The governorates of the Grand Principality of Finland were the administrative division of the Grand Principality of Finland as part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917.
The administrative division of Finland followed the Russian imperial model with governorates (Russian: губе́рния, Swedish: län, Finnish: lääni) headed by governors. However few changes were made and as the language of the administrators was still Swedish the old terminology from during the Swedish time continued in local use. The Vyborg Governorate was not initially part of the Grand Principality, but in 1812 it was transferred from Russia proper to Finland.
Governorates
1: Åbo och Björneborg (Turku and Pori), 2: Nyland (Uusimaa), 3: Tavastehus (Häme), 4: Vaasa, 6: St. Michel (Mikkeli), 8: Kuopio, 10: Uleåborg (Oulu), 13: Viborg (Viipuri)
After 1831 there were eight provinces in the Grand Principality.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Kingdom of Sweden had allied itself with the Russian Empire, United Kingdom and the other parties against Napoleonic France. However, following the treaty of Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, Russia made peace with France. In 1808, and supported by France, Russia successfully challenged the Swedish control over Finland in the Finnish War. In the Treaty of Fredrikshamn on September 17, 1809 Sweden was obliged to cede all its territory in Finland, east of the Torne River, to Russia. The ceded territories became a part of the Russian Empire and was reconstituted into the Grand Duchy of Finland, with the Russian Tsar as Grand Duke.
In 1812 the Vyborg Governorate was transferred from Russia proper to the Grand Principality. The transfer, announced by Tsar Alexander I just before Christmas, on December 23, 1811 O.S. (January 4, 1812 N.S.), can be seen as a symbolic gesture and an attempt to appease the sentiment of the Finnish population, which had just experienced Russian conquest of their country by force in the Finnish War.
Upon the death of Tsar Nicholas I in 1855, a small group of citizens in the city of Vaasa tendered a petition to change the name of the city after him. The name of the city came from the Royal House of Vasa and despite that only 15 citizens were backing the proposal the name of the city was changed to Nikolaistad (Russian: Николайстад, Finnish: Nikolainkaupunki). This also meant that the Vasa Governorate (Russian: Вазаская губерния, Swedish: Vasa län, Finnish: Vaasan lääni) was called Николайстадская губерния (Nikolaistadskaya gubérnija) in Russian, after 1855. The official Swedish, and later the Finnish, name for the province did not change.
After being a part of Sweden for seven centuries, the first half century of Finland as a Russian Grand Principality meant a period of consolidation into the Russian Empire, where the authorities managed to convince the imperial court of the loyalty of the Finnish population and the officials to Russia. This resulted in the re-establishment of the Diet of Finland and an increased autonomy, an example of which was the elevation of Finnish from a language for the common people to a national language equal to Swedish.
The period of liberalisation came to an end in 1899 when a campaign of attempted Russification was initiated, and attempt that ultimately would prove unsuccessful and detrimental for Finland's relationship with Russia. The policy of Russification, coupled with Russian defeat in World War I and the subsequent Russian Revolution paved the way for Finland's declaration of independence on December 6, 1917. The former Swedish counties, that for a century had been ruled as governorates of a Russian Grand Principality, would now become the provinces (Finnish: lääni, Swedish: län) of an independent Republic of Finland.
¹ Italics indicates renamed or abolished governorates, oblasts, etc on 1 January 1914. ² An asterisk (*) indicates governorates formed or created with renaming after 1 January 1914. ³ Ostsee or Baltic general-governorship was abolished in 1876.
Related Research Articles
The counties of Sweden are the top-level geographic subdivisions of Sweden. Sweden is today divided into 21 counties; however, the number of counties has varied over time, due to territorial gains/losses and to divisions and/or mergers of existing counties. This level of administrative unit was first established in the 1634 Instrument of Government on Lord Chancellor Count Axel Oxenstierna's initiative, and superseded the historical provinces of Sweden in order to introduce a more efficient administration of the realm. At that time, they were what the translation of län into English literally means: fiefdoms. The county borders often follow the provincial borders, but the Crown often chose to make slight relocations to suit its purposes.
Häme is the name of a geographical region in Finland, associated with the Tavastians, or Häme people (hämäläiset), a subgroup of the Finnish people. The precise area referred to can vary depending on the context.
Old Finland is a name used for the areas that Russia gained from Sweden in the Great Northern War (1700–1721) and in the Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743). Old Finland was joined to the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland as Viipuri Province in 1812.
Viborg and Nyslott County was a county of the Swedish Empire from 1634 to 1721. The county was named after the castle towns of Viborg and Nyslott, today located in the towns of Vyborg in Russia and Savonlinna in Finland.
Kexholm County was a county of the Swedish Empire from 1634 to 1721, when the southern part was ceded to the Russian Empire in the Treaty of Nystad. The capital of the county was Kexholm, which today is Priozersk.
Nyland and Tavastehus County was a county of the Swedish Empire in Finland from 1634 to 1809.
The Grand Duchy of Finland, also translated as Grand Principality of Finland, was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed between 1809 and 1917 as an autonomous state within the former Russian Empire.
Hakkapeliitta is a historiographical term used for a Finnish light cavalryman in the service of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden during the Thirty Years' War. Hakkapeliitta is a 19th-century Finnish modification of a contemporary name given by foreigners in the Holy Roman Empire and variously spelled as Hackapelit, Hackapelite, Hackapell, Haccapelit, or Haccapelite. These terms were based on a Finnish battle cry hakkaa päälle, commonly translated as "Cut them down!"
The Vyborg Governorate was a governorate of the Russian Empire. It was established in 1744 in newly ceded territories from Sweden following the Treaty of Åbo and parts of Saint Petersburg Governorate which were previously ceded by Sweden in 1721 as a result of the Great Northern War.
The Saint Petersburg Governorate was a governorate of the Russian Empire, with its administrative centre in Saint Petersburg. The governorate was composed of 44,613 square kilometres (17,225 sq mi) of area and 2,112,033 inhabitants. The Saint Petersburg Governorate was bordered by the Estonian and Livonian Governorates to the west, the Pskov Governorate to the south, the Novgorod Governorate to the east, the Olonets Governorate to the northeast, and the Vyborg Governorate of the Grand Duchy of Finland to the north. The governorate covered most of the areas of modern Leningrad Oblast and Ida-Viru, Jõgeva, Tartu, Põlva, and Võru counties of Estonia.
Vyborg Castle is a fortress in Vyborg, Russia. It was built by the Swedes during the Middle Ages around which the town of Vyborg evolved. The castle became the stronghold of the Swedish realm in the Karelian region. Throughout the centuries, it was the first defence of the kingdom against the Russians. Its military and strategic status in the late Middle Ages was second only to the fortified capital Stockholm. Currently it serves as the site of Vyborg Regional Museum.
Viipuri Province was a historical province of Finland from 1812 to 1945.
The Kuopio Province was a province of Finland from 1831 to 1997. The province was named after its capital, city of Kuopio.
Savolax and Kymmenegård County was a county of the Kingdom of Sweden from 1747 to 1775.
The Province of Oulu was a province of Finland from 1775 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Lapland, Western Finland and Eastern Finland and also the Gulf of Bothnia and Russia.
Ostrobothnia County was a county of the Swedish Empire from 1634 to 1775.
Kymmenegård and Nyslott County was a county of Sweden from 1721 to 1747.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
