Administrative divisions of Lithuania Governorate (consisting of eleven districts) and Slonim Governorate, were established after the third partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Just a year later, on December 12, 1796, they were merged into one governorate, called Lithuania Governorate, with capital in Vilnius. 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 1843 another administrative reform took place, creating Kovno Governorate out of seven western districts of the
1922 Republic of Central Lithuania general election a mere fraction of the total population (about 2–3% of the population, according to Russian 1897 and German 1916 censuses). The Lithuanians nonetheless believed that their historical claim to the city (former capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) had precedence and refused to recognize any Polish claims to the city and the surrounding area. The League of Nations mediated the dispute and strongly advocated a plebiscite where the local population would vote to be incorporated either into Poland or Lithuania. However, neither Poland nor Lithuania wanted the vote. Poland had control of the territory and saw no reason to