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Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (Дніпропетровська область), is an oblast (province) in simultaneously southern, eastern and central Ukraine, the most important industrial region of the country. It was created on February 27, 1932. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has a population of about approximately 80% of whom live centering on administrative centers: Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, Kamianske, Nikopol and Pavlohrad. The Dnieper River runs through the oblast.

Geography
The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is located by most part in eastern Ukraine (like Dnipro Raion and other eastern more raions), though it has some parts in central (like Kamianske Raion) and southern (Nikopol Raion) Ukraine. The area of the oblast (31,974 km2) comprises about 5.3% of the total area of the country. Its longitude from north to south is 130 km, from east to west – 300 km. The oblast borders the Poltava and Kharkiv Oblasts on the north, the Donetsk Oblast on the east, the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson Oblasts on the south, and the Mykolayiv and Kirovohrad Oblasts on the west. Historically, it is located in the region of Zaporizhzhia.

The Black Sea Lowland covers about half of the territory of the oblast, where it lies only within the west bank of the Dnieper. In Terny, a Ternivsky meteorite crater is located. It is 11 km in diameter and its age is estimated at 280 ± 10 million years (Permian). The crater is not exposed at the surface. The Dnieper Upland contains a number of minerals including iron, manganese, granite, graphite, brown coal, and kaolin. Kryvbas is an important economic region, specializing in iron ore mining and the steel industry. It is arguably the main iron ore region of Eastern Europe. Named after the city of Kryvyi Rih, the mining base of the region occupies the southwestern part of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, as well as the small neighboring parts of the Kirovohrad and Kherson Oblasts.

The region possesses major deposits of iron ore and some other metallurgical ores. To exploit them, several large mining companies were founded here in the middle of the 20th century. Most of them are located in Kryvyi Rih itself, which is the longest city in Europe (roughly 67 km in a straight line from one end to another).

Geology
Much of the Dnipropetrovsk oblast is located within the boundaries of the Ukrainian Shield and only the northern regions and the extreme eastern part of the territory are confined to the south-eastern side of the Dnipro-Donets depression.

In the geological structure of the region, the breeds come from the archaea, the Proterozoic, the Paleozoic, the Mesozoic and the Cenozoic.

History
In the 6th to 8th centuries AD the first settlements of Slavs appeared on the banks of the Dnieper within the region. During the period of Kievan Rus' (9th to 12th centuries AD) the Dnieper River functioned as one of the main trade corridors of medieval Eastern Europe, part of the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", which connected the Baltic Sea region with the Crimea and with the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople. The Dnieper also served as a major route for transporting the armies of Kyiv princes on their way to the Byzantine coastal cities in the early 9th and late 9th centuries.

At the beginning of the 15th century, Tatar tribes inhabiting the right bank of the Dnieper were driven away by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, by the mid-15th century, the Nogai (who lived north of the Sea of Azov) and the Crimean Khanate invaded these lands. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crimean Khanate agreed to a border along the Dnieper, and farther east along the Samara River, i.e. through what is today the city of Dnipro. At this time there appeared a new force, the Cossacks - armed free men not subject to any feudal lord - who soon came to dominate the region. They later became known as Zaporozhian Cossacks, from Zaporizhzhia, the lands south of Naddniprianshchyna (Zaporizhzhia translates as "the Land Beyond the Weirs [Rapids]"). This period of raids and fighting caused considerable devastation and depopulation in the Pontic steppe; the area became known as the "Wilderness" or the "Wild Fields".

In 1635, the Polish government built the Kodak fortress above the Dnieper Rapids at Kodaky, partly as a result of rivalry in the region between Poland, Turkey and the Crimean Khanate, and partly to maintain control over Cossack activity (i.e. to suppress the Cossack raiders and to prevent peasants moving out of the area). On the night of 3 or 4 August 1635, the Cossacks of Ivan Sulyma captured the fort by surprise, burning it down and butchering the garrison of about 200 West European mercenaries under Jean Marion. The fort, rebuilt by French engineer Guillaume Le Vasseur de Beauplan for the Polish government in 1638, had a mercenary garrison. Kodak was captured by Zaporozhian Cossacks on 1 October 1648, and was garrisoned by the Cossacks until its demolition in accordance with the Treaty of the Pruth in 1711.

Under the Treaty of Pereyaslav of 1654, the territory came within the sphere of influence of the Moscow-based Tsardom of Russia. In 1774 Prince Grigori Potemkin was appointed governor of Novorossiysk Governorate, and after the destruction of the Zaporozhian Sich in 1775, he started founding cities in the region and encouraging foreign settlers. The city of Yekaterinoslav (present-day Dnipro) was founded in 1776, not in its current location, but at the confluence of the River Samara with the River Kil'chen' at Loshakivka, north of the Dnieper. On May 8, 1775, after the end of the Russian-Turkish War of 1768 to 1774, Russian authorities opened a postal station and track which linked Kremenchuk city, the Kinburn foreland and Ochakiv, all locations of the Imperial Russian Army.

In December 1796, Emperor Paul I re-established the Novorossiysk Governorate, mostly with land from the former Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty. In 1802, this province was divided into the Nikolayev Governorate (known as the Kherson Governorate from 1803), Yekaterinoslav Governorate, and the Taurida Governorate. The capital of the Yekaterinoslav Governorate was the city of Yekaterinoslav (modern Dnipro). It was located within the former lands of the Zaporizhian Sich. The governorate bordered to the north with the Kharkov Governorate and Poltava Governorate, to the west and southwest with the Kherson Governorate, to the south with the Taurida Governorate and Sea of Azov, and to the east with the Don Host Oblast.

Olexander Paul (1832–1890) discovered iron ore and initiated smelting, and this became the core of a developing a mining district. In 1874 Emperor Alexander II initiated the founding project of a railway, running 505 km. This enabled transportation directly to the nearest factories and greatly sped up the development of the region.

On 1 August 1925, the Yekaterinoslav Governorate administration was discontinued, and in 1926 the city of Yekterinoslav was renamed Dnipropetrovsk after Ukrainian Soviet leader Grigory Petrovsky. Before the introduction of oblasts in 1932, the Ukrainian SSR comprised 40 okrugs, which had replaced the former Russian Imperial guberniya (governorate) subdivisions. In 1932 the territory of the Ukrainian SSR was re-organized into oblasts. The first oblasts were Vinnytsia Oblast, Kyiv Oblast, Odesa Oblast, Kharkiv Oblast, and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Soon after that, in the summer of 1932, Donetsk Oblast was formed out of eastern parts of Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.

During the Holodomor in the 1930s, more than 200 collective farms in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast were put on "Blackboards" which implied a complete blockade of trade and food-aid to villages under-performing in fulfilling grain-procurement quotas; a number representing more than half of all such "Blackboards" throughout all of the Ukrainian SSR.

During the 1991 referendum, 90.36% of votes in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast favored the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. A survey conducted in December 2014 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found 2.2% of the oblast's population supported their region joining Russia, 89.9% did not support the idea, and the rest were undecided or did not respond.

The city of Dnipropetrovsk was renamed "Dnipro" in May 2016 as part of the decommunization laws enacted a year earlier. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast was not renamed because it is mentioned by name in the Constitution of Ukraine, and the oblast can only be renamed by a constitutional amendment. In April 2018 a group of over a hundred deputies formally initiated a proposal in the Ukrainian Parliament to change the name to Sicheslav Oblast; in February 2019, the Verkhovna Rada voted to officially amend the Constitution, thus granting state sanction to the name change. Later that year the Constitutional Court officially approved the change. The oblast's administrative centre and largest city, Dnipro, had had the unofficial name "Sicheslav" (commemorating the Zaporizhian Sich) in 1918–21 during the Ukrainian War of Independence. Since then, the renaming process has stalled, for reasons such as the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022 onwards).

During the Russian invasion, the cities of Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih, and Nikopol, among other locations in the region, were bombed by Russia. Russian troops also shelled the village of Ternove and surrounding areas. Reports from Ukrainian military groups suggest this village - along with Berezove, Novoheorhiivka and Zaporizke - was attacked and then occupied for an unknown period of time, evincing that the Russian troops entered Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Ukrainian military claimed to have cleared Russian troops from the village on 14 March 2022. It was also reported that Russian troops were pushed from areas near Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and Kherson Oblast, near the border. Hannivka was occupied, liberated, and shelled during the invasion. However,, there has been no further ground fighting and the oblast remains completely under Ukrainian control.

Administrative subdivisions
The following data incorporates the number of each type of administrative divisions of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast:
 * Administrative center – 1 (Dnipro)
 * Raions – 7;
 * City districts – 18 (Dnipro – 8, Kryvyi Rih – 7, Kamianske −3);
 * Settlements – 1504, including:
 * Villages – 1438;
 * Cities/Towns – 66, including:
 * Urban-type settlement – 46;
 * Cities – 20.
 * Village communities – 288.

The local administration of the oblast is controlled by the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Rada. The governor of the oblast is the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Rada speaker, appointed by the President of Ukraine.

Since July 2020, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast consists of the following seven raions:
 * Dnipro Raion;
 * Kamianske Raion;
 * Kryvyi Rih Raion;
 * Nikopol Raion;
 * Novomoskovsk Raion;
 * Pavlohrad Raion;
 * Synelnykove Raion.

Demographics
Its population in 2004 was 3,493,062, which constituted 5.3% of the overall Ukrainian population. • 2273,4 (1939);

• 2704,8 (1959);

• 3343,0 (1970);

• 3639,4 (1979);

• 3881,2 (1989);

• 3899,4 (1990);

• 3908,7 (1991);

• 3918,6 (1992);

• 3936,4 (1993);

• 3923,7 (1994);

• 3888,8 (1995);

• 3848,3 (1996);

• 3805,0 (1997);

• 3758,7 (1998);

• 3714,9 (1999);

• 3662,6 (2000);

• 3612,6 (2001);

• 3567,6 (2002);

• 3532,8 (2003);

• 3502,9 (2004);

• 3476,2 (2005);

• 3447,2 (2006);

• 3422,9 (2007);

• 3398,4 (2008);

• 3374,2 (2009);

• 3355,5 (2010);

• 3336,5 (2011);

• 3320,3 (2012);

• 3307,8 (2013);

• 3292,4 (2014).

