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Vilna Governorate

Vilna Governorate
Governorate
Coat of arms of Vilna Governorate
Coat of arms
Location in the Russian Empire
Location in the Russian Empire
CountryRussian Empire
KraiNorthwestern
Established1795
Abolished1918
CapitalVilna
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
 • Density38/km2 (98/sq mi)
 • Urban
12.44%
 • Rural
87.56%
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Vilna Governorate (light green), 1843–1915, with modern Lithuania outlined
Vilna Governorate (light green), 1795–97, again with modern Lithuania outlined
Vilna Governorate in 1897
Coat of arms of Vilna Governorate used since 1845

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

From Stanisław Plater's estimates in 1825[5]
Language People
Lithuanian 780,000
Yiddish 180,000
Polish 100,000
Russians 80,000
Ruthenians 50,000
Tatars 10,000
Total 1,200,000

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]

Linguistic composition of the Vilna Governorate in 1897[7]
Language Native speakers Percentage
White Russian[b] 891,903 56.05
Lithuanian 279,720 17.58
Jewish 202,374 12.72
Polish 130,054 8.17
Great Russian[b] 78,623 4.94
German 3,873 0.24
Tatar 1,969 0.12
Little Russian[b] 919 0.06
Latvian 471 0.03
Gypsi 182 0.01
Others 1,119 0.07
Total 1,591,207 100.00
Religious composition of the Vilna Governorate in 1897[10]
Faith Male Female Both
Number Percentage
Roman Catholic 460,627 475,222 935,849 58.81
Eastern Orthodox 214,225 201,070 415,295 26.10
Judaism 98,193 106,493 204,686 12.86
Old Believer 12,686 12,987 25,673 1.61
Lutheranism 2,172 2,291 4,463 0.28
Islam 2,572 1,803 4,375 0.27
Karaite 251 325 576 0.04
Reformed 92 85 177 0.01
Armenian Catholic 22 25 47 0.00
Armenian Apostolic 9 3 12 0.00
Mennonite 2 0 2 0.00
Anglican 0 2 2 0.00
Other Christian denomination 19 16 35 0.00
Other non-Christian denomination 10 4 14 0.00
Total 790,880 800,327 1,591,207 100.00

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 and the largest city Arms of capital Area Population
(1897 census)
Transliteration name Russian Cyrillic 1897[11]
Vileyskiy Вилейскій Vileyka 3.560
6,363.13 km2
(2,456.82 sq mi)		 208,013
Vilenskiy Виленскій Vilna 154.132
6,185.14 km2
(2,388.10 sq mi)		 363,313
Disnenskiy Дисненскій Disna 6.756
5,779.30 km2
(2,231.40 sq mi)		 204,923
Lidskiy Лидскій Lida 9.323
5,606.20 km2
(2,164.57 sq mi)		 205,767
Oshmyanskiy Ошмянскій Oshmyany 7.214
6,885.39 km2
(2,658.46 sq mi)		 233,559
Smorgonskiy Сморгонскій Smorgon ---
5,979.20 km2
(2,308.58 sq mi)		 241,565
Sventsyanskiy Свѣнцянскій Sventsyany 6.025
5,228.03 km2
(2,018.55 sq mi)		 172,231
Trokskiy Трокскій Troki 3.240
5,862.27 km2
(2,263.44 sq mi)		 203,401

Ethnic composition

Russian authorities periodically performed censuses. However, they reported strikingly different numbers:[12]

