Western Krai

Western Krai (Западный край) was an unofficial name, introduced in 1834 by a historian and journalist Maurycy Mochnacki, of the westernmost parts of the Imperial Russia, but excluding the Congress Poland. Those territories - created from lands annexed to Russia during the partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at the end of the 18th century (1772, 1793 and 1795) - were also known as the Taken Lands.

Western Krai was made of the following lands of the Commonwealth:
* from the first partition of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1772): Inflants (Latgale), northern part of the Polotsk Voivodeship, entire Mstsislaw Voivodeship and Vitebsk Voivodeship, and south eastern part of the Minsk Voivodeship (about 92,000. km²)
* from the second partition of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1793): remaining part of the Minsk Voivodeship, the entire Kiev Voivodeship, Bracław Voivodeship and Vilnius Voivodeship, parts of Podole Voivodeship and eastern parts of the Wołyń Voivodeship and Brest Litovsk Voivodeship (about 250,000. km²)
* from the third partition of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1795): all the territories east of the Bug river and (about 120,000. km²) (after 1807, the Belostok Oblast)

It has never constituted one official administrative subdivision (Krai) of Russia but was a common name to two such subdivisions Northwestern Krai and Southwestern Krai.

It consisted of 9 guberniyas: 6 Belarusian and Lithuanian ones that constituted the Northwestern Krai (Vilna Governorate, Kovno Governorate, Grodno Governorate, Minsk Governorate,Mogilev Governorate and Vitebsk Governorate) and 3 Ukrainian ones that constituted the Southwestern Krai (Volhynia Governorate, Podolia Governorate and Kiev Governorate).

Due to its national specifics, it had some special laws and elements of government.