Kirovohrad Oblast (Ukrainian: Кіровоградська область, romanized: Kirovohradska oblast), also known as Kirovohradshchyna (Ukrainian: Кіровоградщина), is an oblast (province) in central Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kropyvnytskyi. Its population is 903,712 (2022 estimate).[2] It is Ukraine's second least populated oblast, behind Chernivtsi.
The lands of the modern Kirovohrad Oblast were first inhabited by Scythians.[6][7] In the Middle Ages, during the time of Kyivan Rus', the East Slavic tribe of Ulichis lived here.[8] After the liberation of the former Kyivan Rus' from the Tatars in the Battle of Blue Waters and the unification of the principalities of Kyiv, Pereyaslav, and Chernihiv with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania,[9][10] there was a need to protect the southeastern borders from attacks by the Crimean Khanate and Moscovy - states that were formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde at the end of the 15th century. For this, Dmytro Vyshnevetsky founded the first Zaporozhian Sich on the island of Khortytsia, thus the Ukrainian Cossacs appeared.[11] On the territory of the modern Kirovohrad region the Zaporozhians founded many villages. From 1569, the territory formed of the Kingdom of Poland within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
These lands were under the rule of the Ukrainian Cossacks of Hetmanate and Zaporozhian Sich from XV to XVIII century.[12]
In the 1800s, majority of the landed was owned by the noble Skarżyński family.[15] They played a large role in the development of the region. An emphasis was placed on the development of its agriculture and the Skarzynskis opened a school in Migeya dedicated to this.[16]
The oblast was created as part of the Ukrainian SSR on January 10, 1939 out of the northern raions of Mykolaiv Oblast. Before establishment, its territory was part of Kherson Governorate (most of it) and Podolia Governorate (smaller portion) until 1925. Earlier before occupation of Ukraine in 1920s, in 1918 there were plans to introduce own Ukrainian administrative territorial division with territory of modern Kirovohrad Oblast being split between lands of Nyz (Lower land), Pobozhia (Boh land), and Cherkasy.
On 20 June 2018, the Committee on State Building, Regional Policy and Local Self-Government of the Ukrainian parliament backed the proposal to rename Kirovohrad Oblast to Kropyvnytskyi Oblast.[23] In February 2019, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared constitutional the bill on renaming Kirovohrad Oblast to Kropyvnytskyi Oblast.[24][25] The renaming was supported by the local Oblast Council in March 2021.[26][27] The process then stalled in the parliament, with the oblast council asking the Verkhovna Rada to speed up the process in September 2022.[28]
According to the 2001 Ukrainian census, Ukrainian was the mother tongue of 88.9% of the population, for 10.0% it was Russian, and for 1.1% it was another language.
According to a survey "Is the language (ir)relevant?" (Ukrainian: "Мова (не) на часі?"), which took place in Kirovohrad Oblast from 12 to 22 October 2023, 96.7% of respondents named Ukrainian as their mother tongue, while 2.6% named Russian as their mother tongue. In everyday life, 66.4% of respondents spoke Ukrainian, 29.4% spoke Surzhyk, and 3.4% spoke Russian.[29]
Age structure
0-14 years: 14.3% (male 72,646/female 68,970)
15-64 years: 68.7% (male 324,698/female 355,058)
65 years and over: 17.0% (male 55,718/female 111,666) (2013 official)
Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (Ukrainian: обласний центр, translit.oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relativeadjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of the respective center city: Kirovohrad was the former name of the center of the Kirovohrads’ka oblast’ (Kirovohrad Oblast). Most oblasts are also sometimes referred to in a feminine noun form, following the convention of traditional regional place names, ending with the suffix "-shchyna", as is the case with the Kirovohrad Oblast, Kirovohradshchyna.
^Брайченко Олексій. Синьоводська проблема: перспективи комплексних краєзнавчих досліджень // Синьоводська проблема у новітніх дослідженнях. — К., 2005. — С. 37.
^Єдине відоме на сьогодні писемне джерело, котре ясно вказує на місце будівництва замку (хроніка Йоахима та Мартина Бєльських), називає острів Малу Хортицю
^Громко Т. В. Семантичні особливості народної географічної термінології Центральної України (на матеріалі Кіровоградщини). — Кіровоград, 2000
^Яворницький Д. І. Історія запорозьких козаків. — К., 1991. — Т. І.
^Ключевский В. О. Происхождение крепостного права в России / В. Ключевский. — СПб., 1885.
^Виконавчий комітет Знам'янської міської ради, Архівний відділ міської ради, Відділ внутрішньої політики міськвиконкому Чорна смуга довжиною в два роки. Книга пам'яті міста Знам'янки та смт. Знам'янка Друга Кіровоградської області — Знам'янка, 2008
"Main". Official web-site of the Kirovohrad Oblast State Administration (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 13 August 2006. Retrieved 7 April 2014.