Vilna Governorate

Infobox Former Subdivision
native_name = Виленская губерния
Vilenskaya guberniya
conventional_long_name = Vilna Governorate
common_name = Vilna
subdivision = Governorate
nation = the Russian Empire
year_start = 1795
event_start = Third Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
date_start =
event_end = World War I
date_end =
year_end = 1915
event1 =
event1_date =
p1 = Vilnius Voivodeship
image_p1 =
s1 = Ober Ost
flag_s1 = Flag of the German Empire.svg

---

image_map_caption = Vilna Governorate (light green), 1843-1915
capital = Vilnius
political_subdiv =

The Vilnа Governorate (1801-1840 often named Lithuania-Vilna Governorate) ( _ru. Виленская губерния, "Vilenskaya guberniya", _lt. 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).

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.lt icon cite book |last=Kulakauskas |first=Antanas |title=Gimtoji istorija. Nuo 7 iki 12 klasės |url=http://mkp.emokykla.lt/gimtoji/ |accessdate=2008-01-01 |edition= |year=2002 |publisher=Elektroninės leidybos namai |location=Vilnius |isbn=9986-9216-9-4 |chapter=Administracinės reformos |chapterurl=http://mkp.emokykla.lt/gimtoji/?id=911] 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. [ru icon cite encyclopedia| article = Литовская губерния | encyclopedia = Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary |date=1890-1906 | url=http://gatchina3000.ru/brockhaus-and-efron-encyclopedic-dictionary/061/61134.htm] 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.cite encyclopedia | editor=Simas Sužiedėlis | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Lituanica | title=Administration | year=1970-1978 | publisher=Juozas Kapočius | volume=I | location=Boston, Massachusetts | id=LCC|74-114275 | pages=17-21] 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. [lt icon cite book | last=Vaitiekūnas | first=Stasys | title=Lietuvos gyventojai: Per du tūkstantmečius | year=2006 | publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas | location=Vilnius | isbn=5-420-01585-4 | pages=79, 92]

ubdivisions

Ethnic composition

Russian authorities periodically performed censuses. However, they reported strikingly different numbers: [de icon cite book |url=http://w210.ub.uni-tuebingen.de/dbt/volltexte/2005/2154/pdf/Dissertation_Christina-Nikolajew.pdf |first=Christina Juditha |last=Nikolajew |title=Zum Zusammenhang zwischen nationaler Identitätsbildung und Katholischer Kirche in Litauen |pages=16 |year=2005 |publisher=Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen]

ee also

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

References