At the 2001 census, the ethnic groups within the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast were:

 * Ukrainians – 79.3%,
 * Russians – 17.6%,
 * Belarusians – 0.8%,
 * Jews – 0.4%,
 * Armenians – 0.3%,
 * Azeris – 0.2%,
 * Moldovans – 0.12%,
 * Romanis – 0.11%,
 * Tatars – 0.11%,
 * Germans – 0.11%,
 * Other – 0.95%;

the groups by native language:

 * Ukrainian 67%,
 * Russian 32%,
 * other languages 1%.

Age structure

 * 0–14 years: 14.1% (male 241,006/female 226,216)
 * 15–64 years: 70.2% (male 1,100,602/female 1,219,668)
 * 65 years and over: 15.7% (male 168,447/female 348,547) (2013 official)

Median age

 * total: 40.3 years
 * male: 36.6 years
 * female: 43.9 years (2013 official)

Religion
A Pew survey of Dnipropetrovsk residents' religious self-identification showed the following distribution of affiliations: Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) 47.5%, Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate 10.7%, Roman Catholic 1.3%, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church 0.8%, Protestantism 32.3%.

The oblast has one of the most balanced percentage of religious people in the nation mainly due to large number of ethnic groups. The Jewish community is centered in the Dnipro (Golden Rose Synagogue) and Kryvyi Rih area, and emerged during a wave of Jewish immigration.

Cities and towns
There are 20 cities and towns on the Dnieper River. Major population centers today result from historical factors — with the advent of the iron development took place predominantly along the Kryvyi Rih and Dnipro, a city located on the Dnieper. Kryvyi Rih is the center of a large metropolitan area called Kryvyi Rih Metropolitan Region.

Ranked by population, the oblast's 12 largest municipalities are:

 * 1) Coat of arms of Dnipro.svg Dnipro (1,080,846)
 * 2) Coat of Arms of Kryvyi Rih.svg Kryvyi Rih (662,507)
 * 3) Dneprodzerzhinsk CoA.png Kamianske (262,704)
 * 4) Nikopol city gerb.png Nikopol (136,280)
 * 5) Coat of arms of Pavlograd 1811.png Pavlohrad (118,816)
 * 6) Coat of Arms of Novomoskovsk.svg Novomoskovsk (72,439)
 * 7) Coat of Arms of Zhovti Vody.svg Zhovti Vody (54,370)
 * 8) Pokrov COA.png Pokrov (46,532)
 * 9) Coat of Arms of Synelnykove.svg Synelnykove (32,302)
 * 10) Ternivka CoA.png Ternivka (29,253)
 * 11) Coat of Arms of Pershotravensk.svg Pershotravensk (29,140)
 * 12) Coat of Arms of Vilnohirsk.svg Vilnohirsk (23,782)

Transport
There are eight over-Dnieper bridges and dozens of grade-separated intersections. Several new intersections are under construction. European route E105 cross Left-bank Dnipro from North to South. Highway M04 (Ukraine) and Highway M18 (Ukraine) cross River Dnieper and Dnipro from West to East, entering Kryvyi Rih. Overall, roads are in poor technical condition and maintained inadequately.

Cisdnieper Railway (NDZ), headquartered in Dnipro, is a component part of the Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ) company. CDR's route map includes all the railroads in the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhya, Kharkiv, Kherson oblasts and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

As of 2008, Cisdnieper rail system included 3,275 km of track, of which 93,3% were electrified. The CDR consists of five sections (directions), the Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, and Crimea directions. There are 244 railway stations in the NDR system. More than a dozen elektrichka stops are located within the city allowing residents of different neighborhoods to use the suburban trains.

The cities of Dnipro and Kryvyi Rih are served by a local sales-tax-funded bus, tram, metro and trolleybus systems.

Dnipro International Airport and Kryvyi Rih International Airport are the only international airports. The airport of Dnipro serves as one of the hubs for Dniproavia. The airport has non-stop service to over 20 destinations throughout Ukraine and Turkey, as well as to Vienna and Tel Aviv. Kryvyi Rih International Airport provides limited commercial air service.

Environment
The oblast is situated in the steppe region. Forests in the oblast occupy about 3.9% of the oblast's total territory. The average temperature in the winter balances from −3 to −5 °C and in the summer from 22 to 24 °C. The average annual rainfall is 400–490 mm. During the summer, Dnipropetrovsk oblast is very warm (average day temperature in July is 24 to 28 C, even hot sometimes 34 to 38 C. Temperatures as high as 36 °C have been recorded in May. Winter is not so cold (average day temperature in January is -3 to 0 C, but when there is no snow and the wind blows hard, it feels extremely cold. A mix of snow and rain happens usually in December.

The tender climate, mineral sources, and the curative mud allow opportunities for rest and cure within the region. Here there are 21 health-centers and medicated pensions, 10 rest homes, recreation departments and rest camps for children.

The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has splendid flora and fauna. Here, there are more than 1700 kinds of vegetation, 7500 kinds of animals (including elk, wild boar, dappled deer, roe, hare, fox, wolf, etc.) There are also 114 park and nature objects, including 15 state reserves; 3 nature memorials, 24 local parks; 7 landscape parks; 3 park tracts, which altogether make up approximately 260 square kilometres.

217 rivers flow within the area, including 55 rivers which are longer than 25 km, the major one being the Dnieper, which crosses through the center of the oblast. Also flowing through the region are three major reservoirs, the Kamianske, Dnieper and Kakhovka, and the Dnieper-Kryvyi Rih Channel.

Economy
The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast has a high industry potential. There are 712 basic industrial organizations, including 20 different types of economic activity with about 473,4 thousand workers. The area also produces about 16.9% of the total industry production of Ukraine. This places the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast second in Ukraine (after the neighbouring Donetsk Oblast).

Dnipro is a major industrial centre of Ukraine. It has several facilities devoted to heavy industry that produce a wide range of products, including cast-iron, rolled metal, pipes, machinery, different mining combines, agricultural equipment, tractors, trolleybuses, refrigerators, different chemicals and many others. The most famous and the oldest (founded in the 19th century) is the Metallurgical Plant named after Petrovsky. The city also has big food processing and light industry factories. Many sewing and dress-making factories work for France, Canada, Germany and Great Britain, using the most advanced technologies, materials and design. Dnipro also formerly dominated in the aerospace industry since the 1950s: engineering department Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and construction at Pivdenmash.

Pivdenmash, the former Yuzhmash, is a manufacturer of space rockets, agricultural equipment, buses, trolley buses, trams, wind turbines, and satellites that was inherited from the Soviet Union. It is a large state-owned company located in Dnipro.

Dniproavia, an airline, has its head office on the grounds of Dnipropetrovsk International Airport. The region possesses major deposits of iron ore and some other metallurgical ores. To exploit them, several large mining companies were founded here in the middle of the 20th century. Most of them are located in Kryvyi Rih itself, which is the longest city in Europe. Steel companies of the region (except Mittal Steel-owned Kryvorizhstal) are controlled by either the Privat Group or the SCM. From the 1990s until 2004, these once united and state-owned industries went through a hard and scandal-ridden process of privatization. Being a business oligarch entity, Privat Group controls some prominent Ukrainian media, maintains close relations with politicians and sponsors professional sports. Key businesses of the group (including the PrivatBank itself) are based in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, which is regarded as its "homeland". Group's founding owners are natives of Dnipropetrovsk and made their entire career there.

ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, owned by ArcelorMittal since 2005 is the largest private company by revenue in Ukraine, producing over 7 million tonnes of crude steel, and mined over 17 million tonnes of iron ore. As of 2011, the company employed about 37,000 people. 4 Iron Ore Enrichment Works of Metinvest are a large contributors to the UA's balance of payments. The third giant – Evraz mining company.

Colleges and universities

The oblast has several colleges and universities:

 * 1) Dnipro State Medical University
 * 2) Alfred Nobel University
 * 3) Oles Honchar Dnipro National University
 * 4) Dnipro Polytechnic
 * 5) State Chemical Technology University of Ukraine
 * 6) Dnipro State Technical University of Railway Transport
 * 7) Prednieper State Academy of Construction and Architecture
 * 8) Dnipropetrovsk State University of Internal Affairs
 * 9) National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine
 * 10) Dnipro Medical Institute of Conventional and Alternative Medicine
 * 11) Dniprovskyi State Technical University
 * 12) Kryvyi Rih National University
 * 13) Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University
 * 14) Kryvyi Rih State University of Economics and Technology

Sport
Region houses the Ukrainian Premier League football club, FC Dnipro. This club, commonly seen as representing the city at large, holds a record for being the only Soviet team to win the USSR Federation Cup twice; since independence they have gone on to win the Ukrainian Championship once and the Ukrainian League Cup three times. Kryvyi Rih was home to the football team Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih. FC Hirnyk Kryvyi Rih is a club based in Kryvyi Rih. The club currently competes in the Ukrainian First League. It is part of the Sports Club Hirnyk which combines several other sections. The club's owner is the Kryvyi Rih Iron Ore Combine (KZRK), the biggest subterranean mining public company in Ukraine. SC Kryvbas is a professional basketball club. Achievements of the team are winning the Ukrainian Basketball League in 2009, and winning the Higher League in 2003 and 2004. Since 2010 the team is active in the Ukrainian Basketball SuperLeague.

Recently built Dnipro-Arena has a capacity of 31,003 people. The Dnipro-Arena hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification game between Ukraine and England on 10 October 2009. The Dnipro Arena was initially chosen as one of the Ukrainian venues for their joint Euro 2012 bid with Poland. However, it was dropped from the list in May 2009 as the capacity fell short of the minimum 33,000 seats required by UEFA.

Dnipropetrovsk has a regional federation within Ukrainian bandy and Rink Bandy Federation.

Culture
Historically, Dnieper Ukraine comprised territory that roughly corresponded to the area of Ukraine within the expanding Russian Empire. Ukrainians sometimes call it Great Ukraine (Velyka Ukrayina). Historically, this region is tightly entwined with the history of Ukraine and is considered the heart of the country.

