A guberniya (also ) was a major administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire, usually translated as government, governorate, or province. A guberniya was ruled by a governor (), 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 subdivid… (More on Gubernya)