Governorate of Livonia

Лифляндская губерния Governorate of Livonia Governorate of the Russian Empire ← 1721–1918 → Flag Coat of arms Courland Governorate,Governorate of Livonia, Governorate of Estonia of Russian Empire Capital Riga History  - Established (de facto) July 28, 1713  - Established (de jure) September 10 1721  - Renamed 1796  - Divided 1917  - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk March 3, 1918  - Disestablished April 12 1918 Population  - (1897) 1,299,365  Political subdivisions 8

History of Latvia
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The Governorate of Livonia^[1] (Russian: Лифляндская губерния; German: Livländisches Gouvernement; Estonian: Liivimaa kubermang, Latvian: Vidzemes guberņa) or Livland Governorate, also known as the Government of Livonia or Province of Livonia, was one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, now divided between the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Estonia.

It was originally called the Riga Governorate (Russian: Рижская губерния) after the city of Riga, the capital of Livonia. It was created July 28 [O.S. July 17] 1712 out of Swedish Livonia, territories conquered from Sweden in the Great Northern War. Livonia had capitulated in 1710 and was formally ceded to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721. During subsequent administrative reordering, the governorate was renamed in 1796 into the Governorate of Livonia.

Until the late 19th century the governorate was not ruled by Russia but was administered independently by the local Baltic German nobility through a feudal Regional Council (German: Landtag).^[2] After the Russian February Revolution in 1917, the northern part of the Governorate of Livonia was combined with the Governorate of Estonia to form a new Autonomous Governorate of Estonia.

The Autonomous Governorate of Estonia issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence on February 24, 1918, one day before it was occupied by German troops during World War I. With the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918, Bolshevist Russia accepted the loss of the Livland Governorate and by agreements concluded in Berlin on August 27, 1918, the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia and the Governorate of Livonia were severed from Russia.^[3]

List of governors

• 1712–1719 Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov
• 1719–1726 Anikita Repnin
• 1727–1751 Peter Lacy
• 1751–1753 Vladimir Petrovich Dolgorukiy
• 1753–1758 Pyotr Vojeikov (vice governor)
• 1758–1761 Vladimir Petrovich Dolgorukiy
• 1762–1791 George von Browne
• 1792–1798 Nicholas Repnin
• 1798–1800 Ludwig von Nagell
• 1800–1801 Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen
• 1801–1803 Sergei Fyodorovich Golitsyn
• 1803–1807 Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoevden
• 1807–1810 Ivan Repjev
• 1810–1812 Dmitry Ivanovich Lobanov-Rostovsky
• 1812–1812 Johann Magnus von Essen
• 1812–1829 Filippo Paulucci
• 1829–1845 Carl Magnus von der Pahlen
• 1845–1848 Yevgeny Golovin
• 1848–1861 Alexander Arkadyevich Suvorov
• 1861–1864 Wilhelm Heinrich von Lieven
• 1864–1866 Pyotr Andreyevich Shuvalov
• 1866–1866 Eduard Baranov
• 1866–1876 Peter Bagrationi
• 1876–1883 Alexander von Üxküll-Güldenband
• 1883–1885 Ivan Shevich
• 1885–1895 Mikhail Zinovjev
• 1895–1900 Vladimir Surovcev
• 1901–1905 Mikhail Pashkov
• 1905–1906 Vasily Sollogub
• 1906–1909 Alexander Möller-Zakomelskiy
• 1909–1914 Nikolay Zvegincev
• 1914–1916 Arkadiy Kelepovskiy
• 1916–1917 Nikolay Lavrinovskiy
• 1917 Sergei Shidlovskiy
• 1917 Andrejs Krastkalns (Commissioner of the Russian Provisional Government from March 18 till April 3)

Language

• By the Imperial census of 1897^[4]. In bold are languages spoken by more people than the state language.

Language	Number	percentage (%)	males	females
Latvian	563 929	43.4	271 215	292 714
Estonian	518 594	39.91	247 348	271 246
German	98 573	7.58	44 770	53 803
Russian	68 124	5.24	38 844	29 280
Yiddish	23 728	1.82	12 189	11 539
Polish	15 132	1.16	8 321	6 811
Lithuanian	6 594	0.5	4 131	2 463
Persons that did not name their native language	154	>0.1	71	83
Other[5]	4 537	0.34	3 109	1 428
Total	1 299 365	100	629 992	669 373

References and notes

1. ^ The Baltic States from 1914 to 1923 By LtCol Andrew Parrott
2. ^ Smith, David James (2005). The Baltic States and Their Region. Rodopi. ISBN 9789042016668. http://books.google.com/books?id=PSNML8BlGkUC&pg=PA234. 
3. ^ The Baltic States and Weimar Ostpolitik By John Hiden
4. ^ Language Statistics of 1897 (Russian)
5. ^ Languages, number of speakers which in all gubernia were less than 1000

See also

• Baltic governorates
• Courland Governorate
• Estonia Governorate
• Saint Petersburg Governorate
• Administrative divisions of Russia in 1713-1714
• Livonian Confederation