Saint Petersburg Governorate was a province (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Saint Petersburg. The governorate was composed of 44,613 square kilometres (17,225 mi2) of area and 2,112,033 inhabitants. It was bordered by Estonian and Livonian Governorates to the west, Pskov Governorate to the south, Novgorod Governorate to the east, Olonets Governorate to the northeast, and 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.
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Establishment
Ingermanland Governorate (Ингерманла́ндская губе́рния, Ingermanlandskaya guberniya) was created from the territories reconquered from the Swedish Empire in the Great Northern War. In 1704 prince Alexander Menshikov was appointed as its first governor, and in 1706 it was first Russian region designated as a Governorate. According to the Tsar Peter the Great's edict as on December 29 [O.S. December 18], 1708, the whole Russia was split into eight Governorates. In the same year Ingermanland Governorate was further expanded to encompass the regions of Pskov, Novgorod and other towns of Western Russia. As with the rest of the governorates, neither the borders nor internal subdivisions of Ingermanland Governorate were defined; instead, the territory was defined as a set of cities and the lands adjacent to those cities.
By another edict on June 3, 1710, the governorate was renamed St. Petersburg Governorate after the newly founded city of Saint Petersburg, and in 1721 the former Swedish Duchy of Ingria, and parts of Kexholm County and the County of Viborg and Nyslott were formally ceded to Russia by the Treaty of Nystad. After the Treaty of Åbo in 1743, the parts of Kexholm and Viborg were joined with new territorial gains from Sweden into the Governorate of Vyborg (Russian: Выборгская губерния).
From August 18, 1914 to January 26, 1924 it was named Petrograd Governorate, and during 1924–1927 — Leningrad Governorate. It was abolished on August 1, 1927 when modern Leningrad Oblast was created.
Administrative divisions
The governorate was composed of eight counties (uezds) as of January 1, 1914. Follows the table:
Governorate administration
General Governors
Prince Aleksandr Menshikov 12 October 1702 – May 1724
Pyotr Apraksin May 1724 – January 1725
Prince Aleksandr Menshikov January 1725 – 8 September 1727
Jan Sapieha 1727 – 1728
Burkhard Christoph von Münnich January 1728 – 1734 War Governor
Nikolai Golovin 1742
Peter Lacy 1743
Vasily Repnin 1744
Stepan Ignatiev 1744
Boris Yusupov 1749
Prince Mikhail Golitsin 1752 – 1754
Peter August of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck 1762
Ivan Neplyuyev 1762 – 1764
Ivan Glebov 1767
Prince Aleksander Golitsin October 1769 – 8 October 1783
Jacob Bruce 1784 – 6 October 1791
Aleksander Romanov 6 October 1791 – 1797 War Governor
Nikolai Arkharov 6 October 1791 – November 1796, until 15 June 1797 acting General Governor
Fyodor Buksgevden June 1797 – August 1798
Pyotr von der Pahlen 8 August 1798 – 30 June 1801, until 25 August 1800 acting, from 24 March 1801 War Governor
Marshals of the nobility
Served as chair of the Assembly of Nobility