Tomsk Governorate

The Tomsk Governorate was located in the southeastern part of Western Siberia. To the north, north-west and west it bordered the Tobolsk Governorate, to the south-west the Semipalatinsk region, to the south and south-east Mongolia, and to the east and north-east the Yeniseisk Governorate. In terms of territory, it corresponded to the territories of the modern Altai Krai, the Republic of Altai, Kemerovo Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast and Tomsk Oblast of the Russian Federation, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Semipalatinsk Oblast of Kazakhstan, the western lands of Krasnoyarsk Krai and the eastern lands of Omsk Oblast. During the 20th century, the territory of the province constantly diminished. == History ==

19th century On February 26 (March 9), 1804, by decree of Emperor Alexander I, the Tobolsk Governorate was divided into two parts and the Tomsk Governorate was established. On September 17 (September 29), 1827, the center of the Charyshsky okrug was transferred to the city of Biysk; the okrug was renamed Biysk okrug. On April 6, 1838, when the Omsk Oblast was abolished, the cities of Semipalatinsk and Ust-Kamenogorsk were transferred to the Biysk okrug of the Tomsk Governorate. On May 19 (May 31), 1854, part of the territory of the Tomsk Governorate with the cities of Semipalatinsk and Ust-Kamenogorsk was transferred to the Semipalatinsk Oblast. On May 16 (May 28), 1878, by order of the State Council of the Russian Empire, the first university in Siberia and Asia was founded in Tomsk. On June 6 (June 18), 1894, part of the volosts was separated from the Biysk okrug with the formation of the Zmeinogorsk okrug. was separated from the southern part of the Tomsk Governorate on the basis of the uezds of Barnaul, Biysk and Zmeinogorsk. On April 21, 1918, by decision of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, the Shcheglovsky Uezd was formed. In December 1919 – January 1920 it was under the control of the Red Army. The administrative center of the Tomsk Governorate was moved to the city of Novonikolaevsk. In April 1920, the government was returned to Tomsk. On June 13, 1921, by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the southwestern lands of the Tomsk Governorate, Kainsky Uezd and Novonikolaevsk Uezd were ceded to the newly created Novonikolaevsk Governorate. On October 27, 1924, by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the Kuznetsk Uezd and Shcheglovsky Uezd were merged into the Kolchuginsky Uezd. The same year, zoning was carried out in the districts of the Tomsk Governorate. By the beginning of 1925, the Tomsk Governorate included the Kolchuginsky, Mariinsky, Narymsky, and Tomsk Uezds. On May 25, 1925, the Tomsk Governorate was abolished by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee; its territories became part of the Kuznetsk Okrug, the Tomsk Okrug, and partially the Achinsk Okrug of the Siberian Krai. == Coat of arms of the Tomsk Governorate ==

The coat of arms of the Tomsk province was approved on July 5, 1878, by Alexander II. In a green shield is a silver horse with scarlet eyes and a tongue. The shield is surmounted by the Imperial crown and surrounded by golden oak leaves connected by the ribbon of St. Andrew. == Administrative division ==

By the end of the 19th century, the Tomsk Governorate was divided into seven uezds, which were in turn subdivided into volosts. In the period of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Tomsk Governorate included uezds (years in the Governorate are indicated in brackets): • Tomsky (1804–1925) • Barnaul (1804–1917) • Biyskiy (1804–1917) • Yeniseisk (1804–1822) • Kainsky (1804–1925) • Kansky (1804–1822) • Kolyvansky (1804–1827) • Krasnoyarsk (1804–1827) • Kuznetsky (1804–1925) • Turukhansky (1804–1822) • Mariinsky (1822–1925) • Zmeinogorsky (1894–1917) • Togursky (Narymsky) (1917–1925) • Novo-Nikolaevsky (1917–1921) • Shcheglovsky (1921–1924) • Kolchuginsky (1924–1925) Uezdless towns == Population ==

s (1899) The ethnographic composition of the population of the province is diverse: there are Great Russians (majority), Aesti, Chuvash people, Zyryans, Ostyaks and Ostyak-Samoyeds, Chulym, Baraba, Kuznetsk, Black Tatars and Bukharians, Telengits or Teleuts, and former Kalmyks-Dvoedans. 90% of the population is Slavic. == Economy ==

The main occupation of the population is agriculture. The main crops are wheat, oats, rye, barley, buckwheat, potatoes, flax, and hemp. Animal husbandry developed. In the Biysk Uezd, deer (mountain deer, Cervus maral) are bred. Beekeeping played an important role, although it was carried out very irrationally. Part of the bee products is sent to the Irbit Fair. In addition to apiary beekeeping, there is also honey hunting. Fisheries also developed. Fishing is the main occupation of inorodtsy and partly of Russians. Hunting and birding is in decline due to an increase in population, forest fires and the merciless extermination of animals and birds. Of the birds, mainly the hazel grouse comes into trade. The cedar nut trade exists in the same areas where hunting is carried out. The nut is sold partly to Tomsk, partly to the Irbit, Ivanovo-Krestovsky and Ishimsky and other fairs, as well as abroad. The berry trade is important, especially lingonberries. In the governorate, grain, fish, salt, wine, lard, honey, wax, leather, pine nuts and furs were produced and delivered to other parts of the country and abroad. Tomsk Governorate was the main producer of Siberian butter. The mining and metallurgical industry in the Altai mining district has been developed since the time of Demidov, the Dimidov mines and factories came under the jurisdiction of the Cabinet. Silver smelting is carried out at the Suzunsky plant. The gold industry and the factory business have recently (1901) fallen into decline. Coal is developed in the Bachatsky, Afoninsky and Kolchuginsky deposits, Sudzhenskaya and Anzherskaya mines of the Kuznetsk coal basin. The salt industry is poorly developed. Salt goes on sale in the Tobolsk and Yeniseisk Governorates, and Glauber's salt goes to soda and glass factories. In the 1840s steamboat traffic began along the rivers Ob, Tom, and Chulym. From 1901 to 1903, the Chuisky tract was built. Traffic is open on the railway lines that passed through the Tomsk province: • Chelyabinsk–Omsk–Novonikolaevsk (1896) • Ob (Novonikolaevsk)–Krasnoyarsk (1898) of the Trans-Siberian Railway • Taiga–Cheremoshniki (Tomsk) (1898) • Novonikolaevsk–Semipalatinsk (1915) • Barnaul–Biysk (1915) • Yurga–Topki–Proyektnaya (1916) • Topki–Kemerovo (1916) • Tatar–Slavgorod (1917). Doctors in the governorate in 1898 numbered one hundred and twenty, with four female doctors and seven dentists. There were twenty-two pharmacies and one balneary. There were six children's shelters for orphans and the children of migrants. All educational institutions totaled 1350, including 90 in towns. There were 54,714 students in total, of which only 12,000 were girls. == Notable people ==

Born in the governorate: • Ivan Pyryev (1901–1968) • Vera Volkova (1905–1975) • Tatiana Proskouriakoff (1909–1985) • Yegor Ligachyov (1920–2021) • Innokenty Smoktunovsky (1925–1994) == See also ==