Regions of Belarus

Regions and the Special administrative district of Belarus
Рэгіёны і Спецыяльны адміністратыўны раён Беларусі (in Belarusian)
Регионы и Специальный административный район Беларуси (in Russian)
Regions and the Special administrative district of Belarus; Рэгіёны і Спецыяльны адміністратыўны раён Беларусі (in Belarusian); Регионы и Специальный административный район Беларуси (in Russian)
Category	Unitary state
Location	Belarus
Created	1960;
Number	7 regions
Populations	(Regions only): 1,024,751 (Mogilev) – 1,471,240 (Minsk)
Areas	(Regions only): 25,118.1 km2 (9,698.14 sq mi) (Grodno) – 40,361.6 km2 (15,583.72 sq mi) (Gomel)
Government	Region government;
Subdivisions	Raion;

At the top level of administration, Belarus is divided into six oblasts (voblasts or regions). The city of Minsk,[1] has a special status as the capital of Belarus. Minsk is also the capital of Minsk Region.[2]

At the second level, the regions are divided into raions (districts).

The layout and extent of the regions were set in 1960 when Belarus (then the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic) formed a constituent republic of the Soviet Union.[3]

History

At the start of the 20th century, the boundaries of the Belarusian lands within the Russian Empire were still being defined. Basically in 1900 it contained the entire Minsk Governorate and Mogilev Governorate, the majority of Grodno Governorate, parts of Vitebsk Governorate and the parts of Vilna Governorate (the latter is now in Lithuania).[3] World War I, the independence of Poland, as well as the 1920-1921 Polish–Soviet War affected the boundaries. In 1921, Belarus had what is now all of Minsk Governorate except for the western fringe, the western part of Gomel Region, a western slice of Mahilyow, and a small part of Vitebsk Region. In 1926 the eastern part of Gomel region was added. [3]

In Soviet Belarus, new administrative units, called oblast or voblast (cognate of Russian word oblast with prothetic v-) were introduced in 1938. And again, during World War II, the boundaries fluctuated. In 1939 they were reset with Belarus gaining territory to the west, Baranavichy, Belastok (Bialystok), Brest, Pinsk, and Vileyka oblasts. In 1944 Belastok was eliminated and the new oblasts of Babruysk, Grodno, and Polotsk were created. At that same time, Vileika oblast was renamed Molodechno oblast.[3]

At different times between 1938 and 1960, the following oblasts existed:

Babruysk Oblast, created 1944, eliminated 1954
Baranavichy Oblast, created 1939, eliminated 1954
Belastok Oblast, created 1939, eliminated 1944 (now Bialystok in Poland)
Brest Oblast, created 1939
Gomel Oblast, created 1938
Grodno Oblast, created 1944
Maladzyechna Oblast renamed from Vileyka Oblast 1944, eliminated 1960
Mogilev Oblast, created 1938
Minsk Oblast, created 1938
Navahrudak Oblast, created 1939, renamed Baranavichy Oblast December 1939
Pinsk Oblast, created 1939, eliminated 1954
Polatsk Oblast, created 1944, eliminated 1954
Polesia Oblast, created 1938, eliminated 1954
Vitebsk Oblast, created 1938
Vileyka Oblast, created 1939, renamed to Maladzyechna Oblast 1944

Regions

Regions of Belarus
	Subdivision	Capital	Russian	Belarusian	Population (2019 Census)[4]	Area (km²)	Density	Percentage of Belarus
1	City of Minsk		Минск	Мінск	2,018,281	305.50	6,606.48	21.44%
2	Brest Region	Brest	Брестская	Брэсцкая	1,348,115	32,790.68	41.11	14.32%
3	Gomel Region	Gomel	Гомельская	Гомельская	1,388,512	40,361.66	34.40	14.75%
4	Grodno Region	Grodno	Гродненская	Гродзенская	1,026,816	25,118.07	40.88	10.91%
5	Mogilev Region	Mogilev	Могилёвская	Магілёўская	1,024,751	29,079.01	35.24	10.89%
6	Minsk Region	Minsk	Минская	Мінская	1,471,240	39,912.35	36.86	15.63%
7	Vitebsk Region	Vitebsk	Витебская	Вiцебская	1,135,731	40,049.99	28.36	12.06%
	All Belarus	Minsk	Беларусь		9,413,446	207,617.26	45.34	100.00%

Historical division

Administarative division of Belarusian SSR by year

1926

1927

1940

1945

1955

References

Belarus Regions
Minsk summary, at the website of the Belarus embassy in Russia.
"Regions of Belarus". Statoids.
Official 2019 census results

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] Belarus Regions

[2] Minsk summary, at the website of the Belarus embassy in Russia.

[kge-3] "Regions of Belarus". Statoids.

[4] Official 2019 census results

First-level administrative divisions in European countries
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia² Austria Azerbaijan¹ Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus² Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia¹ Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan¹ Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia¹ San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey¹ Ukraine United Kingdom
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia² Artsakh² Donetsk People's Republic Kosovo Luhansk People's Republic Northern Cyprus² South Ossetia² Transnistria
Table of administrative divisions by country ¹ Spans the conventional boundary between Europe and another continent. ² Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.