Saint Petersburg Governorate
, 1708 Tsar Peter the Great issued an edict which established seven governorates. The description of the borders of the governorates was not given; instead, their area was defined as a set of towns and the lands adjacent to those towns. The present area of Leningrad oblast was a part of Ingermanland Governorate, which was renamed Saint Petersburg Governorate in 1710. The governorates were subdivided into uyezds, and uyezds into volosts. Eventually, parts of Saint Petersburg Governorate were split off to form separate governorates, such as Novgorod, Pskov, or Olonets Governorates. Vyborg Governorate, which was split off early, in 1812 was included into the Grand Duchy of Finland as the Viipuri Province, and in 1918 became a part of independent Finland. In 1913, Saint Petersburg Governorate was renamed Petrograd, and in 1924 Leningrad Governorate.