Supernumerary town

Supernumerary town (Russian: Заштатный город, romanized: zashtatny; Безуездный город, pre-reform orthography: Безъуѣздный городъ, romanized: bezuyezdny gorod, lit. 'county-less city') was a type of a city in the Russian Empire which was not an administrative center of any territory.^[1][2]

During the reign of Catherine II of Russia, when an uezd was disbanded, its administrative centre typically lost its status as a city, with the corresponding loss of city privileges of its inhabitants. To bypass this, a new category of urban settlements was introduced.^[3]

The 1796 reform of the administrative division by Emperor Paul I of Russia decreased the number of uyezds and their centers were reclassified as supernumerary towns. The reform established the population number as a criterion for a supernumerary town.^[4]

In the second half of the 19th century the governorate centres constituted 8 percent of cities, uezd cities counted 71 percent, and supernumerary towns counted 21 percent.^[5]

Over time the term zashtatny gorod has acquired the meaning of an insignificant/backwater city.