The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a province (guberniya) and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, Baltic Governorate-General until 1876. Governorate of Livonia bordered Governorate of Estonia to the north, Saint Petersburg and Pskov Governorates to the east, Courland Governorate to the south, and the Gulf of Riga to the west. In 1897, the population of the governorate was 1,299,365, and it had an area of 47,030.87 square kilometres (18,158.72 mi²). The administrative centre of the governorate was the Baltic Sea port of Riga. It roughly corresponded to most of the modern Vidzeme Region of Latvia and southern Estonia.

Following the capitulation of Estonia and Livonia in 1710, Peter the Great, on 28 July 1713, created the Riga Governorate (Russian: Рижская губерния) which also included Smolensk uezd, Dorogobuzh uezd, Roslavl uezd and Vyazma uezd of Smolensk Governorate. Smolensk Province was created from territory in Smolensk Governorate at that time. It was incorporated into Smolensk Governorate when it was reformed in 1726.

Sweden formally ceded Swedish Livonia to Russia in 1721 with the Treaty of Nystad. In 1722 Dorpat County (Estonian: Tartumaa) was added to Riga Governorate. In 1726 Smolensk Governorate was separated from Governorate, which now had five provinces: Riga, Wenden, Dorpat, Pernau and Ösel. In 1783 the Schlock County was added. On 3 July 1783 Catherine the Great reorganized Governorate into Riga Viceroyalty. Only in 1796, after the Third Partition of Poland this territory was renamed as the Governorate of Livonia.

Until the late 19th century the governorate was not ruled by Russian laws but was administered autonomously by the local German Baltic nobility through a feudal Landtag (Livonian Diet [lv]). German nobles insisted on preserving their privileges and use of the German language. In 1816 the serfs of Livonia were liberated by Tsar Alexander I, in a precursor to his plans for the rest of Russia.

After the Russian February Revolution in 1917, the northern part of the Governorate of Livonia was combined with the Governorate of Estonia to form a new Autonomous Governorate of Estonia. In September 1917, Riga was occupied by German troops during World War I. On December 14, 1917, the Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia ruled that Daugavpils, Ludza and Rēzekne counties should be separated from the Vitebsk Governorate and united with Vidzeme, which by then was under control of the Bolshevik Iskolat.

After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 12 April 1918, a Provincial Assembly (Vereinigter Landesrat), composed of 35 Baltic Germans, 13 Estonians, and 11 Latvians, passed a resolution calling upon the German Emperor to recognise the Baltic provinces as a monarchy and to make them a German protectorate. In agreements concluded in Berlin on 27 August 1918, Soviet Russia accepted the loss of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia and the Governorate of Livonia.

The United Baltic Duchy was nominally recognised as a sovereign state by Wilhelm II on 22 September 1918. On 5 November 1918, a temporary Regency Council (Regentschaftsrat) for the new state, led by Baron Adolf Pilar von Pilchau, was formed on a joint basis from both local Land Councils.

The province was a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum length of 246 versts (262 km) and a width of 198 versts (211 km). Its borders were the Governorate of Estonia to the north, Lake Peipus and the strait connecting it with Lake Pskov to the east, the Governorate of Pskov and Vitebsk to the south, the Governorate of Courland to the west, and the Gulf of Riga to the west. The length of the western border (the seacoast) is 280 versts (299 km). The area of the Livonian province (according to Strelbitsky) is 41,325.4 square versts (47,030.87 km²).