This is a list of governorates of the Russian Empire (; ), established from the 1708 reform of Peter the Great until the creation of Kholm Governorate in 1912.
The system began in 1708 with eight primary governorates. In 1775, Catherine the Great reorganized them into viceroyalties (namestnichestvo) with standardized population quotas of 300,000 to 400,000 inhabitants, which Paul I reverted to the governorate designation in 1796. During the 19th century, the governorate model was extended to autonomous borderlands, replacing voivodeships in Congress Poland (1837) and organizing the provinces of the Grand Duchy of Finland (1831).
By 1914, on the eve of World War I, the Russian Empire comprised 78 governorates alongside 21 oblasts and 2 independent okrugs. Following the 1917 revolutions, governorates were temporarily retained in the early Soviet Union until their complete replacement by oblasts, okrugs, and raions between 1923 and 1929.
List of governorates