Smolensk Governorate
| Smolensk Governorate Смоленская губерния |
|||||
| Governorate of Russian Empire | |||||
|
|||||
|
Coat of arms |
|||||
 |
|||||
| Capital | Smolensk | ||||
| History | |||||
| • | Established | 1796 | |||
| • | Disestablished | January 14, 1929 | |||
| Population | |||||
| • | 1897 | 1,525,279 | |||
Coat of arms
Smolensk Governorate (Russian: Смоленская губерния), or the Government of Smolensk, was an administrative division (a guberniya) of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR, which existed, with interruptions, between 1708 and 1929.
Smolensk Governorate, together with seven other governorates, was established on December 29 [O.S. December 18], 1708, by Tsar Peter the Great's edict. As with the rest of the governorates, neither the borders nor internal subdivisions of Smolensk Governorate were defined; instead, the territory was defined as a set of cities and the lands adjacent to those cities.
On July 28 [O.S. July 17], 1713, Smolensk Governorate was abolished and its territory was divided between Moscow and Riga Governorates. The governorate was re-established in 1726. In 1775, it was included, along with parts of Moscow and Belgorod Governorates, into Smolensk Vice-Royalty. The governorate was again restored in 1796.
...
Wikipedia