Vilna Governorate

The Vilna Governorate[lower-alpha 1] was a governorate (guberniya) of the Northwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. In 1897, the governorate covered the area of 41,907.9 square kilometres (16,180.7 sq mi) and 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 administrative centre was located in the city of Vilna (which is modern-day Vilnius). The city also served as the administrative centre of the Vilna Governorate-General, which existed until 1912. The area roughly corresponded to the Vilnius Region, which was later occupied by Germany, Bolsheviks, and Poland.

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
 • Total41,907.9 km2 (16,180.7 sq mi)
Highest elevation
(Aukštojas Hill)
293.84 m (964.04 ft)
Population
 (1897)
 • Total1,591,207
 • 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

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 Vilnus 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]
LanguageNative speakersPercentage
White Russian[lower-alpha 2]891,90356.05
Lithuanian279,72017.58
Jewish202,37412.72
Polish130,0548.17
Great Russian[lower-alpha 2]78,6234.94
German3,8730.24
Tatar1,9690.12
Ukrainian[lower-alpha 2]9190.06
Latvian4710.03
Gypsi1820.01
Others1,1190.07
Total1,591,207100.00
Religious composition of the Vilna Governorate in 1897[10]
FaithMaleFemaleBoth
NumberPercentage
Roman Catholic460,627475,222935,84958.81
Eastern Orthodox214,225201,070415,29526.10
Judaism98,193106,493204,68612.86
Old Believer12,68612,98725,6731.61
Lutheranism2,1722,2914,4630.28
Islam2,5721,8034,3750.27
Karaite2513255760.04
Reformed92851770.01
Armenian Catholic2225470.00
Armenian Apostolic93120.00
Mennonite2020.00
Anglican0220.00
Other Christian denomination1916350.00
Other non-Christian denomination104140.00
Total790,880800,3271,591,207100.00

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.

Subdivisions

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

CountyCapitalArms of capitalAreaPopulation
(1897 census)
Transliteration nameRussian Cyrillic
VileyskiyВилейскійVileyka
6,363.13 km2
(2,456.82 sq mi)		208,013
VilenskiyВиленскійVilna
6,185.14 km2
(2,388.10 sq mi)		363,313
DisnenskiyДисненскійDisna
5,779.30 km2
(2,231.40 sq mi)		204,923
LidskiyЛидскійLida
5,606.20 km2
(2,164.57 sq mi)		205,767
OshmyanskiyОшмянскійOshmyany
6,885.39 km2
(2,658.46 sq mi)		233,559
SventsyanskiyСвѣнцянскійSventsyany
5,228.03 km2
(2,018.55 sq mi)		172,231
TrokskiyТрокскійTroki
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]

YearTotal Lithuanians Poles Belarusians Russians Jews Other
1862838,464418,88050%154,38618%146,43117%14,9502%76,8029%27,0353%
1865891,715210,27324%154,38617%418,28947%27,8453%76,8029%4,1200%
18831,192,000417,20035%281,31224%239,59220%-176,41615%77,4807%
18971,561,713274,41418%126,7708%880,94056%75,8035%197,92913%5,8570%
19091,550,057231,84815%188,93112%570,35137%408,81726%146,0669%4,0940%

Governors
NameIn office
Yakov Bulgarov1797–1799
Ivan Friesell1799–1801
Dmitry Lanskoy1802–1804
Ivan Rickman1804–1806
Prokopy Bogmevsky1806–1808
Nikolay Brusilov1808–1810
Aleksandr Lavinsky1811–1816
Friedrich Drutsky-Lyubetsky1816–1823
Pyotr Gorn1823–1830
Dmitry Obreskov1830–1832
Grigory Doppelmayr1832–1836
Dmitry Bantysh-Kamensky1836–1838
Yuri Dolgorukov1838–1840
Aleksey Semyonov1840–1844
Nikolay Zherebtsov1844–1846
Mikhail Begichev1846–1851
Arkady Rosset1851–1857
Mikhail Pokhvisnev1857–1863
Ivan Galler1863–1863
Stepan Panyutin1863–1868
Ivan Shestakov1868–1869
Yegor Steblin-Kamensky1869–1882
Aleksandr Zhemchuzhnikov1882–1885
Nikolay Grevenits1885–1895
Aleksandr Frese1895–1896
Ivan Cheplevsky1896–1899
Nikolai Gruzinsky1899–1901
Viktor Wahl1901–1902
Konstantin Palen1902–1905
Sergey Tatishchev1905–1906
Dmitry Lyubimov1906–1912
Pyotr Veryovkin1912–1916
Aleksandr Tolstoy1916–1917

See also

Notes
  2. 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. 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. Nikolajew, Christina Juditha (2005). Zum Zusammenhang zwischen nationaler Identitätsbildung und Katholischer Kirche in Litauen (PDF) (in German). Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. p. 16.

54.6833°N 25.2833°E / 54.6833; 25.2833

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