Governorate of Livonia

The Livonia Governorate was a province (guberniya) and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, part of the Baltic Governorate-General until 1876. The Livonia Governorate bordered the Estonia Governorate to the north, Saint Petersburg and Pskov Governorates to the east, Vitebsk Governorate and Courland Governorate to the south, and the Gulf of Riga to the west. In 1897, the population of the governorate was 1,299,365, and it had an area of 47,030.87 square kilometres (18,158.72 mi2). The administrative centre of the governorate was the Baltic Sea port of Riga. It roughly corresponded to the modern Vidzeme region of Latvia and southern Estonia.

Originally established in 1713 as the Riga Governorate following the Russian conquest of Swedish Livonia in the Great Northern War, the territory was reorganized as the Riga Viceroyalty in 1783 and reconstituted as the Governorate of Livonia in 1796. Until the late 19th century, the province retained substantial local autonomy administered by the Baltic German nobility through the Livonian Landtag. Serfdom was abolished in 1819. Following the February Revolution in 1917, the northern Estonian-majority counties were merged into the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia. Following German occupation in late 1917 and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in 1918, Russian rule ended, with the territory later partitioned between independent Latvia and Estonia.