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%

Governors

Name In office
Yakov Bulgarov 1797–1799
Ivan Friesell 1799–1801
Dmitry Lanskoy 1802–1804
Ivan Rickman 1804–1806
Prokopy Bogmevsky 1806–1808
Nikolay Brusilov 1808–1810
Aleksandr Lavinsky 1811–1816
Friedrich Drutsky-Lyubetsky 1816–1823
Pyotr Gorn 1823–1830
Dmitry Obreskov 1830–1832
Grigory Doppelmayr 1832–1836
Dmitry Bantysh-Kamensky 1836–1838
Yuri Dolgorukov 1838–1840
Aleksey Semyonov 1840–1844
Nikolay Zherebtsov 1844–1846
Mikhail Begichev 1846–1851
Arkady Rosset 1851–1857
Mikhail Pokhvisnev 1857–1863
Ivan Galler 1863–1863
Stepan Panyutin 1863–1868
Ivan Shestakov 1868–1869
Yegor Steblin-Kamensky 1869–1882
Aleksandr Zhemchuzhnikov 1882–1885
Nikolay Grevenits 1885–1895
Aleksandr Frese 1895–1896
Ivan Cheplevsky 1896–1899
Nikolai Gruzinsky 1899–1901
Viktor Wahl 1901–1902
Konstantin Palen 1902–1905
Sergey Tatishchev 1905–1906
Dmitry Lyubimov 1906–1912
Pyotr Veryovkin 1912–1916
Aleksandr Tolstoy 1916–1917

See also

Notes

  1. ^
  2. ^ a b c Prior to 1918, the Imperial Russian Government classified Russians as the Great Russians, Ukrainians as the Little Russians, and Belarusians as the White Russians. After the creation of the Ukrainian People's Republic in 1918, the Little Russians identified themselves as "Ukrainian".[8] Also, the Belarusian Democratic Republic which the White Russians identified themselves as "Belarusian".[9]

References

  1. ^ Kulakauskas, Antanas (2002). "Administracinės reformos". Gimtoji istorija. Nuo 7 iki 12 klasės (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Elektroninės leidybos namai. ISBN 9986-9216-9-4. Archived from the original on 2008-03-03. Retrieved 2008-01-01.
  2. ^ "Литовская губерния". Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1890–1906.
  3. ^ Simas Sužiedėlis, ed. (1970–1978). "Administration". Encyclopedia Lituanica. Vol. I. Boston, Massachusetts: Juozas Kapočius. pp. 17–21. LCCN 74-114275.
  4. ^ Jan Tomasz Gross. Revolution from Abroad: The Soviet Conquest of Poland's Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia. Princeton University Press. 2002. p. 3.
  5. ^ Jeografia wschodniéy części Europy czyli Opis krajów przez wielorakie narody słowiańskie zamieszkanych : obejmujący Prussy, Xsięztwo Poznańskie, Szląsk Pruski, Gallicyą, Rzeczpospolitę Krakowską, Krolestwo Polskie i Litwę, p.206
  6. ^ Vaitiekūnas, Stasys (2006). Lietuvos gyventojai: Per du tūkstantmečius (in Lithuanian). Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. pp. 79, 92. ISBN 5-420-01585-4.
  7. ^ a b c Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г. Распределение населения по родному языку и уездам 50 губерний Европейской России [The First General Census of the Russian Empire of 1897. Breakdown of population by mother tongue and districts in 50 Governorates of the European Russia]. www.demoscope.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  8. ^ Hamm, Michael F. (2014). Kiev: A Portrait, 1800–1917. Princeton University Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-4008-5151-5.
  9. ^ Fortson IV, Benjamin W. (2011). Indo-European Language and Culture: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons. p. 429. ISBN 978-1-4443-5968-8.
  10. ^ Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г. Распределение населения по вероисповеданиям и регионам [The first general census of the population of the Russian Empire in 1897. Breakdown of population by religions and regions]. www.demoscope.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  11. ^ "Демоскоп Weekly - Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей". www.demoscope.ru. Retrieved 2024-10-10.
  12. ^ Nikolajew, Christina Juditha (2005). Zum Zusammenhang zwischen nationaler Identitätsbildung und Katholischer Kirche in Litauen (PDF) (in German). Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. p. 16.[permanent dead link‍]

54°41′00″N 25°17′00″E / 54.6833°N 25.2833°E / 54.6833; 25.2833

Quelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilna_Governorate