Ukrainian (67,0%) and Russian (31,9%) language are both used, with Russian being more common in cities, while Ukrainian is the dominant language in rural communities. These details result in a significant difference across different survey results, as even a small restating of a question switches responses of a significant group of people. The speaking of Surzhyk instead of Russian or Ukrainian is wide and viewed negatively by nationalist language activists. Because it is neither the one nor the other, they regard Surzhyk as a threat to the uniqueness of Ukrainian culture. Petrykivsky Painting originates from Petrykivka village. The distinctive features of this handicraft are the patterns, unusual technique and white background. It was included to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Notable people from Dnipropetrovsk Oblast

 * Helena Blavatsky – Russian occultist, philosopher, and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society
 * Leonid Brezhnev – General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
 * Marharyta Dorozhon – Ukrainian/Israeli Olympic javelin thrower
 * Ihor Kolomoyskyi
 * Tihon Konstantinov – Moldavian SSR and Moldavian ASSR politician
 * Leonid Kuchma – second President of independent Ukraine
 * Yulia Tymoshenko – politician and businesswoman
 * Pavlo Lazarenko – former Prime Minister of Ukraine
 * Viktor Pinchuk
 * Mykola Malyshko – sculptor and artist
 * Mikhail Nekrich
 * Oksana Baiul – figure skater; 1993 World champion and 1994 Olympic champion in ladies' singles
 * The Lubavitcher Rebbe – Orthodox rabbi, and third Rebbe (spiritual leader) of the Chabad Lubavitch chasidic movement
 * Samuel Seidlin – endocrinologist and nuclear medicine pioneer
 * Dmytro Yavornytsky
 * Valeriy Lobanovskyi
 * Oleksandr Oksanchenko – fighter pilot killed in the Battle of Kyiv in 2022
 * Oles Honchar
 * Olexander Paul
 * Volodymyr Zelensky – current President of Ukraine
 * Dnipropetrovsk Maniacs- serial killers

Landmarks
The following historical-cultural sites were nominated to the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.
 * UKAL icon.svg Tomb of kosh otaman Sirko
 * [[File:AP Icon.svg]] Troitsk Cathedral
 * [[File:AP Icon.svg]] Church of Virgin Mary Birth
 * [[File:EH icon.svg]] The walls of Ukrainian defensive line
 * [[File:EH icon.svg]] Kurgan stelae or Balbals are anthropomorphic stone stelae, images cut from stone, installed atop, within or around kurgans (i.e. tumuli), in kurgan cemeteries, or in a double line extending from a kurgan. The stelae are also described as "obelisks" or "statue menhirs". Spanning more than three millennia, they are clearly the product of various cultures. The earliest are associated with the Pit Grave culture of the Pontic–Caspian steppe (and therefore with the Proto-Indo-Europeans according to the mainstream Kurgan hypothesis ). There are Iron Age specimens are identified with the Scythians and medieval examples with Turkic peoples. Such stelae are found in large numbers in Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Nikolaev.
 * [[File:CL icon.svg]] Kodak fortress was a fort built in 1635 by the order of Polish king Władysław IV Vasa and the Sejm over the Dnieper River, near what was to become the town of Stari Kodaky (by modern day: Dnipro). It was constructed by Stanisław Koniecpolski to control Cossacks of Zaporizhian Sich, prevent Ukrainian peasants from joining forces with the Cossacks and guard the southeastern corner of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Poles tried to establish order in that area, and commissioned French military cartographer and engineer William le Vasseur de Beauplan to construct it. The fortress cost around 100,000 Polish zlotys. The dragoon garrison was commanded by the French officer Jean de Marion. Soviet government attempted to destroy the remnants of the fortress in order to eradicate traces of Polish influences on Ukraine by setting a quarry on that site in 1944. The quarry was closed in 1994, but at that time two-thirds of the fortress had been destroyed. Today the site is just ruins, but it is a popular tourist attraction.
 * [[File:AP Icon.svg]] The Saviour's Transfiguration Cathedral (Ukrainian: Спасо-Преображенський кафедральний собор) is the main Orthodox church of Dnipro, Ukraine. The foundation stone was laid in 1786 by Catherine II of Russia and Emperor Joseph II. The event is described in the memoirs of comte de Ségur. Prince Grigory Potemkin envisioned the church as one of the spiritual centres of New Russia. Ivan Starov submitted to Potemkin his designs for a Roman-style basilica, but construction was postponed until the end of the Russo-Turkish War.

Symbols
A Cossack with a musket was an emblem of the Zaporizhian Host and later the state emblem of the Hetmanate and the Ukrainian State. The origin of the emblem is uncertain, while its first records date back to 1592. On the initiative of Pyotr Rumyantsev the emblem was phased out and replaced by the Russian double-headed eagle in 1767.

A Cossack with a rifle was restored by the Hetman of Ukraine Pavlo Skoropadsky in 1918. However, later the emblem disappeared again until in 2005 it reappeared on the proposed Great Seal of Ukraine. In 2002 was adopted flag and identical coat of arms of Oblast, which consists of cossack with musket and nine yellow eight-pointed stars. Stars represent coat of arms of Yekaterinoslav Governorate which also consisted of imperial monogram of Catherine the Great.

 * Other symbols
 * Official plants are wheat, acanthus and oak.
 * Per aspera ad astra is a motto of the region.

title: Dnipropetrovsk Oblast


text:
British Sub-Aqua Club

The British Sub-Aqua Club or BSAC has been recognised since 1954 by UK Sport as the national governing body of recreational diving in the United Kingdom.

The club was founded in 1953 and at its peak in the mid-1990s had over 50,000 members declining to over 30,000 in 2009. It is a diver training organization that operates through its associated network of around 1,100 local, independent diving clubs and around 400 diving schools worldwide. The old logo featured the Roman god Neptune (Greek god Poseidon), god of the sea. The new logo, as of 2017, features a diver with the updated BSAC motto "Dive with us".

BSAC is unusual for a diver training agency in that most BSAC instructors are volunteers, giving up their spare time to train others, unlike many other agencies, in which instructors are paid employees, or self-employed.

Given that UK waters are relatively cold and have restricted visibility, BSAC training is regarded by its members as more comprehensive than some. Specifically it places emphasis on rescue training very early in the programme. BSAC also maintains links with other organisations, such as NACSAC.

Science writer and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke was a famous member of BSAC.

The current President of BSAC is the Prince of Wales. His father Charles, and grandfather Philip also held that position and his brother Harry also trained with BSAC.

Timeline

 * 1953, 15 October : BSAC was founded by Oscar Gugen, Peter Small, Mary Small, and Trevor Hampton.
 * 1953: Jack Atkinson, an aero engineer, was appointed as the club's first national diving officer.
 * 1954: First BSAC branch formed, in London.
 * 1954: Members of Southsea Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC Branch No.9), invent underwater hockey (originally called "Octopush").
 * 1955, March: BSAC is accepted by the Central Council of Physical Recreation.
 * 1957, January: BSAC and 14 other national diving federations create Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS), the world governing body for sub-aqua.
 * 1959, January: Jack Atkinson, produced the BSAC Diving Manual.
 * 1988: Release of the BS-AC 88 dive table
 * 1990: BSAC moved its offices to Ellesmere Port, North West England.
 * 1995: BSAC allows Nitrox diving and introduced Nitrox training.
 * 1997, 20 May: BSAC was expelled from the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS)
 * 2002: The introduction of a new Diver Training Scheme (2002 to 2023).
 * 2007: BSAC is the first recreational diving agency to introduce Nitrox diving as part of core training.
 * 2023: Revision of the 2002 training scheme with a complete overhall of the Dive Leader course.

Recognition
BSAC is recognised by the successors of the Sports Council as the National Governing Body (NGB) for Sub Aqua within the United Kingdom. It has held this status since 1954. 'Sub Aqua' (or Sub Aquatics) is a broad term that includes both recreational underwater activities such as recreational diving and snorkelling, and competitive underwater activities including underwater sports such as Octopush. It is also recognised by Sport England as the NGB for Sub Aqua in England.

BSAC is one of three NGBs representing 'Sub Aqua' in the constituent countries of the United Kingdom. The others are the Northern Ireland Federation of Sub-Aqua Clubs (Northern Ireland) and the Scottish Sub Aqua Club (Scotland) with the British Sub Aqua Club being the NGB for the United Kingdom as a whole; a role it has held since 1954. Wales has been represented by the British Sub Aqua Club since January 2016 when it replaced the Welsh Association of Sub Aqua Clubs.

Diving Qualifications
BSAC currently has seven diver qualifications (five standard and two intermediary):
 * : Basic skills, supervised diving (depth limit 12 m).
 * : Basic skills, non-decompression diving (depth limit 20 m).
 * : Further Basic skills training, navigation, nitrox (up to Nitrox 36%), non-decompression diving (depth limit increased to 30 m with a series of 5 m progression dives).''
 * : Rescue, navigation, nitrox and decompression diving (depth limit increased to 40 m with a series of 5 m progression dives).
 * : Dive leading, dive planning and management, and rescue management (depth limit increased to 50 m by completing a selection of experience dives).
 * : Fully trained diver capable of leading a group of divers in normal club activities.
 * : Trained to lead a group of divers carrying out a project. This is nationally examined with a two-day practical test.

Instructor Qualifications
BSAC has eight instructor grades:
 * : Trained but unqualified. Must be supervised when instructing.
 * : Qualified to instruct unsupervised in the classroom.
 * : Qualified to teach open water under supervision.
 * : Qualified to instruct unsupervised in open water.
 * : Qualified to supervise other instructors in classroom and open water training.
 * : Trained to teach advanced skills, such as boat based skills and group diving techniques.
 * : Qualified to staff Instructor events.
 * : Leads Instructor Training courses and BSAC National exams.

Grades no longer awarded
The following grades which are no longer awarded may still be encountered: The distinction between Novice I and Novice II was mostly for practical reasons to do with the difference between hiring a pool and travelling to the coast. A Novice I diver would normally complete the two open-water dives as soon as possible, but if this were not possible straight away (perhaps over winter) they would at least have a specific grade within the club. The lengthy and club-oriented Novice syllabus was replaced with the Club Diver and Ocean Diver syllabuses in the late 1990s. (However, some argue the Novice description was usefully accurate and aided diver safety because nobody with such a qualification would attempt dives beyond their capabilities).
 * : A diver who has completed the extensive sheltered-water (i.e. pool) training of the BSAC syllabus of the time, but has not yet dived in open water.
 * : A Novice I diver who has completed two open-water assessment dives.
 * : This is more or less the same as Ocean Diver; originally the two were operated in parallel with Ocean Diver awarded at schools and Club Diver at clubs.
 * : An instructor grade junior to Open Water Instructor, but allowing the holder to instruct practical and theory lessons without supervision.
 * : This was the entry-level grade prior to the splitting of its syllabus during the mid-1980s to create the Novice and Sports Diver grades. Divers who held this grade at the time were awarded the Sports Diver grade.
 * : This was the immediate grade prior to the splitting of its syllabus during the mid-1980s to create the Dive Leader and Advanced Diver grades. Divers who held this grade at the time were awarded the Advanced Diver grade.

