A guberniya () (also ) was a major administrative subdivision of Imperial Russia, usually translated as government, governorate, or province. A guberniya was ruled by a governor or (), a word borrowed from Latin, in turn from Greek . Sometimes the term guberniya was informally used to refer to the office of a governor. This subdivision type was created by the edict (ukase) of Peter the Great on December 18, 1708, which divided Russia into eight guberniyas. In 1719, guberniyas were further subdi… (More on Gubernya)