Estonian Governorate

For the governorate from 1917–1918, see Autonomous Governorate of Estonia.

Governorate of Estonia
  • Эстляндская губерния (Russian)
  • Eestimaa kubermang (Estonian)
  • Gouvernement Estland (German)
Governorate
Coat of arms of Governorate of Estonia
Coat of arms
Location in the Russian Empire
Location in the Russian Empire
CountryRussian Empire
Established1796
Abolished1917
CapitalReval
Area
 • Total20,246.7 km2 (7,817.3 sq mi)
Highest elevation
(Emumägi)
166 m (545 ft)
Population
 (1897)
 • Total412,716
 • Density20/km2 (53/sq mi)
 • Urban
18.68%
 • Rural
81.32%

Governorate of Estonia,[a] also known as Esthonia (Estland) Governorate,[1][2][3][4] was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. It was located in the northern Estonia with some islands in the West Estonian archipelago, including Hiiumaa and Vormsi. Estonia Governorate was established in 1796 when Paul I's reforms abolished the Viceroyalty (namestnichestvo). Previously, a Reval Governorate existed under Peter I's reign and was confirmed by the Treaty of Nystad, which ceded territory from Sweden to the newly established Russian Empire.

From the 1850s until 1914 the Estonian national awakening was influenced and characterized the governorate by general modernization, the reorganization into a modern European society, and the success of the newly emerged nationalist awareness[5]. The accession of Alexander III in 1881 marked the beginning of a period of more rigid Russification. The previous Baltic civil and criminal codes were replaced with Russian ones, and the Russian language replaced the German language and Estonian language. When the Russian Revolution of 1905 spread into Estonia, Jaan Tõnisson founded the National Liberal Party and organized its first congress in Tallinn on 27 November, demanding political autonomy for Estonia. In response, the Russian government suppressed the revolution by declaring martial law. Following that, 328 Estonians were repressed by being shot or hanged, and Konstantin Päts and the radical leader Jaan Teemant fled abroad.[6]

In March 1917 following the February Revolution, the governorate was given northern territory from the Governorate of Livonia and granted autonomy on 12 April 1917, forming the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia. Which lasted for years, until 24 February 1918. When the Committee declared the nation's independence in the city of Pärnu, the governorate was fully abolished.

Until the late 19th century the governorate was administered independently by the local Baltic German nobility through a feudal Regional Council.[7]

History

German and Russian map of Governorate of Estonia
Unofficial flag of Governorate of Estonia

Initially named the Reval Governorate after the city of Reval (today known as Tallinn), the Governorate originated in 1719 from territories which Russia conquered from Sweden in the course of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721. Sweden formally ceded its former dominion of Swedish Estonia to Russia in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721. During subsequent administrative reordering, the governorate was renamed in 1796 as the Governorate of Estonia. While the rule of the Swedish kings had been fairly liberal with greater autonomy granted for the peasantry, the regime tightened under the Russian tsars and serfdom was not abolished until 1819.[citation needed]

The governorate consisted the northern part of the present-day Estonia, approximately corresponding to: Harju, Lääne-Viru, Ida-Viru, Rapla, Järva, Lääne and Hiiu counties and a small portion of Pärnu County.[citation needed]

After the Russian February Revolution, on 12 April [O.S. 30 March] 1917 the governorate expanded to include northern Livonia, thereby forming the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia which existed less than a year, until February 1918.[citation needed]

Subdivisions

The governorate was subdivided into uyezds.[8]

County County Town Arms of County Town Area Population
(1897 census)[9]
Name in German Name in Russian
Wierland Везенбергскій Wesenberg
7,143.2 km2
(2,758.0 sq mi)		 120,230
Jerwen Вейсенштейнскій Weissenstein
2,871.2 km2
(1,108.6 sq mi)		 52,673
Wiek Гапсальскій Hapsal
4,697.9 km2
(1,813.9 sq mi)		 82,077
Harrien Ревельскій Reval
5,739.5 km2
(2,216.0 sq mi)		 157,736

Former Subdivisions

  • Kreis Baltischport, now known as Paldiski

Governors

Language

According to the Russian Empire Census.[10]

Language number percentage (%) males females
Estonian language 365,959 88.67 176,972 188,987
Russian 20,439 4.95 12,441 7,998
German 16,037 3.88 6,991 9,046
Swedish language 5,768 1.39 2,725 3,043
Yiddish language 1,269 0.3 852 417
Polish language 1,237 0.29 921 316
Did not name
their native language 		15 >0.01 8 7
Other[11] 1,992 0.48 1,499 493
Total 412,716 100 202,409 210,307

See also

References

  1. ^ The Baltic States from 1914 to 1923 By LtCol Andrew Parrott. Archived 19 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ William Henry Beable (1919), Russian Gazetteer and Guide, London: Russian Outlook
  3. ^ Thaden, Edward C. (14 July 2014). Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Finland, 1855-1914. Princeton University Press. p. 34. ISBN 9781400857180.
  4. ^ Thaden, Edward C. (14 July 2014). Russia's Western Borderlands, 1710-1870. Princeton University Press. p. 27. ISBN 9781400854950.
  5. ^ "National awakening". Estonica.org. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Estonian national awakening". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  7. ^ Smith, David James (2005). The Baltic States and Their Region. Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-420-1666-8.
  8. ^ Эстляндская губерния (in Russian). Руниверс. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  9. ^ Первая Всеобщая перепись населения Российской империи 1897 года. Эстляндская губерния (in Russian)
  10. ^ Language Statistics of 1897
  11. ^ Languages of which number of speakers in all Governorate were less than 1000
  1. ^
    • Russian: Эстля́ндская губе́рния, pre-1918: Эстля́ндская губе́рнія, romanized: Estlyándskaya gubérniya
    • German: Est(h)ländisches Gouvernement
    • Estonian: Eestimaa kubermang

59°26′14″N 24°44′43″E / 59.43722°N 24.74528°E / 59.43722; 24.74528