- Courland Governorate
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Курляндская губерния
Courland GovernorateGovernorate of the Russian Empire ← 1795–1915 → Coat of arms
Courland Governorate, Livonia Governorate, Estonia Governorate of the Russian Empire Capital Jelgava History - Partition of Poland March 28 1795 - German occupation 1915 - Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918 Population - (1897) 674,034 Political subdivisions 9 Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland,[1] Governorate of Kurland[2] (Russian: Курля́ндская губерния), and Government of Courland (German: Kurländisches Gouvernement), was one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, that is now part of the Republic of Latvia.
The governorate was created in 1795 out of the territory of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia that was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the province of Courland with its capital at Jelgava (called Mitau at the time), following the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. 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).[3]
The governorate was bounded in north by the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Riga and the Governorate of Livonia; west by the Baltic Sea; south by the Vilna Governorate and Prussia and east by the Vitebsk Governorate and Minsk Governorate. The population in 1846 was estimated at 553,300.[1]
It ceased to exist during the World War I after the German Empire took control of the region in 1915. Russia surrendered the territory by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918.
Contents
List of governors
Between 1800 and 1876 overall authority in Courland was handed to the governor-general of the Baltic Provinces (German: Generalgouverneur der Ostseeprovinzen).
- 1795 - 1796 Peter Ludwig Freiherr von der Pahlen (temporary governor-general of Courland and Pilten)
- 1796 - 1798 Gustav Matthias Jakob von der Wenge
- 1798 - 1800 Carl Wilhelm Heinrich von der Osten
- 1800 - 1808 Nikolay Ivanovich Arsenyev
- 1808 Jakob Maximilian von Brieskorn (acting governor on 18-21 May 1812)
- 1808 - 1811 Johann Wilhelm Baron von Hogguer
- 1811 Jakob Maximilian von Brieskorn (acting governor in August-September 1812)
- 1811 - 1816 Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Sievers (in exile in Riga during Napoleonic invasion of Courland in July-December 1812)
- 1812 Jules de Chambaudoin and Charles de Montigny (French intendants of Courland, Semigallia and Pilten on 1 August-8 October 1812)
- 1812 Jacques David Martin (French governor-general of Courland on 8 October-20 December 1812)
- 1816 - 1824 Emannuel von Stanecke
- 1824 - 1827 Paul Baron von Hahn
- 1827 - 1853 Christoph Engelbrecht von Brevern
- 1853 Aleksandr Petrovich Beklemishev (acting governor on 10 May-14 June 1853)
- 1853 - 1858 Pyotr Aleksandrovich Valuyev
- 1858 Julius Gustav von Cube (acting governor on 10-21 May 1858)
- 1858 - 1868 Johann von Brevern
- 1868 - 1885 Paul Fromhold Freiherr von Lilienfeld
- 1885 Aleksandr Alekseyevich Manyos
- 1885 - 1888 Konstantin Ivanovich Pashchenko
- 1888 - 1891 Dimitriy Sergeyevich Sipyagin
- 1891 - 1905 Dimitriy Dimitriyevich Sverbeyev
- 1905 - 1906 Woldemar von Böckmann
- 1906 - 1910 Leonid Mikhailovich Knyazev
- 1910 Nikolay Dmitriyevich Kropotkin
- 1910 - 1915 Sergey Dimitriyevich Nabokov
- 1915-1917 Tatishchev, Pyotr Vasilyevich Gendrikov, Strakhov (in exile in Tartu after German invasion of Courland in July 1915).
In March 1918 the Baltic provinces were transferred to German authority following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
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 507 511 75.29 240 672 266 839 German 51 017 7.56 23 372 27 645 Yiddish 37 689 5.59 18 137 19 552 Russian 25 630 3.8 16 319 9 311 Polish 19 688 2.92 9 985 9 703 Lithuanian 16 531 2.45 8 833 7 698 Belarusian 12 283 1.82 6 356 5 927 Romani 1 202 0.17 581 621 Persons
that didn't name
their native language5 >0.01 4 1 Other[5] 2 478 0.36 1 993 485 Total 674 034 100 326 252 347 782 See also
- Reval Governorate
- Riga Governorate
- Saint Petersburg Governorate
- Courland
References and notes
- ^ a b The English Cyclopaedia By Charles Knigh
- ^ The Baltic States from 1914 to 1923 By LtCol Andrew Parrott
- ^ Smith, David James (2005). The Baltic States and Their Region. Rodopi. ISBN 9789042016668. http://books.google.com/books?id=PSNML8BlGkUC&pg=PA234.
- ^ Language Statistics of 1897 (Russian)
- ^ Languages, number of speakers which in all gubernia were less than 1000
Subdivisions of the Russian Empire Governorates Azov¹ · *Altai² · Arkhangelsk · Archangelgorod · Astrakhan · Baku · Belgorod · Belarus · Bessarabia · Bratslav · Caucasian · Chernigov · Black Sea · Derbent · Grodno · Georgian-Imeretinskaya · Georgian · Elisabethpol · Erivan · Finland · Iziaslav · Ingermanland · Irkutsk · Kazan · Kaluga · Kiev · Kharkov · Kherson · Kholm · Kovno · Kolyvan · Kostroma · Kursk · Kutaisi · Lithuania · Little Russia · Minsk · Mogilev · Moscow · Nikolayev · Nizhny Novgorod · Novhorod-Siverskyi · Novgorod · Novorossiysk · Olonets · Orenburg · Orel · Penza · Perm · *Petrograd² · Podolia · Polotsk · Poltava · Pskov · Ryazan · Samara · Saint Petersburg · Saratov · Shemakha · Siberia · Simbirsk · Slobodsko-Ukrainian · Slonim · Smolensk · Stavropol · Taurida · Tambov · Tver · Tiflis · Tobolsk · Tomsk · Tula · Ufa · Vilna · Vitebsk · Vladimir · Voznesensk · Vologda · Volhynian · Voronezh · Vyatka · Yaroslavl · Yekaterinoslav · YeniseyskOblasts Amur · Armenian · Batumi · Belostok · Bessarabia · Don Voisko · Dagestan · Zabaikalskaya · Imeretinskaya · Caucasian · Kamchatka · Kars · Caspian · Kwantung · Kuban · Orenburg Kirgiz · Omsk · Primorskaya · Sakhalin · Taurida · Tarnopolsky · Terek · Turgai · Ural · YakutOblasts of Stepnoy Krai Aqmola · Siberia Kirgiz · SemipalatinskOblasts of Turkestan Krai Transcaspian · Samarkand · Semirechenskaya · Syr Darya · Turkestan · FerganaGovernorates of Finland Åbo och Björneborgs · Vaasa · Vyborg · Kuopio · Nyland · St. Michel · Tavastehus · OuluGovernorates of Poland Ostsee Governorates³ Governorates of Galicia *Lvov · *Przemyśl · *Tarnopol · *ChernovtsySpecial Districts Dependent state formations Bukeyev Horde · Emirate of Bukhara · Kokand Khanate · Russian America · Uriankhayskiy Krai · Khanate of Khiva¹ Italics indicates renamed or abolished governorates, oblasts, etc on 1 January 1914.
² An asterisk (*) indicates governorates formed or created with renaming after 1 January 1914.
³ Ostsee or Baltic general-governorship was abolished in 1876.Categories:- States and territories established in 1795
- States and territories disestablished in 1915
- Governorates of the Russian Empire
- Baltic governorates
- History of Latvia
- Courland
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