Виленская губерния Vilenskaya guberniya Vilnius 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

Vilnius Governorate in 1897

Coat of arms of Vilna Governorate used since 1845

The Vilnius Governorate (1801-1840 often called Lithuania-Vilnius Governorate) (Russian: Виленская губерния, Vilenskaya guberniya, Lithuanian: Vilniaus gubernija, Polish: gubernia wileńska) 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 part of the Lithuanian General Governorate, which was called the Vilnius General Governorate after 1830, and was attached to the Northwestern Krai. The seat was in Vilna (Vilnius) where the Governors General resided.

[edit] Name and territorial changes

The first governorates, Vilnius 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] Governors General residing in Vilnius

• Nikolai Vasilyevich Repnin (1794 — 1797)
• Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (1799 — 1801)
• Levin August, Count von Bennigsen (1801 - 1806)
• Alexander Michailovič Rimsky-Korsakov (1806 - 1830)
• Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov-Vilensky (1863 - 1865)
• Konstantin Petrovich von Kaufman (1865 — 1866)
• Aleksandr Potapov (1868-1874)
• Eduard Totleben (1880 — 1884)
• Pyotr Dmitrievich Sviatopolk-Mirskii (1902 — 1904)

[edit] Ethnic composition

Russian authorities periodically performed censuses. However, they reported strikingly different numbers:^[5]

[edit] See also

• Ethnic history of the Vilnius region
• History of Vilnius
• Poland’s Wilno Voivodeship
• Byelorussia’s Vileyka Voblast

[edit] References

v • d • e Western Krai Governorates of the Russian Empire 1795-1912 Northwestern Krai Vilna Governorate • Kovno Governorate • Grodno Governorate • Minsk Governorate • Mogilev Governorate • Vitebsk Governorate Southwestern Krai Volhynia Governorate • Podolia Governorate • Kiev Governorate • Kholm Governorate (from 1912)