thumb|stolen lands (yellow) thumb|three partitions of poland western krai () is an unofficial name of the westernmost parts of the imperial russia, but excluding the territory of so-called congress poland. the term embodies lands annexed by the russian empire during subsequent partitions of polish-lithuanian commonwealth at the end of the 18th century, in years 1772, 1793 and 1795. this area is known in poland as ziemie zabrane (taken lands, stolen lands) ilya prizel, national identity and foreign policy: nationalism and leadership in poland, russia and ukraine. cambridge university press 1998, p. 43. but most often they are referred to in polish historiography and in common talk as part of zabÃ³r rosyjski (verbatim russian seizure). western krai was made of the following lands of the polishâlithuanian commonwealth: * from the first partition of poland (1772): inflants (latgale), northern part of the polotsk voivodeship, entire mstsislaw voivodeship and vitebsk voivodeship, and south eastern part of the minsk voivodeship (about 92,000. kmÂ²) * from the second partition of poland (1793): remaining part of the minsk voivodeship, the entire kiev voivodeship, bracÅaw voivodeship and vilnius voivodeship, parts of podole voivodeship and eastern parts of the woÅyÅ voivodeship and brest litovsk voivodeship (about 250,000. kmÂ²) * from the third partition of poland (1795): all the territories east of the bug river and (about 120,000. kmÂ²) (after 1807, the belostok oblast) it has never constituted one official administrative subdivision (krai) of russia but was a common name for two such subdivisions: northwestern krai and southwestern krai. the territory consisted of nine guberniyas: six belarusian and lithuanian ones that constituted the northwestern krai (vilna governorate, kovno governorate, grodno governorate, minsk governorate, mogilev governorate and vitebsk governorate) and three ukrainian ones that constituted the southwestern krai (volhynia governorate, podolia governorate and kiev governorate). due to its national specifics, the western krai had some special laws and elements of government. during the reign of alexander i of russia, poles prevailed in the western provinces. after 1819, grodno, vilnius (rus. vilna, pol. wilno), minsk, volhynia (pol. woÅyÅ), podolia (pol. podole) governorates and the belostok oblast remained under the chief administrative management of the grand duke constantine pavlovich of russia. all positions of the local administration were dominate
Subdivisions_of_the_Russian_Empire