The Russian Empire at various times included the subdivisions known as krais, either formally or informally. Some of these krais were:
The Russian Empire at various times included the subdivisions known as krais, either formally or informally. Some of these krais were:
A krai or kray is one of the types of federal subjects of modern Russia, and was a type of geographical administrative division in the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR.
Etymologically, the word is related to the verb кроить (kroítǐ [krɐˈitʲ]), meaning 'to cut'. Historically, krais were vast territories located along the periphery of the Russian state, since the word krai also means 'border' or 'edge', i.e., 'a place of the cut-off'. In English the term is often translated as 'territory'. As of 2015, the administrative usage of the term is mostly traditional, as some oblasts also fit this description and there is no difference in constitutional legal status in Russia between the krais and the oblasts.
Northwestern Krai (Russian: Северо-Западный край) was a krai of the Russian Empire (unofficial subdivision) in the territories of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (present-day Belarus and Lithuania). The administrative center was in Vilna (now Vilnius). Northwestern Krai together with the Southwestern Krai, which was composed of the territories formerly belonging to the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (now present-day Ukraine), formed the Western Krai.
It included six Governorates: