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Vilna Governorate (light green), 1795-1797
Vilna Governorate in 1897
The Vilnа Governorate (1801-1840 often named Lithuania-Vilna Governorate) (Russian: Виленская губерния, Vilenskaya guberniya, Lithuanian: Vilniaus gubernija) or Government of Vilna 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).
[edit] 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 order of Tsar Paul I they were merged into one governorate, called Lithuania Governorate, with its capital in Vilnius.[1] By order of Tsar Alexander I on September 9, 1801 Lithuania Governorate was split into the Lithuania-Vilna Governorate and the 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, including all of Samogitia. Vilna Governorate received three additional districts: Vileyka and Dzisna from Minsk Governorate and Lida from Grodno Governorate.[3] This arrangement remained unchanged until World War I. A part of it was then included in the 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]
[edit] Subdivisions
[edit] Ethnic composition
Russian authorities periodically performed censuses. However, they reported strikingly different numbers:[5]
Year |
Total |
Lithuanians |
Poles |
Belarusians |
Russians |
Jews |
Other |
1862 |
838,464 |
418,880 |
50% |
154,386 |
18% |
146,431 |
17% |
14,950 |
2% |
76,802 |
9% |
27,035 |
3% |
1865 |
891,715 |
210,273 |
24% |
154,386 |
17% |
418,289 |
47% |
27,845 |
3% |
76,802 |
9% |
4,120 |
0% |
1883 |
1,192,000 |
417,200 |
35% |
281,312 |
24% |
239,592 |
20% |
|
- |
176,416 |
15% |
77,480 |
7% |
1897 |
1,561,713 |
274,414 |
18% |
126,770 |
8% |
880,940 |
56% |
75,803 |
5% |
197,929 |
13% |
5,857 |
0% |
1909 |
1,550,057 |
231,848 |
15% |
188,931 |
12% |
570,351 |
37% |
408,817 |
26% |
146,066 |
9% |
4,094 |
0% |
[edit] See also
[edit] References