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 Bauske
Kreis Doblen
Kreis Friedrichstadt
Kreis Goldingen
Kreis Grobin
Kreis Hasenpoth
Kreis Illuxt
Kreis Talsen
Kreis Tuckum
Kreis Windau
Between 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 Wenge
1798 – 1800 Carl Wilhelm Heinrich Freiherr von der Osten-Drizen
1800 – 1808 Nikolay Ivanovich Arsenyev
1808 Jakob Maximilian von Brieskorn (acting governor on 18–21 May 1812)
1808 – 1811 Johann Wilhelm Baron von Hogguer
1811 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 Stanecke
1824 – 1827 Paul Baron von Hahn
1827 – 1853 Christoph Engelbrecht von Brevern
1853 Aleksandr Petrovich Beklemishev (acting governor on 10 May–14 June 1853)
1853 – 1858 Pyotr Aleksandrovich Valuyev
1858 Julius Gustav von Cube (acting governor on 10–21 May 1858)
1858 – 1868 Johann von Brevern
1868 – 1885 Paul Fromhold Freiherr von Lilienfeld
1885 Aleksandr Alekseyevich Manyos
1885 – 1888 Konstantin Ivanovich Pashchenko
1888 – 1891 Dimitriy Sergeyevich Sipyagin
1891 – 1905 Dimitriy Dimitriyevich Sverbeyev
1905 – 1906 Woldemar von Böckmann
1906 – 1910 Leonid Mikhailovich Knyazev
1910 Nikolay Dmitriyevich Kropotkin
1910 – 1915 Sergey Dimitriyevich Nabokov
1915–1917 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.
