Where did I get these provinces from?

[Namehobo]

Now this might be really obvious and I'm just a big idiot dumbie for not knowing or forgetting this mechanic, but I go to war with Uzbek, release Kazakh with the provinces they own, and I had about 80% of them occupied and was supporting the Sibir rebels and after peace I was looking at other places and when I look back I have these 4-5 provinces and they're all cored. How did this happen and how do exploit
http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/537381735101486760/5A69B0AE5A6334CDEF414005D1A082C1ECB8DBE2/

 

[ChildeR]

Probably rebel defected to you. Depending on rebel type they can want to form their own nation or join a same culture or core nation.

If you hover over the rebel type icon in the province view it should say what they want.

 

[Schmoekoeksklok]

Probably rebel defected to you. Depending on rebel type they can want to form their own nation or join a same culture or core nation.

If you hover over the rebel type icon in the province view it should say what they want.

Patriot or Religious rebels shouldn't give any cores though, just claims. Nationalists do give cores, but they don't defect.

If this is a pre-1.8 game, they might have been nationalists, freed a nation, and then had their ruler die so you inherited them. If it's post-1.8, that shouldn't happen anymore, so then I don't really have any sensible explanation.

 

[Tacticus101]

Hordes have an event that can give them provinces they have occupied for free, it could be that.