CMAS equivalencies
The following CMAS equivalencies have been agreed with the Sub-Aqua Association.

EUF Certification
BSAC obtained CEN certification from the EUF certification body in 2007 and re-certified in 2012 and 2019 for the following recreational diver grades:
 * Discovery Diver – ISO 24801-1
 * Ocean Diver – EN 14153-2/ISO 24801-2 – 'Autonomous Diver'
 * Dive Leader – EN 14153-3/ISO 24801-3 – 'Dive Leader'
 * Open Water Instructor – EN 14413-2/ISO 24802-2 – 'Instructor Level 2'
 * Sports Diver – ISO 11107 – 'Nitrox diving'
 * Nitrox Gas Blender – ISO 13293 – 'Level 1 Gas Blender'
 * Mixed Gas Blender – ISO 13293 – 'Level 2 Gas Blender'
 * Snorkelling Guide – ISO 13970 – 'Snorkelling Guide'

Snorkelling Qualifications
BSAC has four snorkeller grades:
 * Dolphin Snorkeller: swimmingpool based course designed for children.
 * Snorkel Diver: training for pool or sheltered water activity.
 * Advanced Snorkeller: training for open water activity.
 * Snorkel Dive Manager: training to plan, organise and lead snorkelling activities.

Instructor Qualifications
BSAC three snorkel instructor grades:
 * Snorkel Instructor
 * Advanced Snorkel Instructor
 * Snorkel Instructor Trainer

BSAC scuba instructors can also teach all or parts of the Snorkeller Training Programme subject to meeting pre-requisites including additional training.

Skill Development Courses
BSAC offer range of specialist diving courses known as Skill Development Courses (SDCs). While mainly for scuba divers, a number of courses can taken as snorkeller, and some without any dive qualifications:

Courses in brackets indicate pre-requisites for the SDC

Club Diving:
 * Accelerated Decompression Procedures (Sports Diver, Nitrox Diver, Gold Standard Buoyancy)
 * Buoyancy and Trim Workshop (Ocean Diver, Minimum Standard Buoyancy)
 * Compressor Operation
 * Dive Planning and Management (Sports Diver)
 * Marine Life Appreciation
 * Mixed Gas Blender/Nitrox Gas Blender (Nitrox Diver)
 * Search and Recovery (Sports Diver)
 * Wreck Appreciation
 * Wreck Diver (Sports Diver)
 * Advanced Wreck Diver (Sports Diver, Wreck Diver)
 * Twin-set Diver (Sports Diver)
 * Primary Donate Workshop (Twin-set Diver)
 * Drysuit Training
 * Nitrox Diver

Safety and Rescue:
 * Oxygen Administration (Basic Life Support)
 * Practical Rescue Management (Sports Diver)
 * Automated External Defibrillator (Basic Life Support)
 * Lifesaver Award (Ocean Diver)
 * Advanced Lifesaver Award (Lifesaver Award)
 * First Aid for Divers (Ocean Diver)
 * Sea Survival (Ocean Diver)
 * Snorkel Lifesaver Award (Snorkel Diver)
 * Advanced Lifesaver Award (Lifesaver Award)

Seamanship:
 * Boat Handling
 * Chartwork and Position fixing
 * Diver Coxswain Assessment (Boat Handling)
 * Outboard engine and Boat Maintenance

Special Interest:
 * Underwater Photography (Sports Diver)
 * Ice Diving (Sports Diver)
 * Shore Surveyor
 * Beach Comber
 * Underwater Surveyor (Snorkel Diver)

Technical Diving Courses
BSAC offer a number of technical diving courses:

CCR Courses:
 * Poseidon Se7en CCR Diver (40m)
 * Divesoft Liberty CCR Diver (45m)
 * MOD 1 AP Vision CCR Diver (40/45m)
 * MOD 1 AP Mixed Gas Top-up (45m)
 * MOD 2 CCR Diver (60m)
 * Advanced Mixed Gas CCR Diver (80m)

Open-circuit mixed gas courses:
 * Sport Mixed Gas Diver (50m)
 * Explorer Mixed Gas Diver (60m)
 * Advanced Mixed Gas Diver (80m)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: British Sub-Aqua Club


text:
Kherson Province

Kherson Province may refer to:

 * Kherson Oblast, subdivision of Ukraine
 * Kherson Governorate, subdivision of the Russian Empire

title: Kherson Province


text:
Khmelnytskyi Oblast

Khmelnytskyi Oblast (Хмельницька область), also known as Khmelnychchyna (Хмельниччина), is an oblast (province) in western Ukraine covering portions of the historical regions of western Podolia and southern Volhynia. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Khmelnytskyi.

The current estimated population is around

Created in 1937 out of border okrugs of Vinnytsia Oblast, in 1941–44 it was under Nazi Germany occupation and part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Wolhynien und Podolien general district). Following the Kamenets-Podolsky pocket in spring of 1944 as part of the Proskurov-Chernovtsy operation, Soviet troops removed the German occupation in the region. Until 4 February 1954 it was called Kamianets-Podilskyi Oblast (Кам'янець-Подільська область) and was centered in Kamianets-Podilsky until 1941. The region rebranding took place after the official renaming of the region's administrative center to Khmelnytskyi.

Geography
Khmelnytskyi Oblast has a total area of 20600 km² (3.4% of the total area of Ukraine) and is located between 48°27' and 50°37' north latitude and between 26°09' and 27°56' east longitude. It is 220 km long when measured from north to south, and is 120 km in length when measured from east to west. It is associated with a historical region of Podolia, yet in reality its territory is split almost in half, the northern in Volhynia, and the southern in Podolia. Its Volhynian region contains smaller cities like Iziaslav, Starokostiantyniv, Shepetivka, while its Podolian portion more developed cities of Khmelnytskyi and Kamianets-Podilskyi.

The oblast borders the Rivne Oblast to the northwest, the Zhytomyr Oblast to the northeast, the Vinnytsia Oblast to the east, the Chernivtsi Oblast to the south, and the Ternopil Oblast to the west.

Elevations
The Podolian Upland (270–370 meters above sea-level) occupies the central area of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast. The northwestern areas of the oblast are part of the Volyn highland (highest point — 329 m above sea-level), while to the north, the oblast claims a part of the historic region of Polissia (highest point — 200–250 m above sea-level). The southwestern territory of the Khmelnytskyi Oblast is crossed by the Tovtry range (Товтровий кряж, translit. Tovtryi kryazh), which includes Mount Velyka Buhaikha (Велика Бугаїха), the highest point of the oblast at 409 m above sea-level. The extreme south of the oblast has a surface with canyon-like river valleys. The Dneister Reservoir located there is the lowest point of the oblast (121 m above sea-level).

Rivers and Lakes
There are 120 rivers with a length of 10 km or more in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast. The largest of these are the Dniester River (which flows for 160 km within the oblast), as well as its tributaries: Smotrych, Ushytsia, and the Zbruch — and the Southern Buh River (which flows for 120 km within the oblast), as well as its tributaries: Buzhok, Ikva, and Vovk. The rivers of the Dnieper River's basin — Horyn, Khmora, and Sluch Rivers also run through the oblast. The oblast's lakes are located mostly in basin of the Horyn River. The largest reservoir in the oblast is the Dniester Reservoir.

There are 1858 ponds and/or reservoirs in the oblast. The largest of these include Shchedrivske (with a surface area of 12.58 km2), Novostavske (with a surface area of 11.68 km2), and Kuzmynske (with a surface area of 7.65 km2).

History
Historic administrative affiliation of the area:
 * 1937-1941: USSR, Ukrainian SSR
 * 1944-1991: USSR, Ukrainian SSR
 * since 1991: Ukraine: Khmelnytskyi Oblast

Khmelnytskyi Oblast was created on September 22, 1937, as the Kamianets-Podilskyi Oblast (Кам’янець-Подільськa область, translit., Kamyanets-Podil'ska oblast’) out of border okrugs (Proskuriv and Kamianets-Podilskyi) of the Vinnytsia Oblast.

In March 1941 the administrative center of the oblast was moved from Kamianets-Podilskyi to the city of Proskuriv. During the World War II the territory was part of another administrative division (General District Wolhynien und Podolien, see Reichskommissariat Ukraine), but after liberation from the Nazi Germany, Khmelnytskyi Oblast was reinstated in its original borders. In 1954, Proskuriv was renamed Khmelnytskyi, and soon afterward, the oblast was renamed to Khmelnytskyi Oblast (Хмельницька область, translit., Khmel'nytska oblast’).

Administrative divisions
The oblast is subdivided into 3 raions (administrative districts). It consists of 6 municipalities, 13 cities, 24 towns, and more than 1,417 villages.

The following data incorporates the number of each type of administrative divisions of Kyiv Oblast:

 * Administrative Center – 1 (Khmelnytskyi)
 * Raions — 3;
 * City raions — 0;
 * Settlements — 1452, including:
 * Villages — 1415;
 * Cities/Towns — 37, including:
 * Urban-type settlement — 24;
 * Cities — 13, including:
 * Cities of oblast' subordinance — 6;
 * Cities of raion subordinance — 7;
 * Selsovets — 568.

The local administration of the oblast' is controlled by the Khmelnytskyi Oblast Rada. The governor of the oblast' is the Khmelnytskyi Oblast Rada speaker, appointed by the President of Ukraine.

Demographics
Khmelnytskyi Oblast's population is 1,401,140 as of January 1, 2004. As of 2002, the oblast ranks 13th by population in Ukraine. The population density is 69.5/km2.

Pensioners make up 453,800 thousand people or 31,7% of population. The birth rate per 1,000 residents is 8.3, and the death rate — per 1000 residents – 16.1. The urban population, according to the 2001 Ukrainian Census data, accounted for 729,600 people, or 51%, and the rural population — for 701,200 people, or 49%.

According to the data, the number of men accounted for 659,900 people, or 46.1%, that of women — 770,900 people, or 53.9%.

Age structure

 * 0-14 years: 15.1% (male 101,597/female 95,783)
 * 15-64 years: 68.5% (male 435,464/female 463,058)
 * 65 years and over: 16.4% (male 69,479/female 145,420) (2013 official)

Median age

 * total: 40.4 years
 * male: 37.1 years
 * female: 43.6 years (2013 official)

Economy
The economy of the oblast mostly deals with the energy industry, transport and agriculture. The oblast is situated at a historical crossroad of the railway and highway routes connecting Central Europe to Black Sea coast and Russia (with the city of Shepetivka being the most important railway junction). The Khmelnyts’ka nuclear power plant in the city of Netishyn is the most important industrial company of the oblast. Notable machinery, armament and chemical industries are also present.

