Vilnius Voivodeship

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The Vilnius Voivodeship (Lithuanian: Vilniaus vaivadija, Belarusian: Віленскае вайводзтва, Polish: województwo wileńskie) was one of Voivodeships in Grand Duchy of Lithuania, created in 1413.

1 Geography and administrative division
2 History
3 Notable Voivodes
4 See also

[edit] Geography and administrative division

Geographically the area was centered around the city of Vilnius, which has always been the capital of the entity and the seat of a voivode. However, the actual shape of the voivodeship varied in time. The early voivodeship that existed until the partitions, was composed of five smaller units of administrative division named powiat (in Lithuanian: plural - pavietai, singular - pavietas), roughly correspondent to British Counties:

Powiat of Vilnius-Trakai (Vilnius powiat)
Powiat of Ašmiany (Ašmiany powiat)
Powiat of Lida
Powiat of Vilkmergė (Vilkmergė powiat)
Powiat of Brasłaŭ (Brasłaŭ powiat)

[edit] History

Main article: History of Vilnius

[edit] Grand Duchy of Lithuania

Map showing voivodeships of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Territory of the Vilnius Voivodeship is marked in red. Voivodeships borders have not changed after Union of Lublin.

In 1413 the Union of Horodło introduced the title of voivode to Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Initially the area was centred around two most important and most ancient cities of Lithuania, Trakai and Vilnius. Vilnius Voivodeship was the capital Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, of which Vilnius was the capital.

[edit] Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

After the Union of Lublin in 1569 which formed the Commonwealth, Grand Duchy retained much of its autonomy, and Vilnius Voivodeship remained its capital voivodeship, just as Vilnius remained its capital city, although the capital of the Commonwealth was first in Kraków (Kraków Voivodeship) and later in Warsaw (Masovian Voivodeship).

[edit] Later events

After the partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the territory of Vilnius Voivodship was incorporated into Imperial Russia. During Soviet rule former Vilnius Voivodship territory was divided between Belarusian SSR and Lithuanian SSR.