Vilna Governorate Виленская губерния (Russian) Vilniaus gubernija (Lithuanian)
Governorate
Coat of arms
Location in the Russian Empire
Country	Russian Empire
Krai	Northwestern
Established	1795
Abolished	1918
Capital	Vilna
Area
• Total	41,907.9 km2 (16,180.7 sq mi)
Highest elevation (Aukštojas Hill)	293.84 m (964.04 ft)
Population  (1897)
• Total	1,591,207
• Density	38/km2 (98/sq mi)
• Urban	12.44%
• Rural	87.56%

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The Vilna Governorate^[a] was a province (guberniya) of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. In 1897, the governorate covered an area of 41,907.9 square kilometres (16,180.7 sq mi) and had a population of 1,591,207 inhabitants. The governorate was defined by the Minsk Governorate to the south, the Grodno Governorate to the southwest, the Suwałki Governorate to the west, the Kovno and Courland Governorates to the north, and the Vitebsk Governorate to the east. The capital was located in Vilna (Vilnius). The city also served as the capital of Vilna Governorate-General, which existed until 1912. The area roughly corresponded to the Vilnius Region, which was later occupied by Germany, Bolsheviks, and Poland.

History

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 the Lithuanian Governorate, with its capital in Vilnius.^[1] By order of Tsar Alexander I on September 9, 1801, the Lithuanian Governorate was split into the Lithuania-Vilnius Governorate and the Lithuania-Grodno Governorate. After 39 years, the word "Lithuania" was dropped from the two names by Nicholas I.^[2]

In 1843, another administrative reform took place, creating the Kovno Governorate (Kovno in Russian) out of seven western districts of the Vilnius Governorate, including all of Samogitia. The Vilnius Governorate received three additional districts: Vileyka and Dzisna from the Minsk Governorate and Lida from Grodno Governorate.^[3] It was divided to districts of Vilnius, Trakai, Disna, Oshmyany, Lida, Vileyka and Sventiany. This arrangement remained unchanged until World War I. A part of the Vilnius Governorate was then included in the Lithuania District of Ober-Ost, formed by the occupying German Empire.

During the Polish–Soviet War, the area was annexed by Poland. The Council of Ambassadors and the international community (with the exception of Lithuania) recognized Polish sovereignty over the Vilnius region in 1923.^[4] In 1923, the Wilno Voivodeship was created, which existed until 1939, when the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania and Poland and returned most, but not all, of the Polish-annexed land to Lithuania.

Demographics

In 1834, the Vilnius Governorate had about 789,000 inhabitants; by 1897, the population had grown to about 1,591,000 residents^[6] (37 per km²).

Russian Empire Census

According to the Russian Empire census on 28 January [O.S. 15 January] 1897, The Vilna Governorate had a population of 1,591,207, including 790,880 men and 800,327 women. The majority of the population indicated Belarusian to be their mother tongue, which followed by a significant Lithuanian and Jewish speakers.^[7]

Between 1944 and 1946, about 150,000 people, mostly but not all of Polish extraction left the area for Poland (about 10% of this group may have been Lithuanians hoping to escape Soviet rule). Between 1955 and 1959, another 46,000 Polish-speakers left Lithuania (see the Demographic history of the Vilnius region). Meanwhile, the Jewish population of the area, just as in the rest of Lithuania, was virtually exterminated by the Nazis during World War II. As of 2001, ethnic Lithuanians once again predominated within the city of Vilnius (59%), but the area of the former governorate as a whole remained about 62% Polish, with the percentage of Russians (8.6) and Belarusians (4.4) having dwindled to a tiny minority.^{[citation needed]}

Subdivisions

The counties (uezd) of the Vilna Governorate in 1897 was composed of seven uezds as follows:^[7]

County		Capital	Arms of capital	Area	Population (1897 census)
Transliteration name	Russian Cyrillic
Vileyskiy	Вилейскій	Vileyka		6,363.13 km2 (2,456.82 sq mi)	208,013
Vilenskiy	Виленскій	Vilna		6,185.14 km2 (2,388.10 sq mi)	363,313
Disnenskiy	Дисненскій	Disna		5,779.30 km2 (2,231.40 sq mi)	204,923
Lidskiy	Лидскій	Lida		5,606.20 km2 (2,164.57 sq mi)	205,767
Oshmyanskiy	Ошмянскій	Oshmyany		6,885.39 km2 (2,658.46 sq mi)	233,559
Sventsyanskiy	Свѣнцянскій	Sventsyany		5,228.03 km2 (2,018.55 sq mi)	172,231
Trokskiy	Трокскій	Troki		5,862.27 km2 (2,263.44 sq mi)	203,401

Ethnic composition

Russian authorities periodically performed censuses. However, they reported strikingly different numbers:^[11]

Governors