Attractions

 * Kamianets National Historical-Architectural Reserve (including the Old Town and the Castle)
 * Mezhybizh National Historical-Cultural Reserve (including the Fortress)
 * Samchyky National Historical-Cultural Reserve

Nomenclature
Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their administrative center cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (обласний центр, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city: Khmelnytskyi is the center of the Khmelnyts’ka oblast’.

title: Khmelnytskyi Oblast


text:
Japanese pottery and porcelain

Pottery and porcelain (陶磁器) is one of the oldest Japanese crafts and art forms, dating back to the Neolithic period. Types have included earthenware, pottery, stoneware, porcelain, and blue-and-white ware. Japan has an exceptionally long and successful history of ceramic production. Earthenwares were made as early as the Jōmon period (10,500–300BC), giving Japan one of the oldest ceramic traditions in the world. Japan is further distinguished by the unusual esteem that ceramics hold within its artistic tradition, owing to the enduring popularity of the tea ceremony.

Japanese ceramic history records the names of numerous distinguished ceramists, and some were artist-potters, e.g. Hon'ami Kōetsu, Ogata Kenzan, and Aoki Mokubei. Japanese anagama kilns also have flourished through the ages, and their influence weighs with that of the potters. Another important Japanese constituent of the art is the continuing popularity of unglazed high-fired stoneware even after porcelain became popular. Since the 4th century AD, Japanese ceramics have often been influenced by the artistic sensibilities of neighbouring East Asian civilizations such as Chinese and Korean-style pottery. Japanese ceramists and potters took inspiration from their East Asian artistic counterparts by transforming and translating the Chinese and Korean prototypes into a uniquely Japanese creation, with the resultant form being distinctly Japanese in character. Since the mid-17th century when Japan started to industrialize, high-quality standard wares produced in factories became popular exports to Europe. In the 20th century, a homegrown cottage ceramics industry began to take root and emerge. Major Japanese ceramic companies include Noritake and Toto Ltd..

Japanese pottery is distinguished by two polarized aesthetic traditions. On the one hand, there is a tradition of very simple and roughly finished pottery, mostly in earthenware and using a muted palette of earth colours. This relates to Zen Buddhism and many of the greatest masters were priests, especially in early periods. Many pieces are also related to the Japanese tea ceremony and embody the aesthetic principles of. Most raku ware, where the final decoration is partly random, is in this tradition. The other tradition is of highly finished and brightly coloured factory wares, mostly in porcelain, with complex and balanced decoration, which develops Chinese porcelain styles in a distinct way. A third tradition, of simple but perfectly formed and glazed stonewares, also relates more closely to both Chinese and Korean traditions. In the 16th century, a number of styles of traditional utilitarian rustic wares then in production became admired for their simplicity, and their forms have often been kept in production to the present day for a collectors market.

Jōmon period

In the Neolithic period (c. 11th millenniumBC), the earliest soft earthenware was made.

During the early Jōmon period in the 6th millenniumBC typical coil-made ware appeared, decorated with hand-impressed rope patterns. Jōmon pottery developed a flamboyant style at its height and was simplified in the later Jōmon period. The pottery was formed by coiling clay ropes and fired in an open fire.

Yayoi period
In about the 4th–3rd centuriesBC Yayoi period, Yayoi pottery appeared which was another style of earthenware characterised by a simple pattern or no pattern. Jōmon, Yayoi, and later Haji ware shared the firing process but had different styles of design.

Kofun period

In the 3rd to 4th centuriesAD, the anagama kiln, a roofed-tunnel kiln on a hillside, and the potter's wheel appeared, brought to Kyushu island from the Korean peninsula.

The anagama kiln could produce stoneware, Sue pottery, fired at high temperatures of over 1200–1300 C, sometimes embellished with accidents produced when introducing plant material to the kiln during the reduced-oxygen phase of firing. Its manufacture began in the 5th century and continued in outlying areas until the 14th century. Although several regional variations have been identified, Sue was remarkably homogeneous throughout Japan. The function of Sue pottery, however, changed over time: during the Kofun period (AD300–710) it was primarily funerary ware; during the Nara period (710–94) and the Heian period (794–1185), it became an elite tableware; and finally it was used as a utilitarian ware and for the ritual vessels for Buddhist altars.

Contemporary Haji ware and funerary objects were earthenware like Yayoi.

Heian period
Although a three-color lead glaze technique was introduced to Japan from the Tang dynasty of China in the 8th century, official kilns produced only simple green lead glaze for temples in the Heian period, around 800–1200.

Kamui ware appeared in this time, as well as Atsumi ware and Tokoname ware.

Kamakura period
Until the 17th century, unglazed stoneware was popular for the heavy-duty daily requirements of a largely agrarian society; funerary jars, storage jars, and a variety of kitchen pots typify the bulk of the production. Some of the kilns improved their technology and are called the "Six Old Kilns": Shigaraki (Shigaraki ware), Tamba, Bizen, Tokoname, Echizen, and Seto.

Among these, the Seto kiln in Owari Province (present day Aichi Prefecture) had a glaze technique. According to legend, Katō Shirozaemon Kagemasa (also known as Tōshirō) studied ceramic techniques in China and brought high-fired glazed ceramic to Seto in 1223. The Seto kiln primarily imitated Chinese ceramics as a substitute for the Chinese product. It developed various glazes: ash brown, iron black, feldspar white, and copper green. The wares were so widely used that "product of Seto" became the generic term for ceramics in Japan. Seto kiln also produced unglazed stoneware. In the late 16th century, many Seto potters fleeing the civil wars moved to Mino Province in the Gifu Prefecture, where they produced glazed pottery: Yellow Seto, Shino, Black Seto, and Oribe ware.

Muromachi period
According to chronicles in 1406, the Yongle Emperor (1360–1424) of the Ming dynasty bestowed ten Jian ware bowls from the Song dynasty to the Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358–1408), who ruled during the Muromachi period. A number of Japanese monks who traveled to monasteries in China also brought pieces back home. As they became valued for tea ceremonies, more pieces were imported from China where they became highly prized goods. Five of these vessels from the southern Song dynasty are so highly valued that they were included by the government in the list of National Treasures of Japan (crafts: others). Jian ware was later produced and further developed as and was highly priced during tea ceremonies of this time.

Azuchi-Momoyama period
From the middle of the 11th century to the 16th century, Japan imported much Chinese celadon greenware, white porcelain, and blue-and-white ware. Japan also imported Chinese pottery as well as Korean and Vietnamese ceramics. Such Chinese ceramics were regarded as sophisticated items, which the upper classes used in the tea ceremony. The Japanese also ordered custom-designed ceramics from Chinese kilns.

Highly priced imports also came from the Luzon and was called or "Luzon ware", as well as  from Annam, northern Vietnam.

Sengoku period
With the rise of Buddhism in the late 16th century, leading tea masters introduced a change of style and favored humble Korean tea bowls and domestic ware over sophisticated Chinese porcelain. The influential tea master Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591) turned to native Japanese styles of simple rustic pottery, often imperfect, which he admired for their "rugged spontaneity", a "decisive shift" of enormous importance for the development of Japanese pottery. The Raku family (named after the pottery rather than the other way round) supplied brown-glazed earthenware tea bowls. Mino, Bizen, Shigaraki (Shigaraki ware), Iga (similar to Shigaraki), and other domestic kilns also supplied tea utensils. The artist-potter Hon'ami Kōetsu made several tea bowls now considered masterpieces.

During Toyotomi Hideyoshi's 1592 invasion of Korea, Japanese forces brought Korean potters as slaves to Japan, According to tradition, one of the kidnapped, Yi Sam-pyeong, discovered a source of porcelain clay near Arita and was able to produce the first Japanese porcelain. These potters also brought improved kiln technology in the or rising kiln, running up a hillside and enabling temperatures of 1400 C to be reached. Soon the Satsuma, Hagi, Karatsu, Takatori, Agano and Arita kilns were begun.

Edo period
In the 1640s, rebellions in China and wars between the Ming dynasty and the Manchus damaged many kilns, and in 1656–1684 the new Qing dynasty government stopped trade by closing its ports. Chinese potter refugees were able to introduce refined porcelain techniques and enamel glazes to the Arita kilns. From 1658, the Dutch East India Company looked to Japan for blue-and-white porcelain to sell in Europe (see Imari porcelain). At that time, the Arita kilns like the Kakiemon kiln could not yet supply enough quality porcelain to the Dutch East India Company, but they quickly expanded their capacity. From 1659 to 1740, the Arita kilns were able to export enormous quantities of porcelain to Europe and Asia. Gradually the Chinese kilns recovered, and developed their own styles of the highly coloured enamelled wares that Europeans found so attractive, including famille rose, famille verte and the rest of that group. From about 1720 Chinese and European kilns also began to imitate the Imari enamelled style at the lower end of the market, and by about 1740 the first period of Japanese export porcelain had all but ceased. The Arita kilns also supplied domestic utensils such as the so-called Ko-Kutani enamelware.

Porcelain was also exported to China, much of which was resold by Chinese merchants to the other European "East Indies Companies" which were not allowed to trade in Japan itself. It has been suggested that the choice of such items was mainly dictated by Chinese taste, which preferred Kakiemon to "Imari" wares, accounting for a conspicuous disparity in early European collections that can be reconstructed between Dutch ones and those of other countries, such as England, France and Germany. Because Imari was the shipping port, some porcelain, for both export and domestic use, was called old Imari. The European custom has generally been to call blue and white wares "Arita" and blue, red and gold ones "Imari", though in fact both were often made in the same kilns arong Arita. In 1759 the dark red enamel pigment known as became industrially available, leading to a reddish revival of the orange 1720  style.

In 1675, the local Nabeshima family who ruled Arita established a personal kiln to make top-quality enamelware porcelain for the upper classes in Japan, which is called Nabeshima ware. This uses mainly decoration in traditional Japanese styles, often drawing from textiles, rather than the Chinese-derived styles of most Arita ware. Hirado ware was another kind of porcelain initially reserved for presentation as political gifts among the elite, concentrating on very fine painting in blue on an unusually fine white body, for which scroll painters were hired. These two types represented the finest porcelain produced after the export trade stalled by the 1740s. Unlike Nabeshima ware, Hirado went on to be a significant exporter in the 19th century. During the 17th century, in Kyoto, then Japan's imperial capital, kilns produced only clear lead-glazed pottery that resembled the pottery of southern China. Among them, potter Nonomura Ninsei invented an opaque overglaze enamel and with temple patronage was able to refine many Japanese-style designs. His disciple Ogata Kenzan invented an idiosyncratic arts-and-crafts style and took (Kyoto ceramics) to new heights. Their works were the models for later. Although porcelain bodies were introduced to by Okuda Eisen, overglazed pottery still flourished. Aoki Mokubei, Ninami Dōhachi (both disciples of Okuda Eisen) and Eiraku Hozen expanded the repertory of.

