| Conventional Long Name: | Don Host Oblast |
| Native Name Lang: | ru |
| Subdivision: | Oblast |
| Nation: | the Russian Empire |
| Capital: | Novocherkassk |
| Year Start: | 1786 |
| Year End: | 1920 |
| P1: | Yekaterinoslav Viceroyalty |
| S1: | Don Soviet Republic |
| Flag S1: | Socialist_red_flag.svg |
| Today: | Russia |
| S2: | Don Republic |
| Stat Area1: | 162888.57 |
| Stat Pop1: | 1,712,898 |
| Stat Year2: | 1897 |
| Life Span: | 1786-1920 |
Don Host Oblast was a province (oblast) of the Russian Empire which consisted of the territory of the Don Cossacks, coinciding approximately with present-day Rostov Oblast in Russia. Its administrative center was Cherkassk, and later Novocherkassk.[1]
It comprised the areas where the Don Cossack Host settled in the Russian Empire. From 1786, the territory was officially named Don Host Land, renamed Don Host Oblast in 1870.[2]
During 1914, the oblast, with an area of 164,000 km², had about 3.9 million inhabitants. Of these, 55% (2.1 million) were Cossacks in possession of all the land; the remaining 45% of the population being townsfolk and agricultural guest labourers from other parts of Russia.
It was abolished in 1920; from the major part of it the Don Oblast of the RSFSR was created, which was incorporated into the North Caucasus Krai in 1924.
The districts (okrugs) of the Don Host Oblast in 1897 were as follows:
| Capital | Area | Population (1897 census) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian Cyrillic | |||||
| Donetsky | Донецкій | 24659.3verst2 | 455,819 | ||
| 1st Don | 1-й Донской | 15415.9verst2 | 271,790 | ||
| 2nd Don | 2-й Донской | 23219.7verst2 | 239,055 | ||
| Rostovsky | Ростовскій | 6012verst2 | 369,732 | ||
| Salsky | Сальскій | 18961verst2 | 76,297 | ||
| Taganrogsky | Таганрогскій | 12229.4verst2 | 412,995 | ||
| Ust-Medveditsky | Усть-Медведицкій | 18082.6verst2 | 246,830 | ||
| Khopersky | Хоперскій | 15861.4verst2 | 251,498 | ||
| Cherkassky | Черкасскій | 9750.3verst2 | 240,222 | ||
| Number ! | percentage (%) ! | males ! | females | ----- | 1,712,898 | 66.8 | 858,601 | 854,297 | ----- | 719,655 | 28.0 | 366,482 | 353,173 | ----- | 34,855 | 1.36 | 17,775 | 17,080 | ----- | 32,283 | 1.25 | 16,689 | 15,594 | ----- | 27,234 | 1.06 | 13,971 | 13,263 | ----- | 15,121 | 0.59 | 7,448 | 7,673 | ----- | 9,158 | 0.35 | 5,033 | 4,125 | ----- | 3,316 | 0.13 | 1,971 | 1,345 | ----- | 2,978 | 0.11 | 2,122 | 856 | ----- | 2,255 | 0.08 | 1,486 | 769 | ----- | 1,267 | 0.05 | 650 | 617 | ----- | Other | 3218 | 0.12 | 2092 | 1126 | ----- | Total | 2,564,238 | 100.0 | 1,294,320 | 1,269,918 | + |