“Province”, “provincial” - these terms can be heard more often today as dismissive, characterizing backwardness, non-modernity. But this is not always the case, this term has a long history and its own specific features. The province in our time is a many-sided phenomenon, a full-fledged participant in the processes taking place in society.
Where did the word "province" come from
In history, this term appeared from the time of the Roman Empire, known for its numerous conquests of lands, located, at times, quite far from Italy. The Latin word provincia consists of two: rro - forward and vincere - shoots. Those. in relation to the metropolis - Rome, which was represented in the form of a trunk, the Roman provinces were its shoots, which were granted the right to live their own lives, but at the same time they were controlled by the governors appointed by Rome, and were subordinate to the Roman emperors.
Subsequently, this term began to be used in administrative, political and legal practice, acquiring both a geographical meaning, embodied within the boundaries, and everyday life, characterized by a special way of life and lifestyle, worldview.
In Russian, the term "province" appeared after administrative reforms undertaken by Peter I in 1699. Then, during the formation of the tax system, in order to facilitate the collection of state taxes and duties, it was decided to divide the territory of Russia into 11 provinces and 49 provinces, replacing the former division into counties. The provinces existed as a unit of administrative-territorial division until 1780, but this word continued to be actively used in the Russian language already to denote a whole cultural and social phenomenon.
