Smolensk Governorate

Smolensk Governorate
Смоленская губерния
Governorate of Russian Empire
1796–1929

Location within the Russian Empire
CapitalSmolensk
Population 
• 1897
1,525,279
History 
• Established
1796
• Disestablished
14 January 1929
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Smolensk Voivodeship
Western Oblast

Smolensk Governorate (Russian: Смоленская губерния, romanizedSmolenskaya guberniya) was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR. It 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 an edict from Tsar Peter the Great.[1] 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 section of lands adjacent to those cities.[2]

  1. ^ Указ об учреждении губерний и о росписании к ним городов (in Russian)
  2. ^ С. А. Тархов (2001). "Изменение административно-территориального деления России за последние 300 лет". Электронная версия журнала "География".