In the late 18th to early 19th century, white porcelain clay was discovered in other areas of Japan and was traded domestically, and potters were allowed to move more freely. Local lords and merchants established many new kilns (e.g., Kameyama kiln and Tobe kiln) for economic profit, and old kilns such as Seto restarted as porcelain kilns. These many kilns are called "New Kilns" and they popularized porcelain in the style of the Arita kilns among the common folk.

Meiji period
During the international openness of the Meiji period, Japanese arts and crafts had a new audience and set of influences. Traditional patrons such as the class broke away and many of the artisans lost their source of income. The government took an active interest in the art export market, promoting Japanese arts at a succession of world's fairs, beginning with the 1873 Vienna World's Fair. The Imperial Household also took an active interest in arts and crafts, appointing Imperial Household Artists and commissioning works ("presentation wares") as gifts for foreign dignitaries. Most of the works promoted internationally were in the decorative arts, including pottery.

Satsuma ware was a name originally given to pottery from Satsuma province, elaborately decorated with overglaze enamels and gilding. These wares were highly praised in the West. Seen in the West as distinctively Japanese, this style actually owed a lot to imported pigments and Western influences, and had been created with export in mind. Workshops in many cities raced to produce this style to satisfy demand from Europe and America, often producing quickly and cheaply. So the term "Satsuma ware" came to be associated not with a place of origin but with lower-quality ware created purely for export. Despite this, there were artists such as Yabu Meizan and Makuzu Kōzan who maintained the highest artistic standards while also successfully exporting. These artists won multiple awards at international exhibitions. Meizan used copper plates to create detailed designs and repeatedly transfer them to the pottery, sometimes decorating a single object with a thousand motifs.

Japan's porcelain industry was well-established at the start of the Meiji period, but the mass-produced wares were not known for their elegance. During this era, technical and artistic innovations turned porcelain into one of the most internationally successful Japanese decorative art forms. A lot of this is due to Makuzu Kōzan, known for Satsuma ware, who from the 1880s onwards introduced new technical sophistication to the decoration of porcelain, while committed to preserving traditional artistic values. During the 1890s he developed a style of decoration that combined multiple underglaze colours on each item. The technical sophistication of his underglazes increased during this decade as he continued to experiment. In the decade from 1900 to 1910 there was a substantial change in the shape and decoration of his works, reflecting Western influences. His work strongly influenced Western perceptions of Japanese design.

Taishō period
Japanese pottery strongly influenced British studio potter Bernard Leach (1887–1979), who is regarded as the "Father of British studio pottery". He lived in Japan from 1909 to 1920 during the Taishō period and became the leading western interpreter of Japanese pottery and in turn influenced a number of artists abroad.

Shōwa period
During the early Shōwa period, the folk art movement mingei (民芸) developed, starting in the late 1920s and 1930s. Its founding father was Yanagi Sōetsu (1889–1961). He rescued lowly pots used by commoners in the Edo and Meiji period that were disappearing in rapidly urbanizing Japan. Shōji Hamada (1894–1978) was a potter who was a major figure of the movement, establishing the town of Mashiko as a renowned centre for Mashiko ware. Another influential potter in this movement was Kawai Kanjirō (1890–1966) and Tatsuzō Shimaoka (1919–2007). These artists studied traditional glazing techniques to preserve native wares in danger of disappearing.

One of the most critical moments was during the Pacific War when all resources went towards the war efforts, and production and development became severely hampered and the markets suffered.

Heisei period to present
A number of institutions came under the aegis of the Cultural Properties Protection Division.

The kilns at Tamba, overlooking Kobe, continued to produce the daily wares used in the Tokugawa period, while adding modern shapes. Most of the village wares were made anonymously by local potters for utilitarian purposes. Local styles, whether native or imported, tended to be continued without alteration into the present. In Kyūshū, kilns set up by Korean potters in the 16th century, such as at Koishiwara, Fukuoka and its offshoot at Onta ware, perpetuated 16th-century Korean peasant wares. In Okinawa, the production of village ware continued under several leading masters, with Kinjo Jiro honored as a lit. 'living cultural treasures', officially a Preserver of Important Intangible Cultural Properties (人間国宝).

The modern potters operate in Shiga, Iga, Karatsu, Hagi, and Bizen. Yamamoto Masao (Toushuu) of Bizen and Miwa Kyusetsu of Hagi were designated. Only a half-dozen potters had been so honored by 1989, either as representatives of famous kiln wares or as creators of superlative techniques in glazing or decoration; two groups were designated for preserving the wares of distinguished ancient kilns.

In the old capital of Kyoto, the Raku family continued to produce the rough tea bowls that had so delighted Hideyoshi. At Mino, potters continued to reconstruct the classic formulas of Momoyama period Seto-type tea wares of Mino, such as the Oribe ware copper-green glaze and Shino ware's prized milky glaze. Artist potters experimented at the Kyoto and Tokyo arts universities to recreate traditional porcelain and its decorations under such ceramic teachers as Fujimoto Yoshimichi, a. Ancient porcelain kilns around Arita in Kyūshū were still maintained by the lineage of Sakaida Kakiemon XIV and Imaizumi Imaemon XIII, hereditary porcelain makers to the Nabeshima clan; both were heads of groups designated mukei bunkazai (無形文化財).

British artist Lucie Rie (1902–1995) was influenced by Japanese pottery and Bernard Leach, and was also appreciated in Japan with a number of exhibitions. British artist Edmund de Waal (b. 1964) studied Leach and spent a number of years in Japan studying style. Thomas Bezanson from Canada was influenced by it.

In contrast, by the end of the 1980s, many studio potters no longer worked at major or ancient kilns but were making classic wares in various parts of Japan. In Tokyo, a notable example is Tsuji Seimei, who brought his clay from Shiga but potted in the Tokyo area. A number of artists were engaged in reconstructing Chinese styles of decoration or glazes, especially the blue-green celadon and the watery-green. One of the most beloved Chinese glazes in Japan is the chocolate-brown glaze that covered the peasant tea bowls brought back from southern Song China (in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries) by Zen monks. For their Japanese users, these chocolate-brown wares embodied the Zen aesthetic of (rustic simplicity). In the United States, an example of the use of glazes are pots thrown by Japanese-born artist Hideaki Miyamura.

Raw materials
Raw materials are chosen largely based on local availability. There is an abundance of many basic in Japan. Due to naturally occurring kaolin deposits, many clays are found in Kyushu. Kilns were traditionally built at the sites of clay deposits, and most studio potters still use local clays, having developed a range of glazes and decoration techniques especially suited to that clay. Raw materials found in the Japanese archipelago range from those suitable for earthenwares to more refractory kaolins. From the Jōmon period to the Yayoi period, Japanese potters relied on high plastic iron-bearing shale and alluvial clays. Organic materials appear in much of the early Jōmon period work, but sand or crushed stone predominates thereafter.

Further refinements came about under the Chinese influence in the 8th and 9th centuries AD, when creators of Nara three-color wares and Heian ash glazed wares sought out white, refractory clays and enhanced their fineness through levigation.

Traditional shaping methods
The earliest pieces were made by pressing the clay into shape. This method continued to be employed after the invention of the wheel, such as when producing Rengetsu ware. Coiled methods developed in the Jōmon period. Production by kneading and cutting slabs developed later, for example, for clay figures.

Coil and throw
At Koishibara, Onda, and Tamba, large bowls and jars are first roughly coil-built on the wheel, then shaped by throwing, in what is known as the "coil and throw technique". The preliminary steps are the same as for coil building, after which the rough form is lubricated with slip and shaped between the potter's hands as the wheel revolves. The process dates back 360 years to a Korean technique brought to Japan following Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea.

Tools
Generally fashioned out of fast-growing bamboo or wood, these tools for shaping pottery have a natural feel that is highly appealing. While most are Japanese versions of familiar tools in the West, some are unique Japanese inventions.

 * or "cows' tongues" are long sled-shaped bamboo ribs used to compress the bottoms and shape the sides of straight-sided bowls. They are a traditional tool from Arita, Kyushu.
 * are round, shallow clam shell-shaped bamboo ribs used to shape the sides of curved bowls. They can also be used to compress the bottoms of thrown forms.
 * , similar to wooden ribs, are leaf-shaped bamboo ribs used to shape and smooth the surfaces of a pot.
 * are bamboo trimming and modeling "knives" available in several different shapes for carving, cleaning up wet pots, cutting, and for producing sgraffito effects.
 * , "dragonflies", are the functional equivalent of Western calipers with an added feature. Suspended from a or balanced on the rim of a pot, these delicate bamboo tools are used for measuring both the diameter and the depth of thrown forms.
 * are wire and bamboo trimming harps that double as a fluting tool. They are used to cut off uneven or torn rims as well as to facet leather-hard forms.
 * , "cranes' necks", are s-curved Japanese wooden throwing sticks used to shape the interiors of narrow-necked pieces such as bottles and certain vases.
 * are cutting, carving and incising tools made of iron and used to trim pieces, for carving, sgraffito and for scraping off excess glaze.
 * A is a large looped ribbon tool made of iron that can be used for trimming as well as carving.
 * An is a trimming harp used to level flat, wide surfaces, such as the bottom of a shallow dish or plate.
 * are not strictly throwing tools; these combs are used to score a minimum of two decorative parallel lines on pot surfaces. The largest combs have about 20 teeth.
 * A is also not a throwing tool, but a Japanese slip-trailer. A  is a high-capacity bamboo bottle with a spout from which slip and glaze can be poured out in a steady, controlled stream so the potter can "draw" with it.

Wares
Hundreds of different wares and styles have existed throughout its history. The most historic and well-known ones have received recognition from the government. For more information see the list of Japanese ceramics sites.

