{{Short description|Type of administrative subdivision}} {{italic title}} An '''''uchastok''''' ({{langx|ru| Участок|}}) or '''police prefecture''' ({{lang|ru|полицейский участок}}) was a territorial-administrative unit of the Russian Empire and early Russian SFSR. Throughout most of modern Russian history, ''uchastoks'', which numbered 2,523 throughout the empire by 1914, were a third-level administrative division, below ''okrugs,'' ''uezd'' and ''otdels'' (counties). In a literal sense, ''uchastok'' approximately corresponds to the English term plot, however, in practical usage it corresponded to a municipal district.<ref name="Tsutsiev">{{Cite Atlas of the Ethno-Political History of the Caucasus}}</ref>
==History== In 1708, an administrative reform carried out by Tsar Peter the Great divided Russia into ''guberniyas'' (provinces) with subordinate uezds, whereas ''oblasts'' (regions) consisted of ''okrugs'' (counties), or ''otdels'' (Cossack counties), however, the counties of all were usually divided into either ''uchastoks'' or ''volosts'', with the exception of the ''uezds'' of the Black Sea Governorate which did not have any sub-counties.<ref name="Tarkhov">{{cite web|author=С. А. Тархов|year=2001|title=Изменение административно-территориального деления России за последние 300 лет|url=http://geo.1september.ru/2001/15/2.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113202631/http://geo.1september.ru/2001/15/2.htm|archive-date=2013-11-13|work=Электронная версия журнала "География"}}</ref><ref name="kavkazskiykalendar">{{Cite Kavkazskiy Kalendar 1913}}</ref>
By the Soviet administrative reform of 1923–1929, most of the ''uchastoks'' were transformed into ''raions'' (districts), which corresponded in a similar land size, however, were subordinate directly to its Soviet republic rather than to any larger province or county.<ref name="kavkazskiykalendar"/>
==Administration== Police prefectures were headed by a local police chief and had communes ({{lang|ru|сельское общество|}}) consisting of a number of villages subordinate to it. A ''mahal'' ({{lang|ru|магал|}}) is a similar sub-county which was less-commonly used but still equivalent to an ''uchastok'', however, a ''stanitsa''—which was common in ''otdels''—was always subordinate to an ''uchastok''.<ref name="Tsutsiev"/>
The equivalent of an ''uchastok'' in the Dagestan Oblast was a ''nai-bate'', which was ruled by a ''naib'' or local leader, who was a military deputy appointed by higher authorities (analogous to a ''pristav'', or military commandant).<ref name="Tsutsiev"/>
==See also== *History of the administrative division of Russia *List of viceroyalties of the Russian Empire
==References== {{reflist}}
==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 Category:1921 disestablishments in Russia Category:Rural communities of the Russian Empire Category:1708 establishments in Russia