| Native Name: | Estonian: Autonoomne Eestimaa kubermang |
| Conventional Long Name: | Governorate of Estonia |
| Common Name: | Estonia |
| Subdivision: | Autonomous entity |
| Nation: | the Russian Republic |
| Government Type: | Autonomous governorate |
| Title Leader: | Commissar |
| Leader1: | Jaan Poska |
| Year Leader1: | 1917 |
| Legislature: | Estonian Provincial Assembly |
| Year Start: | 1917 |
| Event Start: | Local autonomy |
| Date Start: | 12 April |
| Event1: | Sovereignty declared |
| Date Event1: | 28 November 1917 |
| Event2: | Narva (including Ivangorod) added to the governorate |
| Date Event2: | 3 January 1918 |
| Year End: | 1918 |
| Date End: | 24 February |
| Event End: | Independence declared |
| P1: | Governorate of Estonia |
| Flag P1: | Eestimaa värvid.svg |
| P2: | Governorate of Livonia |
| Flag P2: | Flag of the Governorate of Livonia.svg |
| S1: | Estonia |
| Flag S1: | Flag of Estonia.svg |
| Image Map Caption: | Autonomous Governorate of Estonia |
| Capital: | Reval (Tallinn) |
| Today: | Estonia |
| Flag: | Estonia In Russian Empire.png |
The Autonomous Governorate of Estonia of the Russian state was established as a result of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and ceased to exist prior to Estonia becoming a fully independent country in 1918.
For most of the time during the rule of Russian Empire 1710–1917, the area of what is now Estonia was divided between two governorates. The Governorate of Estonia in the north corresponded roughly to the area of Danish Estonia, and the northern portion of the Governorate of Livonia, which had a majority of ethnic Estonians. These two areas were amalgamated on by administrative reforms of the Russian Provisional Government.
Free multi-party elections for the Provincial Assembly (Maapäev) were held in May–June 1917. On 5 November 1917, two days before the Bolshevik coup in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), local Bolsheviks led by Jaan Anvelt and supported by pro-Soviet Russian soldiers and sailors declared themselves the new government in Tallinn (Reval), and attempted to usurp political power in the governorate from governor Jaan Poska on 9 November. On the Maapäev, refusing to recognize the attempted Bolshevik coup d'état, proclaimed itself to be the only legally elected and constituted authority in Estonia. However, it was soon driven underground by the Bolsheviks.
See main article: 1917 Estonian Provincial Assembly election.
See main article: Estonian Provincial Government.
During the reign of the Soviet Estonian Executive Committee, Ants Dauman, the newly elected mayor of Narva, organized a plebiscite with an intention of removing the town of Narva (including the then suburb of Ivangorod) from the Petrograd Governorate and adding them to the new autonomous governorate, receiving permission for the referendum on from the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. As 80% of the town's population supported joining Estonia in the plebiscite, the Soviet Estonian Executive Committee recognized the new additions to the governorate on . Even though the plebiscite was to determine the administrative boundaries within Soviet Russia and it was organised by the Bolshevik regime, the subsequent governments of independent Estonia implicitly acknowledged the referendum's result, as the entire town of Narva (including the suburb of Ivangorod) became part of the territory of the newly independent Republic of Estonia from 1918 onward.
In February 1918, after the collapse of the peace talks between Soviet Russia and the German Empire, mainland Estonia was occupied by the German Empire's armed forces. On 24 February 1918, one day before German forces entered Tallinn, the Salvation Committee of the Estonian National Council Maapäev emerged from underground and issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence. After the German capitulation had ended World War I, on 11-14 November 1918, the representatives of Germany in Estonia handed over all power to the government of the newly independent Republic of Estonia.