Governorate of Estonia

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Governorate of Estonia Эстляндская губерния (Russian) Eestimaa kubermang (Estonian) Gouvernement Estland (German)
Governorate
Coat of arms
Location in the Russian Empire
Country	Russian Empire
Established	1796
Abolished	1917
Capital	Reval (present-day Tallinn)
Counties	4
Area
• Total	20,246.7 km2 (7,817.3 sq mi)
Highest elevation (Emumägi)	166 m (545 ft)
Population  (1897)
• Total	412,716
• Density	20/km2 (53/sq mi)
• Urban	18.68%
• Rural	81.32%

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The Governorate of Estonia,^[a] also known as the Esthonia (Estland) Governorate,^[1][2][3][4] was a province (guberniya) and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire. It was located in the northern Estonia with some islands in the West Estonian archipelago, including Hiiumaa and Vormsi. Previously, the Reval Governorate existed during Peter I's reign and was confirmed by the Treaty of Nystad, which ceded territory from Sweden to the newly established Russian Empire. The Estonia Governorate was established in 1796 when Paul I's reforms abolished the Reval Viceroyalty. The port city of Reval (known in Russian as Revel, contemporary Tallinn) was the administrative centre where the governor had his seat.

From the 1850s to 1914, the Estonian national awakening influenced and characterized the governorate by general modernization, the reorganization into a modern European society, and the success of the newly emerged nationalist awareness.^[5] The accession of Alexander III in 1881 marked the beginning of a period of more rigid Russification; the previous Baltic civil and criminal codes were replaced with Russian ones, and the Russian language replaced the German language and Estonian language. Jaan Tõnisson founded the National Liberal Party and organized its first congress in 1905, in the course of the First Russian Revolution; in response, the Russian government suppressed the revolution by declaring martial law, causing Konstantin Päts and the radical leader Jaan Teemant to flee abroad.^[6] The governorate gained more territories from the Governorate of Livonia and was granted autonomy on 12 April 1917, and lasted for nearly a year. The Estonian independence that came on 24 February 1918 marked the permanent end for the governorate.

Until the late 19th century the governorate was administered independently by the local Baltic German nobility through a feudal Regional Council.^[7]

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