Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland, Governorate of Kurland (Russian: Курля́ндская губерния), and Government of Courland (German: Kurländisches Gouvernement), was one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, that is now part of the Republic of Latvia.
The governorate was created in 1795 out of the territory of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia that was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the province of Courland with its capital at Jelgava (called Mitau at the time), following the third partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Until the late 19th century the governorate was not ruled by Russia but was administered independently by the local Baltic German nobility through a feudal Regional Council (German: Landtag).
The governorate was bounded in north by the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Riga and the Governorate of Livonia; west by the Baltic Sea; south by the Vilna Governorate and Prussia and east by the Vitebsk Governorate and Minsk Governorate. The population in 1846 was estimated at 553,300.
It ceased to exist during World War I after the German Empire took control of the region in 1915. Russia surrendered the territory by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918.
Kreis BauskeKreis DoblenKreis FriedrichstadtKreis GoldingenKreis GrobinKreis HasenpothKreis IlluxtKreis TalsenKreis TuckumKreis WindauBetween 1800 and 1876 overall authority in Courland was handed to the governor-general of the Baltic Provinces (German: Generalgouverneur der Ostseeprovinzen).
1795 – 1796 Peter Ludwig Freiherr von der Pahlen (temporary governor-general of Courland and Pilten)1796 – 1798 Gustav Matthias Jakob von der Wenge1798 – 1800 Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Freiherr von der Osten-Drizen1800 – 1808 Nikolay Ivanovich Arsenyev1808 Jakob Maximilian von Brieskorn (acting governor on 18–21 May 1812)1808 – 1811 Johann Wilhelm Baron von Hogguer1811 Jakob Maximilian von Brieskorn (acting governor in August–September 1812)1811 – 1816 Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Sievers (in exile in Riga during Napoleonic invasion of Courland in July–December 1812)1812 Jules de Chambaudoin and Charles de Montigny (French intendants of Courland, Semigallia and Pilten on 1 August-8 October 1812)1812 Jacques David Martin (French governor-general of Courland on 8 October-20 December 1812)1816 – 1824 Emannuel von Stanecke1824 – 1827 Paul Baron von Hahn1827 – 1853 Christoph Engelbrecht von Brevern1853 Aleksandr Petrovich Beklemishev (acting governor on 10 May–14 June 1853)1853 – 1858 Pyotr Aleksandrovich Valuyev1858 Julius Gustav von Cube (acting governor on 10–21 May 1858)1858 – 1868 Johann von Brevern1868 – 1885 Paul Fromhold Freiherr von Lilienfeld1885 Aleksandr Alekseyevich Manyos1885 – 1888 Konstantin Ivanovich Pashchenko1888 – 1891 Dimitriy Sergeyevich Sipyagin1891 – 1905 Dimitriy Dimitriyevich Sverbeyev1905 – 1906 Woldemar von Böckmann1906 – 1910 Leonid Mikhailovich Knyazev1910 Nikolay Dmitriyevich Kropotkin1910 – 1915 Sergey Dimitriyevich Nabokov1915–1917 Tatishchev, Pyotr Vasilyevich Gendrikov, Strakhov (in exile in Tartu after German invasion of Courland in July 1915).In March 1918 the Baltic provinces were transferred to German authority following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
By the Imperial census of 1897. In bold are languages spoken by more people than the state language. 
