{{Short description|Historic Russian administrative subdivision}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{No footnotes|date=June 2025}} thumb|right|250px|Uezds of the Russian Empire in 1897 An '''uezd''' (also spelled '''uyezd''' or '''uiezd'''; {{lang-rus|уе́зд (pre-1918: уѣздъ)|p=ʊˈjest}}), or '''povit''' in a Ukrainian context ({{langx|uk|повіт}}), was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the Russian SFSR, and the early Soviet Union, which was in use from the 13th century. For most of Russian history, uezds were a second-level administrative division. By sense, but not by etymology, ''uezd'' approximately corresponds to the English "county".
==General description== Originally describing groups of several volosts, they formed around the most important cities. Uezds were ruled by the appointees (''namestniki'') of a knyaz and, starting from the 17th century, by voyevodas.
In 1708, an administrative reform was carried out by Peter the Great, dividing Russia into governorates. The subdivision into uyezds was abolished at that time but was reinstated in 1727, as a result of Catherine I's administrative reform.
By the USSR administrative reform of 1923–1929, most of the uezds were transformed into raions (districts). In UkSSR, uezds were reformed into forty okruhas which were the primary-level of administrative division from 1925 to 1930.
==Baltic governorates== In the Baltic governorates the type of division was known as ''Kreis'' in German, ''apriņķis'' in Latvian and ''maakond''/''kreis'' in Estonian.
== Lithuanian governorates == In the Lithuania-Vilna Governorate, Kovno Governorate and Lithuania-Grodno Governorate the type of division was known as ''apskritis'' in Lithuanian.
==Bessarabia== The uezds of Bessarabia Governorate were called {{Lang|ro|Ținut}} or {{Lang|ro|Județ}} in Romanian, which would translate as "county".{{citation needed|date=December 2010}}
==Ukraine== The Ukrainian word for ''uezd'' is ''povit'' ({{langx|uk|повіт}}, plural {{langx|uk|повіти|translit=povity|label=none}}).
==See also== *List of uezds of the Russian Empire *History of the administrative division of Russia *Governorate (Russia)
==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»)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025071033/http://www.strana-oz.ru/?numid=7&article=294 |date=2018-10-25 }} "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] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923082322/http://www.ruthenia.ru/logos/number/46/03.pdf |date=2020-09-23 }}), ''Логос'', [http://www.ruthenia.ru/logos/number/2005_01_46.htm #1 2005 (46)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513225345/http://www.ruthenia.ru/logos/number/2005_01_46.htm |date=2021-05-13 }}, {{ISSN|0869-5377}}
{{Slavic terms for country subdivisions}}
Category:Uezds of the Russian Empire Category:Local government in the Russian Empire Category:Types of administrative division Category:Russian-language designations of territorial entities