Vilna Governorate

Виленская губерния Vilenskaya guberniya Vilna Governorate Governorate of the Russian Empire ← 1795 – 1915 → Coat of arms Vilna Governorate (light green), 1843-1915 Capital Vilnius History  - Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1795  - World War I 1915

Vilna Governorate (light green), 1795-1797

Vilna Governorate in 1897

Vilnа Governorate (Russian: Виленская губерния, Vilenskaya guberniya, Lithuanian: Vilniaus gubernija) was a governorate (guberniya) of the Russian Empire created after the Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. It was attached to the Northwestern Krai. The seat was in Vilna (Vilnius).

Name and territorial changes

The first governorates, Vilna Governorate (consisting of eleven uyezds or districts) and Slonim Governorate, were established after the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Just a year later, on December 12 1796, by the order of tsar Paul I they were merged into one governorate, called Lithuanian Governorate, with capital in Vilnius.^[1] By the order of tsar Alexander I on September 9 1801 Lithuania Governorate was split into Lithuania-Vilna Governorate and Lithuania-Grodno Governorate. After thirty nine years, the word "Lithuania" was dropped from the two names by Nicholas I.^[2] In 1843 another administrative reform took place, creating Kovno Governorate out of seven western districts of the Vilna Governorate. Vilna Governorate received three additional districts: Vileyka and Dzisna from Minsk Governorate and Lida from Grodno Governorate.^[3] This arrangement remained unchanged until the World War I. A part of it was then included in Wilna Administrative Area of Ober-Ost, formed by the occupying German Empire. In 1834 the governorate had about 789,000 inhabitants; in 1897 the number grew to about 1,591,000.^[4]

Subdivisions

See also

• Ethnic history of the Vilnius region
• History of Vilnius

References