Understanding something about the geopolitical background of

Understanding something about the geopolitical background of Russia will help you with your genealogical
research because you will recognize the events that led to the creation of the various records and
understand the background of the people who live there.
Russia’s history began with the East Slavs sometime between the 3rd and 8th Centuries A.D. They were
ruled by the Vikings and their descendants. In 988, Vladimir, a Viking descendant, accepted
Christianity. The Russian people were unable to unite under one administration, so, during the 13th
Century; the Mongols came from the east and overran most of the southern and eastern areas of what
is now Russia. They were there until the early 1500s. Peter the Great was one of the early Russian
tsars. He significantly impacted Russian genealogy by initiating church record keeping around 1722.
When Lenin took over in 1917, civil registration began.
During tsarist times, there were guberniyas, which means provinces. Guberniyas were eliminated during the
Russian revolution and divided into oblasts. The former republics of the Soviet Union which are now
independent include the Baltic Areas, the Caucuses, and the Central Asian Republics. Russia was made up of
more than one land area. The Baltic Areas consist of Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, and the
Ukraine. The Caucuses are made up of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. The Central Asian Republics include
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Russian Empire and the Russian
Federation have the same flags, but they do not represent the same land areas. The Soviet Union at one
time covered the areas of both the empire and the federation. In chronological order, the time periods
covered are the Russian Empire from 1721 to 1917, the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991 and the Russian
Federation from 1991 to the present. To learn more about places in Russia, it is helpful to use gazetteers.
Gazetteers provide the following information:
Descriptions of the locality.
Administrative units or jurisdictions.
‐Parish, civil registration office, military district, post office, and code.
Alternative spellings.
Map coordinates.
Industries.
Proximity to other localities.
The following gazetteers cover either all of the Russian Empire/Soviet Union or a designated part. For additional
gazetteers, search the Family History Library Catalog under the country or a division thereof, such as the
province (gubernia/oblast/voblast) or district (uyezd/raion/rajon).
Title: Списки населенных мест Российской Имперiй
Translation: List of populated places of the Russian Empire
Call number: FHL INTL Fiche 6002224, 419 fiche
Language: Russian
Covers: 41 gubernias
Title: Russisches geographisches Namenbuch
Translation: Gazetteer of the Russian Empire
Call number: FHL Book 947 E5r 11 vols. + map
Language: Russian
Text: German
Covers: European part of Russian Empire, except western Baltic States
Title: Official Standard Names for U.S.S.R.
Call number: FHL Book 947 E5u 7vols.
FHL INTL Fiche: 6001801‐6001807
Language: English
Covers: Entire Soviet Union
Title: Українська РСР, админстративно-територіальний поділ
Translation: Ukrainian S.S.R., administrative‐territorial divisions
Call number: FHL INTL Book 947.7
Language: Ukrainian
Covers: Ukraine
Title: Административно-территориальное устройство БССР
Translation: Administrative‐territorial divisions of BSSR (Belarus)
Call number: FHL INTL Book 947.8 E5a 2vols.
Language: Russian
Covers: Belarus
Title: Genealogical Gazetteer of Galicia
Call number: FHL INTL Book 943 86 E5L
Language: English
Covers: Galicia, Austro‐Hungarian Province
Title: Where Once We Walked
Call number: FHL INTL 940 E5ms
Language: English
Covers: Jewish communities in Eastern Europe