most important: Shchara, flows within the province up to 207 versts, accepting rafting rivers - Lokhozva (86 versts), Grivdu (100 versts) and Nessa (84 versts); less significant left tributaries of the Neman: Zelva (150 versts), Caen (100 versts), Svisloch (120 versts) and Salmon (55 versts). Of the 8 right tributaries, the most significant are: Kotor with a tributary of Pyrrha and Issa. R. Narev, flowing out of the swamps of Pruzhany district, the length of the stream is 248 versts, it takes on the right: Supradura (95 versts) and Beaver (170 versts) with tributaries - Sidryanka, Salmon and Brezovka; having accepted the Beaver River, Narew becomes navigable; its left tributaries are insignificant. The Western Bug belongs only to the right bank for 252 miles of the Grodno province, separating it from the Privislyansky Territory. Through the Dnieper-Bug channel connecting the river. Mukhovets with the river. Nina, is included in the water system of the Dnieper and Vistula. The Western Bug accepts 11 tributaries within the province, of which the most important on the right side are: Mukhovets (83 versts.) With a tributary Ryta, Lesna (100 versts.), Nurets and Pulva; of these, the latter and Mukhovets are navigable. Yaselda, the left tributary of Pripyat, originates in vast swamps on the western border of the Volkovysk district; the length of its flow within the province is 130 miles; the most important is the right tributary - p. Pina.

There are many lakes, but they are not large. Some of the lakes, such as Zadubenskoye, Beloye, Molochnoye and Lot, are interconnected with the top of the river. Pyrrhas by natural and artificial water canals (Tizengauzen or Royal), represent convenient rafting ways. All waterways in the Grodno province generally belong to the western system of artificial water communication connecting the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea, and the entire length of the shipping routes within the province is about 1,400 miles. The most important marinas are on the river. Neman - in the city of Grodno and in places. Bridges; on the river Shchara - in the city of Slonim, on the river. Beaver - in the west. Gonionzah city; on the Western Bug - in the city of Brest-Litovsk, on Mukhovets - in the city of Kobrin. Shipping along the Neman, as well as rafting along other waterways, begins in the second half of April, and ends in October. Vessels floating along the rivers of the Grodno province bear the names: Vitin , lifting cargo up to 14,000 pounds, baroque - up to 5000 pounds, berdin - up to 4000 pounds, gabar (iron) up to 1500 pounds; smaller vessels: dubasses, liggs, komigs, or half-huts, boats, bots, etc. Marshes occupy up to 1/15 of the entire province. The most marshy areas are: in the forests of Bialowieza and Grodno, at the confluence of the Beaver with the Narev, along the rivers Mukhovets, Narev, Nurets and others. Impassable marshes stretch along the left bank of the river. Pins, in Kobrin district, having up to 70 versts in length and from 6 to 30 versts in width; remarkably large Piotkovo swamp in 22 square meters. the verst lying between pp. Narew and Lisa. The mineral springs available in the province, salty-bromide, Druskeniki , are widely known.

The climate of the province is moderate; neither strong heat nor cruel, prolonged frosts occur. According to observations in Bialystok, Grodno, Svisloch and Brest-Litovsk, the average temperature of the year is 6 °, 3. Of the winds, a westerly direction prevails; the number of days with precipitation is 145 with an average annual amount of precipitation of about 500 mm. The entire forest area occupies almost 18% of the province’s territory, namely 484,000 acres, and 1584 acres under artificial plantations. Pine and spruce prevail in the forests; then, in places, pure plantations occur oak, birch, aspen, alder; hornbeam , elm , ash and maple are even less common; the edges of the forest sometimes consist of hazel , wild apple, pear and so on. There are very few mast trees; timber and commercial timber is enough, and it is partly rafted to Prussia and the Privislyansky Territory. Forests in the Western Bug are valued above the Neman forests; the counties rich in forests are Grodno, Pruzhany and Slonim; and from the forest cottages wonderful forests Belovezhskaya and Grodno .

The province is divided into 9 counties: Grodno, Sokolsky, Bialystok, Belsky, Brest, Kobrin, Pruzhany, Volkovysk and Slonim; 39 camps, 185 volosts, 2233 rural societies with 7992 peasant villages in 112,663 households; 16 suburban cities and 62 towns.

