Don Host Oblast
Don Host Oblast (Russian: Область Войска Донского, romanized: Oblast’ Voyska Donskogo) was an oblast of the Russian Empire which consisted of the territory of the Don Cossacks, coinciding approximately with present-day Rostov Oblast in Russia. Its administrative center was Cherkassk, and later Novocherkassk.
| Don Host Oblast Область Войска Донского | |||||||||||
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| Oblast of the Russian Empire | |||||||||||
| 1786–1920 | |||||||||||
Coat of arms
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Location in the Russian Empire | |||||||||||
| Capital | Novocherkassk | ||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||
• | 152,700 km2 (59,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• 1897 | 1,712,898 | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | 1786 | ||||||||||
• Disestablished | 20 March 1920 | ||||||||||
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The province comprised the areas where the Don Cossack Host settled in the Russian Empire. From 1786, the territory was officially named Don Host Land (Russian: Земля Войска Донского, romanized: Zemlya Voyska Donskogo), renamed Don Host Oblast in 1870.
During 1913, the oblast, with an area of about 165,000 km², had about 3.8 million inhabitants. Of these, 55% (2.1 million) were Cossacks in possession of all the land; the remaining 45% of the population being townsfolk and agricultural guest labourers from other parts of Russia.
This subdivision was abolished in 1920; from the major part of it the Don Oblast of the RSFSR was created, which was incorporated into the North Caucasus Krai in 1924.