In 1700, the Great Northern War started, and by 1710 the whole of Estonia was conquered by the Russian Empire. The war again devastated the population of Estonia, with the 1712 population estimated at only 150,000–170,000. In 1721, Estonia was divided into two governorates: the governorate of Estonia, which includes the northern part of Estonia (such as the Tallinn area), and the southern governorate of Livonia, which extends to the northern part of Latvia. Russian administration restored all the political and landholding rights of Baltic Germans. The rights of Estonian peasants reached their lowest point, as serfdom completely dominated agricultural relations during the 18th century. Serfdom was formally abolished in 1816–1819, but this initially had very little practical effect; major improvements in rights of the peasantry started with reforms in the mid-19th century.