Among the educational institutions were: 5 secondary schools with 1206 students; 6 district schools with 390 students; 38 parish schools from 2529 schools; 300 public schools of the Ministry of Education from 19 645 students; 1 theological school with 158 students; 556 parochial and literacy schools with 8445 students; 21 private colleges and schools from 1402 schools .; 3 special educational institutions from 219 educational institutions .; 237 Jewish educational institutions from 5047 schools. The number of libraries attached to schools is shown 78 with 11,190 volumes. books. In the peasant population, one school accounted for 1061 souls about. n. and one student for 33.5 souls. 87 hospital facilities of the civil department with 812 beds; including 17 rural hospitals with 102 beds and 36 medical emergency rooms; medical institutions of the military department 47 with 1,450 beds; doctors of the civilian department 129, military - 87.

The province was initially divided into 8 counties: Brest, Volkovysk, Grodno, Kobrinsky, Lida, Novogrudok , Pruzhany and Slonim. In 1843, the Bialystok, Belsky and Sokol counties were transferred to the Grodno province from the abolished Bialystok region . At the same time, Lida County went to the Vilnius province , and Novogrudok - to Minsk .

At the beginning of the 20th century , the province included 9 counties :

In 1920, the territory of the province went to Poland .

The population of the province in 1891 extended to 1,509,728 souls (776,191 men and 733,837 women); including: noble families of hereditary 10 977, personal 2909, clergy of the Orthodox white 2310, monastic 55, Catholic 124, Protestant 20, Jewish 439, Mohammedan 11, citizens of hereditary and personal 876, merchants 2876, philistines 389 249, guild 14 437, peasants 940 856, colonists 7088, 48 odnodorytsev, 39911 regular troops, 49 330 unlimited leave, retired lower ranks 26 339, soldiers children 14 341, foreign nationals 6239.

Marriages concluded 12,581, clan 62,180, 38,812 died. In 1891, there were 1,167 of all educational institutions with 39,041 students, including 5579 girls.

National composition

In 1897 ^[1] :

Noble birth

Zhokhovskie , Zabello , Yodko , Kandyba , Karsnitsky , Kelchevsky , Klechkovsky , Kozeradsky .

• Orthodox - 827.724
• Catholics - 384.696
• Jews - 281.303
• Protestants - 13.067
• Mohammedans - 3.238

The predominant population is mainly Belarusians , accounting for about 54%; Jews who appeared here are believed to be up to 19% in the first half of the 12th century ; Poles (mainly Mazury) a little more than 20%, mainly in the south-west. counties, especially Bialystok and Belsky. Lithuanians among several thousand people live in the northern part of the province. Tatars resettled to Lithuania by Grand Duke Vytautas between 1395-98, now including 3273 Items are found most often in Slonim district. A significant part of the Germans lives in the part of the Bialystok region, annexed from Prussia. A small number of Dutch. Some still see the Buzhan and Yotvägi ; but they completely merged with the local population, from which it is impossible to distinguish them.

Orthodox - 4 monasteries , 490 churches and 54 chapels

Jewish - 57 synagogues and 316 houses of worship (schools)

Catholic - 2 monasteries, 92 churches , 58 chapels

Protestant - 7 churches and 6 houses of worship

Muslim - 3 mosques

Agriculture

Agriculture is the main occupation of most of the population.

Of the 3,574,746 acres of land in peasant ownership in 1890, there were 1,498,902 acres of land, that is, 42.2% of the entire province (per capita 2.3 tithes); including under the estates - 50 521, arable land - 862 078, meadow - 241 118, pasture - 170 327, forest - 44 994, uncomfortable - 129 863. Three -floor system prevails; in places there is two-field and, as an exception, multi-field. Crop yield is mostly average; unconditional crop failures are a rarity in the Grodno province. Potatoes are sown a lot due to the sandy soil and the significant demand for distilleries. 2122 grocery stores with a stock of winter bread 281 177 and spring 138 860 quarters. Estates food capital, formed in 1868, is only 47 753 rubles. Cattle breeding is not a separate branch of agriculture. In 1891, there were horses - 176,245, cattle - 484,107, simple sheep - 591 691, fine-fleece - 93 522, goats - 3642, donkeys and mules - 28, pigs - 320 701. About 12 horses are per 100 population. and 32 heads of cattle, and for 100 acres of land - about 5 horses and about 14 heads of cattle. Fine-fleeced sheep are bred mainly by landowners; wool goes to local cloth factories. Private stud farms 13.

