Provisional Land Council of Courland ( lv, Kurzemes Pagaidu zemes padome; russian: Временный земский совет Курляндской губернии) was created on 27 April 1917 in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

as the representative organ of

Courland Governorate The Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland, Governorate of Kurland (german: Kurländisches Gouvernement; russian: Курля́ндская губерния, translit=Kurljándskaja gubernija; lv, Kurzemes guberņa; lt, K ...

. Because Courland was under German military occupation since the summer of 1915, the Council was created in Estonian city of

, and following the German offensive, was evacuated to Russian city

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

in October 1917.Stanley Pag
The Formation of the Baltic States: A Study of the Effects of Great Power Politics Upon the Emergence of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia
Harvard University Press, 1959 - Baltic States - 193 pages Issue 39 of Harvard historical monographs, After the democratic

February Revolution The February Revolution ( rus, Февра́льская револю́ция, r=Fevral'skaya revolyutsiya, p=fʲɪvˈralʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and somet ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, approximately 170 000 war refugees and soldiers from Courland elected 313 representatives, who then proceeded to elect the Provisional Land Council with 60 members. Their leader was the future

President of Latvia The president of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Valsts prezidents ) is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Latvian National Armed Forces, National Armed Forces of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. The term of office is four years. Before 1999, it w ...

Jānis Čakste Jānis Kristaps Čakste (14 September 1859 – 14 March 1927) was a Latvian politician and lawyer who served as the first head of an independent Latvian state as the Chairman of the People's Council (1918–1920), the Speaker of the Constitutio ...

, who was appointed by the

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government ( rus, Временное правительство России, Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii) was a provisional government of the Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately ...

to be the Commissar of Courland, replacing the old czarist post of Governor of Courland. The Council organized assistance to war refugees from Courland, as well as supported the idea of a united Latvian state and participated in the Provisional Latvian National Council.

References

{{Reflist 1917 in Latvia History of Courland Political history of Latvia Provisional governments

See also

References