Khotavet

The Dorpat Voivodeship (Polish: Województwo dorpackie or województwo derpskie) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Duchy of Livonia, part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, from 1598 until the Swedish conquest of Livonia in the 1620s. The seat of the voivode was in the town of Dorpat (Tartu), while the regional assembly (sejmik) for the whole province of Livonia was located in Wenden. The area of the Dorpat Voivodeship was app. 9,000 square kilometers, and it had two senators in the Senate of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The voivodeship was created by King Zygmunt III Waza in 1598, out of the Dorpat Presidency, which had existed since the Truce of Jam Zapolski (1582). It was divided into five districts:

• district (starostwo) of Dorpat (Tartu)
• district (starostwo) of Oberpahlen (Põltsamaa)
• district (starostwo) of Lais (Laiuse)
• district (starostwo) of Kirrumpah (Kirumpää)
• district (starostwo) of Neuhausen (Vastseliina)

It effectively ceased to exist in 1621, when northern Livonia was conquered by the Swedish Empire, and turned into Swedish Livonia (see also Polish–Swedish War (1600–1629)). Officially, the Dorpat Voivodeship was liquidated in 1660, following the Treaty of Oliva. Nevertheless, the title of Voivode of Dorpat was kept until the Partitions of Poland, as the so-called "fictitious title" (Polish: urzad fikcyjny).