Oblast
First-level administrative division in several countries
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Through Russia and Soviet Union
Etymology
The term oblast is borrowed from Russian область (pronounced ), from where it is inherited from Old Russian, in turn borrowed from Church Slavonic область oblastĭ 'power, empire', formed from the prefix oб- (cognate with Classical Latin ob 'towards, against' and Ancient Greek ἐπί/ἔπι epi 'in power, in charge') and the stem власть vlastǐ 'power, rule'. In Old Russian, it was used alongside оболость obolostǐ—the equivalent of об- 'against' and волость 'territory, state, power' (cognate with English 'wield'; see volost).
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History
Russian Empire
In the Russian Empire oblasts were considered to be administrative units and were included as parts of Governorates General or krais. The majority of then-existing oblasts were on the periphery of the country (e.g. Kars Oblast or Transcaspian Oblast) or covered the areas where Cossacks lived.
Soviet Union
In the Soviet Union, oblasts were one of the types of administrative divisions of the union republics. As any administrative units of this level, oblasts were composed of districts (raions) and cities/towns directly under oblasts' jurisdiction. Some oblasts also included autonomous entities called autonomous okrugs. Because of the Soviet Union electrification program under the GOELRO plan, Ivan Alexandrov, as director of the Regionalisation Committee of Gosplan, divided the Soviet Union into thirteen European and eight Asiatic oblasts, using rational economic planning rather than "the vestiges of lost sovereign rights".
The names of oblasts did not usually correspond to the names of the respective historical regions, as they were created as purely administrative units. With a few exceptions, Soviet oblasts were named after their administrative centers.
Yugoslavia
In 1922, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was divided into 33 administrative divisions also called oblasts. In 1929, oblasts were replaced with larger administrative units known as banovinas.
During the Yugoslav Wars, several Serb Autonomous Oblasts were formed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. These oblasts were later merged into the Republic of Serbian Krajina and the Republika Srpska.
The word "oblast" is also prominent and widely used in Serbian language. Not strictly relating to territory (where it could mean "part of a whole"), It is also regularly used to denote parts of science, literature, or production, and so on (for example "oblast nauke" means "field of science").
Modern oblasts
Bulgaria
Since 1999, Bulgaria has been divided into 28 oblasts, usually translated as "provinces". Before, the country was divided into just nine units, also called oblasts.
Post-Soviet states
Viloyat and welaýat are derived from the Turkish-language term vilayet, itself derived from the Arabic-language term wilāya (ولاية).