 Most of the administrative districts of Vologda Oblast are municipally incorporated as municipal districts, and two of the cities and towns of oblast significance are municipally incorporated as urban okrugs.There are, however, several exceptions,

, 1708 Tsar Peter the Great issued an edict which established seven governorates.The description of the borders of the governorates was not given; instead, their area was defined as a set of towns and the lands adjacent to those towns.