Vitebsk Governorate

55°11′N 30°10′E / 55.183°N 30.167°E / 55.183; 30.167

Vitebsk Governorate Витебская губерния
Governorate of the Russian Empire (1802–1917), Belarusian Democratic Republic (1918–1919), and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919–1924)
1802–1924
Coat of arms
Location in the Russian Empire
Capital	Vitebsk
History
• Established	1802
• Disestablished	1924
Political subdivisions	twelve uyezds
Preceded by Succeeded by Belarusian Governorate Latvia Pskov Governorate Belarusian SSR
Today part of	Belarus Latvia Russia

Vitebsk Governorate (Russian: Витебская губерния, romanized: Vitebskaya guberniya, Belarusian: Віцебская губерня, romanized: Vitsyebskaya hubernya) was an administrative-territorial unit (guberniya) of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting Belarusian Governorate and existed until 1924. Today most of the area belongs to Belarus, the northwestern part to Latvia and the northeastern part to Pskov and Smolensk Oblasts of Russia.Together with the Vilna, Kovno, Grodno, Minsk, and Mogilev Governorates, it formed the Northwestern Krai. The provincial city was Vitebsk, the largest city was Dvinsk.

On January 1, 1919, the Provisional Revolutionary Government issued a manifesto proclaiming the formation of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Belarus (SSRB) within the RSFSR, which included the Vitebsk, Grodno, Mogilev, Minsk and Smolensk provinces. On January 16, 1919 by the decision of the Central Committee of the RCP the Vitebsk, Mogilev and Smolensk provinces were returned into direct subordination to the RSFSR. By the decision of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR of February 4, 1924 "On the transfer of the areas with a predominantly Belarusian population to Belarus" and by the resolution of the VI All-Belarusian extraordinary congress of the Soviets of the BSSR of March 13, 1924, the Vitebsk Polotsk, Sennensk, Surazh, Gorodok, Drissen, Lepel and Orsha counties of the Vitebsk province were transferred to the BSSR , while Sebezh, Nevelsk and Velizhsk counties remained in the RSFSR.^[1][2]

The province occupied the northeastern part of the modern Vitebsk region of Belarus, as well as the southeastern part of Latvia with the cities of Daugavpils (Dvinsk), Rezekne (Rezhitsa) and Ludza (Lyutsin) and some Russian regions (Nevel and Sebezh - Pskov Oblast, Velizh - Smolensk Oblast, the village of Ilyino, which was part of the Velizh District - Tver Oblast).