Courland Governorate

The Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland, Governorate of Kurland and known from 1795 to 1796 as the Viceroyalty of Courland was one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, that is now part of the Republic of Latvia. The entity was created in 1795 out of the territory of the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia that was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the Viceroyalty of Courland with its capital at Mitau (now Jelgava), following the third partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. After a failed post-World War I attempt to create the United Baltic Duchy, a client state of the German Empire, Courland and Livonia were united to form new state Republic of Latvia on 18 November 1918. Geography The governorate was bounded in the 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.