Административно-территориальное деление Литвы: историческая эволюция

Lithuania is now a country in the Baltic region of Europe.

In the earliest stages of the formation of the Lithuanian state, the area included several "lands" (Lithuanian: plural – žemės, singular – žemė), such as Nalšia, Deltuva and Lietuva (as well as others), each ruled by a regional duke. When King Mindaugas unified the state, he killed, expelled, or subjugated most of the regional dukes. The lands were either added to the new ruler's domain or granted to members of his family. As the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded into Slavic lands, title to the acquired principalities was given to the Grand Duke's offspring or to others of his relatives. For example, Mindaugas granted Black Ruthenia with its center in Navahrudak to his son Vaišvilkas, Grand Duke Gediminas (1316–1341) sent his brother Teodoras to Kiev. This system had major disadvantages: the principalities remained semi independent with loose ties to the central government. Rulers of these principalities could operate as powerful rivals to the Grand Duke, a situation that led to frequent power struggles. they slowly became incorporated into the administration of the Grand Duchy. The Kiev Voivodeship was established in 1471, five other voivodeships were set up between 1504 and 1514. The entire territory of the Grand Duchy, with exception of Samogitia, was divided into 12 voivodeships.

Under the Russian Empire, the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania was divided into governorates (Russian: guberniya, Lithuanian: gubernija) and districts (Russian: uyezd, Lithuanian: apskritis). Such system was introducing in Russia during the reforms of 1775. In 1801 Lithuania Governorate was split into Lithuania Vilna Governorate and Lithuania Grodno Governorate. Forty years later the word "Lithuania" was dropped from the two names and official maps of Europe. The territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania became known as the Northwestern Krai. In 1861, after announcing the abolition of serfdom, peasants acquired civil rights, among them a right to self governmence. To facilitate such a right townships (Russian: volost, Lithuanian: valsčius) and elderates (Russian: [[Mir (social), Lithuanian: seniūnija) were established. By the end of 1861 there were 1,479 elderates in 181 townships of Vilna Governorate and 1,033 elderates in 153 townships of Kovno Governorate. The elderates would elect an elder (Russian: starosta, Lithuanian: seniūnas) and representatives to a township council (Lithuanian: valsčiaus sueiga). However, these institutions had very little power and were dependent on the local nobles. The power was concentrated in the hands of governors, all of whom were appointed by the tsar.

Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union on June 15, 1940. However, due to ensuring World War II the authorities did not introduce major changes to the administrative divisions, just elderates were renamed to apylinkė. After the second occupation in 1944, the number of counties grew from 26 to 41: eleven counties were added in 1946–47 and four more were introduced in 1949. At the end of 1947 there were 37 counties subdivided into 320 townships that were further subdivided into approximately 2,900 apylinkės. The entire interwar system was scrapped for the 10th anniversary of the first occupation. The new system matched that of other Soviet Republics. On July 20, 1950 Lithuanian SSR was divided into four regions (Russian: oblast, Lithuanian: sritis). The townships were abolished and the districts were further subdivided into apylinkės. In 1984 there were 527 apylinkės in Lithuania. They had similar rights as a district. The regions were short lived and on May 28, 1953, they were abolished, leaving the districts as the first level administrative division. The number of districts was reduced several times, and in 1962 it settled at 44. with counties remaining highest level territorial units of Lithuania.

Measure Interwar (1937) Soviet times (1989) Independence (2004) Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Lithuanian name Apskritis Valsčius Seniūnija – Rajonas Apylinkė Apskritis Savivaldybė Seniūnija How many? 23 260 2545 – 44 423 10 60 524 Self governing? Yes Yes No – Yes* Yes* No Yes No Average population (in thousands) 110.9 9 1 – 27.3** 2.5 348.4 39.0** 6.6 Average territory (in km2) 2420 214 22 – 1449 132 6530 1088 125 * Nominally, in reality all self governing institutions were orchestrated by the Communist Party of Lithuania ** Without major cities