Okrug
Anokrug[a]is a type ofadministrative divisionin someSlavic-speaking states. The wordokrugis aloanwordin English,[1]alternatively translated asarea,district,orregion.
Etymologically,okrugliterally means 'circuit', derived from Proto-Slavic*okrǫgъ,in turn from*ob-"around" +*krǫgъ"circle". In meaning, the word is similar to theGermantermBezirkorKreis('district') and the French wordarrondissement;all of which refer to something "encircled" or "surrounded".
Bulgaria[edit]
InBulgaria,okragsare the abolished primary unit of the administrative division and implied "districts" or "counties". They existed in the postwar Bulgaria between 1946 and 1987 and corresponded approximately to today'soblasts.
Poland[edit]
As historical administrative subdivisions ofPoland,okręgiexisted in the later part of theCongress Polandperiod, from 1842, when the name was applied to the formerpowiats(the namepowiatbeing transferred to the formerobwody).[2]See:subdivisions of Congress Poland.
Okręgiwere also created temporarily from 1945 to 1946, in the areas annexed to Poland from Germany as a result of the Soviet military advance. Anokręgwas then subdivided intoobwody.Theseokręgiwere later replaced byvoivodeships,and theobwodybypowiats.[3]
Russia[edit]
Imperial Russia[edit]
Okrugswere one of the several types of administrative division foroblastsand selectedgovernoratesinImperial Russia.Until the 1920s,okrugswere administrative districts inCossack hostssuch as theDon Cossacks.
Soviet Union[edit]
Inherited from Imperial Russia, in the 1920s,okrugswere administrative divisions of several other primary divisions such asoblasts,krais,and others. For some time in the 1920s they also served as the primary unit upon the abolishment ofguberniyasand were divided intoraions.On July 30, 1930, most of theokrugswere abolished. The remainingokrugswere phased out in theRussian SFSRduring 1930–1946, although they were retained inZakarpattia Oblastof theUkrainian SSRin a status equivalent to that of a raion.
Nationalokrugswere first created in theMountain ASSRof the Russian SFSR in 1921 as units of the Soviet autonomy and additional nationalokrugswere created in the Russian SFSR for the peoples of the north and Caucasus region. In 1977, all nationalokrugswere renamed autonomousokrugs.
Russian Federation[edit]
In the present-dayRussian Federation,the termokrugis either translated asdistrictor rendered directly asokrug,and is used to describe the following types of divisions:
- Federal Districts(federalny okrug), such as theSiberian Federal District
- Autonomous okrugs(avtonomny okrug), such asChukotka Autonomous Okrug
After the series of mergers in 2005–2008, several autonomousokrugsof Russia lost their federal subject status and are now considered to be administrative territories within the federal subjects they had been merged into:
- Agin-Buryat Okrug,a territory with special status withinZabaykalsky Krai
- Komi-Permyak Okrug,a territory with special status withinPerm Krai
- Koryak Okrug,a territory with special status withinKamchatka Krai
- Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug,a territory with special status withinIrkutsk Oblast
Okrugis also used to describe the administrative divisions of the two "federal cities"in Russia:
- theadministrativeokrugsofMoscoware an upper-level administrative division
- themunicipalokrugsofSt. Petersburgis a lower-level administrative division
In the federal city ofSevastopol,municipalokrugsare a type of municipal formation.
InTver Oblast,the termokrugalso denotes a type of anadministrative divisionwhich is equal in status to that of the districts.
Furthermore, the designationokrugdenotes severalselsoviet-level administrative divisions:
- okrugs,such asokrugs of Samara Oblast
- rural okrugs(selsky okrug), such as therural okrugs of Belgorod Oblast
- rural territorial okrugs(selsky territorialny okrug), such as therural territorial okrugs of Murmansk Oblast
- stanitsa okrugs(stanichny okrug), such as thestanitsa okrugs of Krasnodar Krai
In some cities, the termokrugis used to refer to the administrative divisions of those cities. Administrativeokrugsare such divisions in the cities ofMurmansk,Omsk,andTyumen;cityokrugsare used inKrasnodar;municipalokrugsare the divisions ofNazran;okrugsexist inBelgorod,Kaluga,Kursk,andNovorossiysk;and territorialokrugsare the divisions ofArkhangelskandLipetsk.
The termokrugis also used to describe a type of amunicipal formation,the municipal urbanokrug—a municipal urban settlement not incorporated into a municipal district.[4]
Serbia[edit]
TheRepublic of Serbiais divided into twenty-nineokrugsas well as theCity of Belgrade.The termokrugin Serbia is often translated as eitherdistrictorcounty.
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Oxford English Dictionaryon CD-ROM, Second Edition. Entry onokrug.Oxford University Press, 2002
- ^Administrative division of the Congress Poland(in Polish)
- ^"Article in Polish re 1945-46".Archived fromthe originalon 2007-10-23.Retrieved2013-09-09.
- ^Государственная Дума Российской Федерации. Федеральный Закон №131-ФЗ от 6 октября 2003 г. «Об общих принципах организации местного самоуправления в Российской Федерации», в ред. Федерального Закона №290-ФЗ от 4 октября 2014 г.(State Dumaof the Russian Federation. Federal Law #131-FZ of October 6, 2003On the General Principles of Organization of the Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation,as amended by the Federal Law #290-FZ of September 28, 2010. ).