KIEFF, KIYEFF, or KIEV, a south-western government of European Russia, conterminous with those of Minsk, Poltava, Tchernigoff, Podolia, Kherson, and Volhynia. The area is estimated at 31,664 square miles. In the north we find a low-lying district characterized by marsh and woodland ; in the east a series of hills keeps company with the Dnieper ; and in the west are several outliers from the Carpathian system. The central region is a kind of steppe. It is only in a very few places that the altitude exceeds 900 feat. Granite with underlying syeuite is the prevailing rock in the west and south-west of the government ; in the east there are various Eocene formations. Iron-ore, fire-clay, sandstone, and lignite are among the useful minerals. Towards the southern and the central parts the surface is covered by a deep rich " black earth." Nearly the whole of the government belongs to the basin of the Dnieper, that river forming pert of its eastern boundary. In the southwest are a few small tributaries of the Bug. Besides the Dnieper the only navigable stream is its confluent the Pripyat, but two or three of the rest are available for rafts. About a fourth of the surface is occupied by woods, very unequally distributed throughout the territory. Rye is the commonest of the cereals ; and next follow oats and wheat. in the growing of beetroot the government is the first in Rns tie, and its factories for the production of beetroot sugar are the largest in the empire. The whole industrial activity of the district has rapidly developed since about the middle of the century : in 1879 there were 602 establishments, with 35,306 workmen, and a production worth .E.10,000,000. In the 75 sugar factories large numbers of Tartars from Tamboff and Penza find employment ; and next in importance are the flour-mills, leather works, and tobacco factories. The population of the government has increased from 2,017,262 in 1862 to 2,266,000 in 1875. Little Russians form 80 per cent. of the aggregate; Jews, 13 per cent. ; Poles, 4 per cent. ; White Russians, 21 per cent.. ; and there are a few thousand Great Russians. There are twelve districts : - Radomuisl, Kieff, Kaneff, Tcherkasui, Tchigirin, Vasilkoff, Berditeheff, Lipovets, Skvira, Tarashtcha, Uman, Zvenigorodka. Besides the government town the following have upwards of 5000 inhabitants : - Berditcheff, 52,560 ; Vasilkoff, 16,597 ; Uman, 15,393 ; kasui, 13,914 ; Tarashtcha, 11,420 ; Zvenigorodka, 11,375; Skvira, 10,061 ; Tchigirin, 9677 ; Kaneff, 7418 ; Lipovets, 6710 ; Radomuisl, 5905, to which may be added the large Jewish village of Zlatopol, 10,000. The exarchate or diocese of Kieff and Galitsch is the oldest in Russia, and comprises 1421 churches, 12 cathedrals, and 30 monasteries.

In 1708 a Kieff government was founded which included the whole eastern Ukraine and an extensive region in Central Russia containing thirty-six towns - Orel, Kursk, The Kieff lieutenant ship, founded in 1782, consisted of parts of the present governments of Kieff, Poltava, and Tchernigoff. In 1796 the present government was practically constituted, though several slight changes in regard to the district towns have since taken place.