It was created from separating the southwestern part of Kazan Governorate by Peter I's reform in 1717 and abolished by the Bolshevik's administrative reform in 1928, where the governorate becoming part of Lower Volga Oblast (later Lower Volga Krai).

The Astrakhan Governorate was located in the southeast of the European part of the Russian Empire, between 45° and 51° north latitude and 43° and 51° east longitude.

The former Tsarevsky uyezd belongs to the modern Astrakhan Oblast in a small southern part, the rest of it with the city (now the selo) of Tsarev is located on the territory of the Volgograd Oblast, and the former Kyrgyz steppe is located on the territory of modern Kazakhstan.

The territory of the governorate, as in our period, was vast, devoid of forest vegetation, sandy-clayed, and solonetsous steppe, which has a blanket-shaped slope to the southeast and is a part of the Caspian Depression, which was previously the seabed.

The southern part of the governorate was washed by waters of the Caspian Sea for 400 square versts (460 km2).