Governorate of Livonia

The province of Livonia (Russian Лифляндская губерния / Lifljandskaja Gubernija, also Gouvernement Riga) was one of the three Baltic or Ostseegouvernements the Russian Empire. By today's terms it includes the Vidzeme region in Latvia and Estonia's southern half. It bordered on the north by the province of Estonia, on the east by the Lake Peipsi, which separated it from the St. Petersburg government, as well as to the government of Pskov, in the southeast of the province of Vitebsk, on the southwest by Kurland and on the west by the Gulf of Riga. Capital Riga was.

It comprised an area of ​​47028.5 km ², of which 2876 km ² on islands (especially Osel ( Saaremaa estn ) and poppy ( estn Muhu ) ) accounted for.

The province was divided into nine circles ( Ujesd ):

• Dorpat ( Tartu estn )
• Fellin ( Viljandi estn )
• Osel ( Saaremaa estn ), capital Kuressaare ( estn Kuressaare )
• Pärnu ( estn Pärnu )
• Riga ( Rīga lett )
• Walk ( Valga estn, lett Valka )
• Wenden ( Cesis lett )
• Werro ( estn Võru )
• Wolmar ( Valmiera lett )

History

Livonia was one of the Swedish possessions that came with the Peace of Nystad in 1721 to the Russian Empire. The privileges of the nobility and the independence of the Lutheran church hierarchy were confirmed by Peter I.. In particular, the Livonian knights remained the dominant entity in the country. In 1819 it came to the liberation of the peasants, bringing the Ostseegouvernements played a pioneering role within Russia. 1835, Russian law book was introduced and the Russian official language bevorrechtet. A serious Russification was, however, operated only from the 1880s, particularly the 1884 Russian was declared the sole official language. The Lutheran church was discriminated from that time. It Orthodox churches were built, and the Orthodox clergy tried especially the Estonian and Latvian peasants to Orthodoxy to convert. Occupied in the final stages of World War II by German troops in 1919, the area was divided between the newly created states of Estonia and Latvia.

Statistics

In 1897 the government of 1,299,365 inhabitants ( 27.6 per km ²). After the nationality the population in 563 829 Latvians, Estonians, 518 594, 98 573 German, 68 124 Russians, 23,728 Jews, 15,132 Poles fell apart. When religious affiliation, there were 1882 81.6 % Protestant, 13.4% Greek Catholic, 2.4% Jewish, 1 % Roman Catholic. The remainder was divided between Armenians, Russian small churches and non-denominational.

The area was divided into 18.5% farmland, 24.4% forest, 41.5 % meadows and pastures and 15.6 % wasteland. The population was predominantly employed in agriculture, it was preferably rye (1880-1884 2.2 million hectoliters ), barley ( 1.6 million), oats ( 2 million), flax and potatoes ( 4.1 million) cultivated, besides also in smaller quantities of wheat, hemp and buckwheat. The livestock was in 1883: 485,000 head of cattle, 216,000 pigs, 441,000 sheep and 160,000 horses. The fishery formed a significant source of income, out of the sea came whitebait and flounder, smelts from the lakes and the rivers salmon. In the industrial point of Livonia took a prominent place among the Russian provinces, it had 724 factories with 19,000 workers. Important industries were distilleries, breweries, sawmills, iron foundry, oil brawl Korkfabrikation, weaving and paper making. Trade was mainly handled through the port of Riga. There were eight banks in the province.

In Livonia, there was the University of Dorpat (Tartu ) with 1990 students, the Riga Polytechnic with 1122, a Veterinary Medical Institute in Dorpat with 150 students, 37 schools with 7137 students, 265 schools with another type of 21 065 students and 631 country elementary schools with 98 524 students. 24 newspapers and magazines published in the Government, mostly in German, but some also latvian or estnischsprachig.