Museums and collections
A number of museums in Japan are dedicated entirely only to ceramics. Amongst the most well-known ones are the Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum close to Nagoya, the Arita Porcelain Park, the Fukuoka Oriental Ceramics Museum, the Kyushu Ceramic Museum, the Noritake Garden, the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, the Okayama Prefectural Bizen Ceramics Museum, and the Ōtsuka Museum of Art. Public museums such as the Kyushu National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum, Tokyo National Museum and Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art have important ceramic collections. A number of private museums also have important items such as the MOA Museum of Art, Mitsui Memorial Museum, Seikadō Bunko Art Museum, Fujita Art Museum and Kubosō Memorial Museum of Arts, Izumi. A number of important ceramic items are also owned and kept in various temples in Japan such as the Ryūkō-in, Kohō-an and Shōkoku-ji, however the items are not exhibited publicly.

Most ceramic museums around the world have collections of Japanese pottery, many very extensive. Japanese modern ceramic works are often very sought-after and expensive. Apart from traditional styles art and studio pottery in contemporary art styles are made for the international market.

title: Japanese pottery and porcelain


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William Farrer

William James Farrer (3 April 1845 – 16 April 1906) was a leading English Australian agronomist and plant breeder. Farrer is best remembered as the originator of the "Federation" strain of wheat, distributed in 1903. His work resulted in significant improvements in both the quality and crop yields of Australia's national wheat harvest, a contribution for which he earned the title 'father of the Australian wheat industry'.

Early years
Farrer was born on 3 April 1845 in the town of Docker, Westmorland in the English north west (now Cumbria). The son of Thomas Farrer, a tenant farmer, and his wife Sarah William, William Farrer was selected for a scholarship at Christ's Hospital, London where he was awarded a gold and silver medal for mathematics and soon earned a scholarship to Pembroke College where, after earning a B.A. at Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1868, Farrer emigrated to Australia in 1870. A sufferer of tuberculosis, Farrer hoped to find Australia's drier warmer climate more agreeable to his then delicate medical condition.

Initially, Farrer lived with friends at Parramatta but was later employed as a tutor in Duntroon, then in regional New South Wales (now part of the Australian Capital Territory). In 1873 he published Grass and Sheep-farming A Paper: Speculative and Suggestive which dealt with the suitability of various soils for grasses and the scientific side of sheep-farming. After working as a tutor on George Campbell's sheep station at Duntroon, he qualified as a surveyor in 1875. Farrer worked for the Department of Lands in wheat growing districts of NSW from 1875 to 1886.

In 1882 Farrer married Henrietta Nina, the only daughter of Leopold Fane de Salis, the then Member of Parliament for Queanbeyan, NSW. Four years later De Salis gifted to Nina alone, 97 hectares of land. A farm rather than a station "Lambrigg" (named for Farrer's home district), formerly part of "Cuppacumbalong"", was located on the Murrumbidgee River, near Tharwa in the present day Australian Capital Territory. Farrer's initial attempts at establishing a vineyard were thwarted as the soil proved unsuitable and he turned his attention to wheat cultivation. His goal was to produce a good loaf of bread. He would consider himself a scientific gardener.

Lambrigg experiments
The Wheat leaf rust disease had a major impact on both the quality and yields of wheat harvests throughout the colonies. Farrer applied his scientific knowledge to developing wheat hybrids, initially applying cross-pollination techniques to create rust immune strains of wheat. He readily improvised using hairpins to transfer pollen until he could obtain forceps. His scientific experiments continued over 20 years, and consisted of long days of planting and developing wheat strains. He used Gregor Mendel's methods in his work. Frederick Bickell Guthrie developed small-scale procedures that emulated a flour-mill and bakehouse; Farrer used these to assess the yield from the wheat strains. The results of his experiments are recorded in handwriting notebooks. To add to his knowledge of other breeders work he corresponded all over the world. He kept up a connection with a French wheat breeder, Henri Vilmorin, who was breeding wheat for dry areas. He also corresponded with plant breeders working in India.

Concurrently, Farrer worked on developing a strain of wheat that could resist bunt or smut-ball, another devastating enemy of wheat.

By selective breeding of varieties such as "Professor Blount's Hybrid No.38, Gypsum", Canadian Fife, Etawah and Purple Straw, Farrer aimed to produce a wheat cultivar that had the best qualities of each. Success in developing a rust-resistant, high-yielding strain greeted him in 1900, when a satisfactory series of wheat was finally obtained – the Federation strain, named after the imminent Federation of Australia. He then developed a series of other strains such as Canberra, Firbank, Cleveland, Pearlie White (named after a child in the neighbourhood who was very interested in his work) and Florence (resistant to flag smut). His successes led Farrer to become a wheat experimentalist with the NSW Department of Agriculture in 1898.

These wheat strains led to a major improvement to Australia's wheat industry within a few years. The Federation strain was released to Australian farmers in 1903 and resulted in a trebling of Australia's wheat harvest over a period of twenty years. Wheat export was to become a world class enterprise.

Death and legacy
Farrer died at his home "Lambrigg" near Tharwa, Australian Capital Territory on 16 April 1906 after suffering a major heart attack, and was buried on his property at dusk the next day.

In 1911 the Farrer Memorial Trust was established in his memory, initially providing scholarships for Agricultural studies. In 1936 the trust commenced awarding a medal for outstanding service to agricultural science. The first recipient of the medal was then Prime Minister of Australia and Tasmanian farmer, Joseph Lyons. A statue of Farrer was erected in Queanbeyan by the Federal government in 1935 and another at Lambrigg in 1938.

A suburb and a primary school in Canberra have been named in his honour. The school's logo is a wheat sheaf and the sports houses are named after his most famous types of wheat. An Australian electoral division has been named after him, and Farrer was also remembered on the reverse of the Australian two-dollar banknote issued in 1966 (now withdrawn). A specialist agricultural high school (Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School, Tamworth NSW) was named in his honour and continues to provide specialist agricultural education. There is also a hall of residence at Monash University named in his honour.

William Farrer is also remembered in Wagga Wagga with the Farrer Hotel and the Farrer Football League (Australian rules football).

title: William Farrer


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Kirovohrad Oblast

Kirovohrad Oblast (Кіровоградська область), also known as Kirovohradshchyna (Кіровоградщина), is an oblast (region) in central Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Kropyvnytskyi. Its population is It is Ukraine's second least populated oblast, behind Chernivtsi.

In 2019, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine approved the change of the oblast's name to Kropyvnytskyi Oblast (Кропивницька область, unofficially Kropyvnychchyna (Кропивниччина)). The change is not yet implemented. The largest cities of the region are Kropyvnytskyi, Oleksandriia, Znamianka and Svitlovodsk.

Geography
The area of the province is 24600 km2.

The city of Dobrovelychkivka is the geographical center of Ukraine.

Most of the region is located within historic Right-bank Ukraine and Zaporizhzhia, and the western outskirts are part of historic Podolia.

History
The lands of the modern Kirovohrad Oblast were first inhabited by Scythians. In the Middle Ages, during the time of Kyivan Rus', the East Slavic tribe of Ulichis lived here. 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, 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. 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.

As a result of the destruction of Ukrainian Cossacks and the enslavement of Ukrainians by the Russian government at the end of the 18th century, these lands came under the direct power of Russia. In 1752, the territory of New Serbia was founded with the capital in Novomyrhorod.

In the 1800s, majority of the landed was owned by the noble Skarżyński family. 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.

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.

During the Soviet repressions, over 40,000 residents of the region were killed.

In 1954, the oblast lost some raions to the newly created Cherkasy Oblast, but later that year received its western raions from the Odesa Oblast.

Between 1939 and 2016, the oblast administrative center, Kropyvnytskyi, was called Kirovohrad and was named after the First Secretary of the Leningrad City Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) Sergei Kirov. Due to decommunization laws (on 14 July 2016) the name of the city was changed to Kropyvnytskyi. Kirovohrad Oblast was not renamed because as such it is mentioned in the Constitution of Ukraine, and the Oblast can only be renamed by a constitutional amendment by the Verkhovna Rada.

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. In February 2019, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine declared constitutional the bill on renaming Kirovohrad Oblast to Kropyvnytskyi Oblast. The renaming was supported by the local Oblast Council in March 2021. The process then stalled in the parliament, with the oblast council asking the Verkhovna Rada to speed up the process in September 2022.

Points of interest
The following sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine: The oblast also has a number of archaeological sites, such as Nebelivka site and Melgunov Kurgan.
 * Khutir Nadiia, outskirts of Mykolaivka village

Administrative divisions

Before the July 2020 reform, Kirovohrad Oblast was administratively subdivided into 21 raions (districts) as well as 4 cities (municipalities) which were directly subordinate to the oblast government: Oleksandriia, Svitlovodsk, Znamianka, and the administrative center of the oblast, Kropyvnytskyi.

Language
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?" ("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.

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)

Median age

 * total: 41.2 years
 * male: 37.7 years
 * female: 44.5 years (2013 official)

Nomenclature
Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (обласний центр, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, 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.

Facts

 * Berestuvate Lake in the Black Forest near the Znamianka is one of the top 7 mystical places of Ukraine
 * It was in the territory of the modern Kirovohrad Oblast that Semen Klymovsky, the author of a famous folk song "The Cossack Rode beyond the Danube" died

title: Kirovohrad Oblast


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Mykolaiv Oblast

Mykolaiv Oblast (Миколаївська область, ), also referred to as Mykolaivshchyna (Миколаївщина, ), is an oblast (province) of Ukraine. The administrative center of the oblast is the city of Mykolaiv. At the most recent estimate, the population of the oblast stood at

History
Historically, at various times, the territory was ruled either entirely or partly by Scythia, ancient Greeks, Old Great Bulgaria, Khazars, Kipchaks, the Mongol Empire, Lithuania, the Crimean Khanate, the Ottoman Empire, Poland, and Russia. Historic cities of greatest importance were ancient Olbia and the late medieval port city of Ochakiv. In the late 17th and 18th centuries the tripoint of three early modern great powers, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ottoman Empire and Russia, was located at the site of the current second-largest city of Mykolaiv Oblast, Pervomaisk, a city formed by the merger of the former Polish town of Bohopol, Russian town of Olviopol and Ottoman village of Holta.

The oblast was established within Soviet Ukraine in 1937. During World War II, it was occupied by Germany in 1941–1944.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army invaded the province from Kherson Oblast, attacking as far northwest as Voznesensk. They were repulsed at Voznesensk, and their attempt to take Mykolaiv failed. From April 2022, almost all of the province was under Ukrainian control, apart from the extreme south-east and the Kinburn peninsula. When Russia annexed Kherson Oblast in September 2022, it incorporated the occupied areas of Mykolaiv Oblast. A Ukrainian military official announced a Russian withdrawal from Mykolaiv Oblast on 10 November 2022.

