 Count Alexei Arakcheyev, who had held senior military and political appointments, established the first military settlement (1810-1812) in the Klimovichskiy Uyezd of the Mogilev Governorate (in present-day Belarus).The organization of military settlements got under way on a large scale from 1816.In 1817 Count Arakcheyev officially became the head of all the military settlements () in Russia.