Of the other rural occupations, gardening and horticulture are most common - in the districts of Belsky and Bialystok; although with a rare estate there is no orchard, but this branch of the economy is now very neglected. Tobacco farming is negligible; mainly shag is bred; in 1890, there were 5,995 tobacco plantations in the province, occupying a total of 22.25 acres, from which only 1,101 poods were collected.

Beekeeping is poorly developed and most concentrated in the Slonim and Brest counties, where mostly beech hives are found.

Forestry

The main forestry is the felling of firewood and forests, which is fused to Prussia and the Privislyansky Territory. In some places coal is burned, tarry, tar and turpentine are used, most in Slonim Uyezd. Wooden dishes and wheels are made in Pruzhany Uyezd; sledges, rims and arches are made in Belsky Uyezd.

Industry

Factory industry is firmly established in the lips. in the first quarter of this century with the advent of the first cloth and bike factories, which were listed here in 1815, nine with production of 300,000 rubles. The number of cloth factories increased with the conduct in 1832 of a customs line along the borders of the Kingdom of Poland.

In 1843 there were already 59 factories processing wool, with production of 1,521,498 rubles.

In 1891, all the factories and plants were 3,022 with a total production of 7,545,216 rubles. and 14,041 workers, including 9,660 men, 3,870 women and 511 minors. There were 2709 factories with 4,754 workers, with production of 2,286,456 rubles .; factories were 313 with production of 5,258,760 rubles. The first place belongs to the cloth courts, of which 146 with 4772 workers, with a total production of 3 306 837 rubles .; in products of this kind, the Grodno province is second only to Moscow and Simbirsk. The goods of its cloth factories are required in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Warsaw, etc., and some even go abroad. Most of these factories are in Bialystok and its county. In recent years, however, there has been a noticeable decrease in cloth and court production. The second place belongs to 13 tobacco factories, in which at 2030 a slave. proceeds 814 517 rub. Then there are 17 wool factories with a turnover of 805,100 rubles. at 390 work; 5 silk - 214 980 rubles. at 237 slaves., 12 spinning - 102 165 rubles. at 217 slaves., and 2 rags - 94,800 at 106 slaves.

Distilleries and yeast, the number 73, with the production of anhydrous alcohol in the amount of 740 989 rubles occupy the first place between the plants. at 540 workers. There were 57 breweries with 227 workers and with a production of 502,839 rubles .; at 150 brick factories of workers 478, the amount of production 81 789 rubles .; at 1926 flour mills with 2139 workers worked out at 505 636 rubles. Craftsmen 29 481, including masters 20703, workers 5486 and students 3292; of the artisans of Christians were 12 220, Jews 17 183 and Mohammedans 78, with Christians making up 22% in cities, Jews 78%, and Christians in counties 49%, and Jews 51% of all artisans.

Trade and transport

Trade is developed, which, in addition to waterways, is facilitated by highways and railways: St. Petersburg-Warsaw, Brest-Graevskaya, Moscow-Brest, Bialystok-Baranavichy, Brest-Bryansk.

The railway lines Brest-Kholmskaya, Warsaw-Terespol and Vilna-Rivne concern only the edges of the province.

Intermediaries in trade, except for the provincial and district cities, are small towns and non-state cities: the Moon, Bridges, Zelva, Vysoko-Litovsk, Tsekhanovich and others. Lip trade. gravitates most to the Privislyansk region. Mostly timber and grain bread are released abroad.

In 1889, the river basin. Neman cargo arrived, in thousands of pounds, 721, sent 13 303; 59 arrived in the Vistula basin, 1364 shipped; in the river basin Dnipro - 279. 59 fairs were sent at 32 different points; they do not play a large role in the commercial and industrial respect.

Income of all cities of the Grodno province in 1889 amounted to 403,484 rubles, expenses - 400,783 rubles .; only 16,367 rubles were shown in urban capital, and 207,981 rubles were in debt to cities.

Governors

Throughout the existence of the province, the Grodno governors and acting them were 36 people, who for the most part were natives of the indigenous Russian provinces: Ryazan, Novgorod, St. Petersburg, Tver, Kaluga, Kostroma, etc.

Provincial leaders of the nobility

Vice Governors

• List of noble families of the Grodno province
• History of Belarus
• List of deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Empire from the Grodno province

• Library Tsarskoye Selo, books on the history of the Grodno province (Commemorative books), PDF
• ESBE: Grodno province
• Map of the Grodno province from the Atlas of A. A. Ilyin of 1876 (viewed on the Google engine on runivers.ru)
• The province on a three-mile military topographic map of European Russia. (automated viewing with modern maps and satellite images)