On 4–5 July 2022 during an international Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC 2022) in Lugano, Switzerland pledged to support the rebuilding of Mykolaiv region.

Geography
Mykolaiv Oblast is located in the southern half of Ukraine. Its area (24,600 km²) comprises about 4.07% of the total area of Ukraine.

Mykolaiv Oblast borders upon Odesa Oblast in the west-southwest, Kirovohrad Oblast in the north,  Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in the northeast, and Kherson Oblast on the southeast.

To the south, the oblast is also bordered by the Black Sea. To Mykolaiv Oblast belong Kinburn Peninsula, Berezan Island in Black Sea, Pervomaisky Island in Dnieper Estuary.

Historically, it is located in Yedisan (central and southern parts), Zaporizhzhia (northern part) and Podolia (north-western part). Pervomaisk, the second largest city of the province, is located at the tripoint of the three historic regions.

In regards to relief, Mykolaiv Oblast is a plain that gently slopes in southern direction. Bigger portion of the territory lays within Black Sea Lowland. To the north there are spurs of Podolian and Dnieper uplands. Among major valuable deposits and minerals there are nickel, uranium ores, granite, gneiss, quartzites.

The climate is moderately continental with a mild winter of small snow amount and hot arid summer.

In the territory of the region are eighty-five rivers that belong to basin of the Black Sea. Among main rivers there are the Southern Bug (Boh) which splits the oblast into eastern and western parts, Inhulets, and Berezan.

Points of interest
The following historic-cultural sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine or Seven Natural Wonders of Ukraine.
 * Olbia, an ancient ruins of Greek colony near Ochakiv
 * Black Sea Biosphere Reserve, located near Kinburn peninsula
 * Granite-steppe lands of Buh, a landscape park located up north towards Podolia
 * Inhul River Park, a landscape park in eastern part of the region
 * Tylihul landscape park, on the administrative border with Odesa Oblast
 * Dykyi Sad archaeological site (Wild Garden) in the city of Mykolaiv

Demographics
The estimated population was 1.2 million people in 2005. The greater part of the oblast's population resided in urban type settlements (66%), with the remainder residing in agricultural areas. Also, almost 60% of the urban population resided in Mykolaiv, the industrial, cultural and administrative center of Mykolaiv Oblast.

As of 2021, the total population of the oblast was estimated at 1,108,394 inhabitants, with 761,278 (68.7%) residing in urban areas and the remaining 347,116 (31.3%) living in rural areas. The city of Mykolaiv, home to 341,123 residents, constituted 68.8% of the urban population of Mykolaiv Oblast.

The oblast's population density is one of the lowest in Ukraine – 45 PD/km2. Mykolaiv Oblast contains 2.7% of the population of Ukraine, by percentage share ranking 19th among Ukrainian oblasts and territories.

Age structure

 * 0-14 years: 14.7% (male 88,668/female 83,434)
 * 15-64 years: 70.7% (male 396,342/female 432,808)
 * 65 years and over: 14.6% (male 56,527/female 114,987) (2013 official)

Median age

 * total: 39.7 years
 * male: 36.3 years
 * female: 42.9 years (2013 official)

Ethnicity, language and citizenship
The oblast has a multi-ethnic composition; people of more than 100 ethnicities (national groups) live in the oblast. The most common language in the oblast is Ukrainian; the second most common language is Russian. In the city of Mykolaiv the most common language is Russian.

At the time of the 2001 census, the oblast had 1,269,900 permanent residents. Of these:
 * 1,251,100 (99.1%) had Ukrainian citizenship.
 * 6,400 had citizenship of CIS countries.
 * 10,200 had citizenship of other countries.
 * 4,200 were without citizenship.
 * 1,000 who did not specify their citizenship.

Administrative divisions
Mykolaiv Oblast formed in September 1937. it is subdivided into various areas, mostly raions. The subdivisions changed in 2020.

Administrative divisions (18 July 2020 to present)
On 18 July 2020, the number of Mykolaiv Oblast subdivisions was reduced to four raions. These are:
 * 1) Bashtanka (Баштанський район), the center is in the town of Bashtanka;
 * 2) Mykolaiv (Миколаївський район), the center is in the city of Mykolaiv;
 * 3) Pervomaisk (Первомайський район), the center is in the town of Pervomaisk;
 * 4) Voznesensk (Вознесенський район), the center is in the town of Voznesensk.

Administrative divisions (to 17 July 2020)
Before July 2020, Mykolaiv Oblast was subdivided into 24 regions: 19 raions (administrative districts) and 5 city municipalities (mis'krada or misto), officially known as territories governed by city councils which are directly subordinate to the oblast government.

Note: Asterisks (*) Though the administrative center of the rayon is housed in the city/town that it is named after, cities do not answer to the rayon authorities only towns do; instead they are directly subordinated to the oblast government and therefore are not counted as part of rayon statistics.

At a lower level of administration, these district-level administrations are subdivided into:

 * Settlements — 922, including:
 * Villages — 896;
 * Cities/Towns — 21, including:
 * Cities of raion subordinance — 4 (Bashtanka, Novyi Buh, Nova Odesa and Snihurivka);
 * Urban-type settlement — 17;
 * Selsovets — 287.

The local administration of the oblast is controlled by the Mykolaiv Oblast Rada. The governor of the oblast is the Mykolaiv Oblast Rada speaker, appointed by the President of Ukraine.

Infrastructure and economy

 * Along the coast, there are several ports and the Mykolaiv International Airport.
 * The region's railway network and infrastructure is part of the Odesa Railways.
 * Through the region passes European route E58 and European route E95.
 * The city of Mykolaiv is known for several of its shipyards that existed since the 19th century.
 * South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant
 * Agrarian company Nibulon
 * Mykolaiv Observatory

Public opinion
During the 1991 referendum, 89.45% of votes in Mykolaiv Oblast were in favor of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine. A survey conducted in December 2014 by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found 2.1% of the oblast's population supported their region joining Russia, 95.5% did not support the idea, and the rest were undecided or did not respond.

title: Mykolaiv Oblast


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Rivne Oblast

Rivne Oblast (Рівненська область), also referred to as Rivnenshchyna (Рівненщина), is an oblast (province) in western Ukraine. Its administrative center is Rivne. The surface area of the region is 20,100 km2. Its population is:

Before its annexation by the Soviet Union during World War II, the region was part of the Second Polish Republic's Wołyń Voivodeship following the Polish–Soviet War. Previously it was part of the Volhynian Governorate.

The Rivne Nuclear Power Plant is located in the oblast, near the city of Varash.

Geography
The region is located almost in the middle of the historical region of Volhynia which is indicated on its coat of arms with a white cross on a red background. Volhynia was completely partitioned after the Soviet occupation of Poland in September 1939 and divided between three oblasts, Volyn, Rivne, and Ternopil, with some additional eastern portions in Zhytomyr Oblast.

The relief of the region varies, its northern portion lies in the Polesian Lowland, while its southern is located within Volhynian Upland. The highest hills known as Povcha Upland reach over 350 meters. The main water artery of the region is river Horyn, while northwestern area also reaches Prypiat. Big portions of the oblast covered in woodlands. It also has a great deal of such excavated minerals like amber and basalt. In recent years (2016–2017) there were reports of illegal extraction of so called Rovno amber in the area.

Administrative divisions
On 19 July 2020, the number of raions was reduced to four. These are:

 * 1) Dubno Raion (Дубенський район), the center is in the city of Dubno;
 * 2) Rivne Raion (Рівненський район), the center is in the city of Rivne;
 * 3) Sarny Raion (Сарненський район), the center is in the city of Sarny;
 * 4) Varash Raion (Вараський район), the center is in the city of Varash.

Until 19 July 2020, Rivne Oblast was administratively subdivided into 16 raions (districts) as well as 4 cities (municipalities) which are directly subordinate to the oblast government: Dubno, Varash, Ostroh, and the administrative center of the oblast, Rivne.

Demographics
Rivne is one of the regions with the highest birth rate in all of Ukraine. The heavy rural (about two thirds of the population is rural) and ethnic Ukrainian (close to 95%) composition of the population might be responsible for this. However the birth rate is not uniform across Rivne, with raions like Ostroh having extremely low birth rates (9.7 per 1000) and other raions like Rokytne Raion having extremely high birth rates (24.0 per 1000).

Vital statistics by raion (2008)
According to statistics the population of Rivne Oblast Central Office at 1 January 2013 is 1,156,900 people.

In 2012, it increased by 2612 people. This was due to natural increase 4014 people at the same time reduce the migration of the population -1,402 people.

Compared to 2011, the volume of natural growth increased by 485 people. Natural movement of the population in 2012 was characterized by an increase in fertility and mortality, compared to 2011. In 2012, the number of births in the region was 619 more than in 2011.

Fertility in rural areas is higher than in urban areas (18 per cent against 13.5 per cent). The total fertility rate for 2012 was 15.9.

Compared to 2011, the mortality rate in 2012 rose from 12.3 to 12.4 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants. The mortality rate in rural areas is 1.6 pa za higher than in urban areas.

Age structure

 * 0-14 years: 19.7% (male 116,507/female 110,834)
 * 15-64 years: 68.2% (male 385,381/female 402,566)
 * 65 years and over: 12.1% (male 45,796/female 94,724) (2013 official)

Median age

 * total: 35.2 years
 * male: 32.8 years
 * female: 37.5 years (2013 official)

Points of interest
The some listed historic-cultural sites were nominated for the Seven Wonders of Ukraine.
 * Ostroh Castle
 * Trinity Monastery (Korets)
 * Dubno Castle
 * Spring of St. Anna
 * Tarakaniv Fort
 * Novomalyna Castle
 * Rivne Nuclear Power Plant
 * Battle of Berestechko Field
 * Narrow-gauge railway (Tunnel of Love)

Nomenclature
Most of Ukraine's oblasts are named after their capital cities, officially referred to as "oblast centers" (обласний центр, translit. oblasnyi tsentr). The name of each oblast is a relative adjective, formed by adding a feminine suffix to the name of respective center city: Rivne is the center of the Rivnens’ka oblast’ (Rivne 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 Rivne Oblast, Rivnenshchyna.

Before 1992, under the policy of Russification, the region was officially known under its Russian name of Rovno Oblast.

title: Rivne Oblast