KHARKOFF, a government of European Russia, surrounded by those of Kursk, Poltava, Ekaterinoslaff, and Voronezh, and belonging partly to the basin of the Don and partly to that of the Dnieper. The area is estimated at 21,035 square miles. In general terms the government may be described as a table-land with an elevation of from 300 to 460 feet traversed by deep-cut river valleys. The soil is for the most part of high fertility, about 47 per cent, of the surface being arable land and 30 per cent, natural pasture; and though the winter is rather severe the summer heat is sufficient for the ripening of grapes and melons in the open air. The bulk of the population is engaged in agricultural pursuits, and the breeding of sheep, cattle, and horses, though various manufacturing industries have also received a rapid development, more especially since the middle of the present century. The ordinary cereals, maize, buckwheat, millet, hemp, flax, tobacco, poppies, and beetroot are all grown, and bee keeping and silk-worm rearing are of considerable importance. In 1879 the horses numbered 258,711, the cattle 475,217, the sheep 1,059,596, of which 376,777 were of fine-fleeced varieties. Beetroot sugar factories, cotton mills, woollen factories, iron-works, and tanneries are the leading industrial establishments; their whole production in 1879 was estimated at 23,939,147 roubles (about £3,790,000). The mass of the people are Little Russians, but there are also Great Russians, Calmucks, Germans, Jews, and Gipsies. In 1867 the total population was 1,681,486, and in 1879 2,036,949—4119 of these being Raskolniks (dissidents), 1960 Roman Catholics, 2732 Protestants, and 3079 Jews. The government is divided into eleven districts—Kharkoff, Akhtuirka, Bogodukhoff, Izyum, Kupyansk, ...Lebedyin, Zmieff, Starobyelsk, Sumui, Valki, and Voltchansk. In 1879 there were eight towns with populations above 5000—Kharkoff, Izyum (15,741), Starobyelsk (12,581), Voltchansk (11,107), Slavansk (10,558), Tchugueff (9418), Valki (7001), Zolotcheff (5038). Ecclesiastically the government is a separate eparchy or diocese of the Greek Church. The Roman Catholics are subject to the bishop of Tiraspol in Kherson.
Kharkoff, the chief town of the above government, is situated in 56° 37' N. lat. and 25° 5' E. long., in the valley of the Donets, 462 miles from Moscow and 137 miles from Kursk. It has railway communication northward by Kursk and southward to Mariupol on the Sea of Azoff and to Odessa by Poltava and Balta. The four annual fairs are among the busiest in Russia, more especially the Krestchenskaya or Epiphany fair, which is opened on the 6th (18th) January. The turn-over is estimated at from £3,000,000 to £4,000,000. Thousands of horses are bought and sold. At the Trinity (Troitsa) fair in June an extensive business (£800,000) is done in wool. A great variety of manufactured goods are produced in the town—linen, felt, sugar (especially from beetroot), tobacco, brandy, soap, candles, cast-iron. Besides a flourishing university, instituted in 1805, and attended in 1879 by 720 male and 163 female students, Kharkoff possesses an observatory, a large veterinary college, a botanical garden, a theological seminary, and several important institutio?.s of beneficence. The university building was formerly a royal palace. The library contained in 1878 98,000 volumes; and the zoological collections are especially rich in the birds and fishes of southern Russia Extensive barracks are maintained in the town. Public gardens occupy the site of the ancient military works; and the Government has a model farm in the neighbourhood. Of the Orthodox churches one has the rank of cathedral. The population of Kharkoff was 59,968 in 1867, and 101,175 in 1879.
The foundation of Kharkoff is assigned to the year 1650, and the name is at least popularly connected with that of Khariton, the Cossack originator of the settlement; but there is archaeological evidence of a much earlier occupation of the district, if not of the site. The Cossacks of Kharkoff remained faithful to the czar during the rebellions of the latter part of the 17th century; in return they received a variety of privileges, and continued to be a strong advance guard of the Russian power, till the final subjugation of all the southern region. Along with other military settlements Kharkoff was placed on a new footing in 1765; and at the same time it became the administrative centre of the Ukraine. It has been the government town from the establishment of the government in 1780. For plan see Reclus, Géographie Universelle, vol. v. p. 807.
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