Voivodeship
A voivodeship or voivodeship is a Polish administrative district as the highest level of the territorial structure in the Republic of Poland ( ISO 3166-2 level, see ISO 3166-2: PL ) and is on the NUTS-2 statistical level . The next smaller self-governing unit is the powiat (district). There are currently 16 voivodeships in Poland.
The term Voivodship , Polish Województwo is derived from Woiwode (German: Heerführer, Herzog ). In Polish history, this title is in contrast to the title Książę , which is etymologically derived from the Germanic word king , but is also mostly translated as duke . Historically, the Województwa, as administrative units of an orderly state, increasingly replaced the Księstwa (princes or duchies) , which had arisen in ancestral and dynastic fashion .
On January 1, 1999, today's 16 voivodeships were created, most of which are historical areas. Originally 12 voivodeships were planned; however, there were political discussions that increased the number to 16. The additional four voivodships were Heiligkreuz, Opole, Lebus and Kujawien-Pomerania. Political considerations also led to the fact that the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship has two official capitals, as does the Lubusz Voivodeship .
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Since Poland is a unitary state , the voivodships, unlike the German states, do not have any state quality.
Each voivodship has a self-governing body ( Sejmik województwa, voivodeship assembly , voivodeship day ), which elects a board (zarząd województwa, voivodeship executive committee ) and nominates a chairman (marszałek województwa, voivodeship marshal , voivodeship ).
The voivode ( prefect ), on the other hand, is the representative of the (Warsaw) central government, responsible for controlling the self-government of the voivodeships, districts ( powiat ) and municipalities ( Gmina ).
List of voivodships
All data from 2008
Historical voivodships
Voivodeships in the 14th to 18th centuries
Soon after the overcoming of Polish particularism , the Kingdom of Poland was divided into voivodeships from 1308–1339. Their capitals were often not in the middle, but rather close to the end facing the royal city of Krakow :
In Greater Poland and Kuyavia :
In Lesser Poland :
At the time, Mazovia was only connected to Poland by belonging to the Archdiocese of Gniezno . With its integration into the Polish state, it was later divided into voivodeships as well as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (and its Ruthenian countries, which came under the Polish crown) and Royal Prussia . The royal free cities (Danzig, Thorn, Elbing and Riga until 1621) were excluded from this system.
Voivodeships 1816–1837 (Congress Poland)
In the years 1816 to 1837, voivodeships also existed in Congress Poland; these were then renamed provinces and reorganized several times.
- Augustów Voivodeship (Capital Suwałki )
- Kalisz Voivodeship
- Kraków Voivodeship (despite its name, Kraków was not part of the Voivodeship, but a Free City until 1846 ; the capital was first Miechów , then Kielce ).
- Lublin Voivodeship
- Masovian Voivodeship (capital Warsaw )
- Płock Voivodeship
- Podlaskie Voivodeship (capital Siedlce )
- Sandomierz Voivodeship (capital Radom )
Voivodeships in the Second Republic 1921–1939
Since Poland has been known as Rzeczpospolita since the unification of the Kingdom of Poland with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish republic is known as the Second Republic between the World Wars.
- Białystok Voivodeship
- Kielce Voivodeship
- Krakow Voivodeship
- Łódź Voivodeship
- Lublin Voivodeship
- Lviv Voivodeship
- Nowogródek Voivodeship
- Polesian Voivodeship
- Pomeranian Voivodeship
- Poznan Voivodeship
- Silesian Voivodeship
- Stanisławów Voivodeship
- Tarnopol Voivodeship
- Warsaw Voivodeship
- Vilnius Voivodeship
- Volyn Voivodeship
Voivodeships 1945–1975
After the Second World War until 1975, Poland was divided into 17 voivodeships.
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- Białystok Voivodeship
- Bydgoszcz Voivodeship ( Bydgoszcz , until 1950 Pomorskie, then renamed after the capital)
- Gdansk Voivodeship
- Katowice Voivodeship
- Kielce Voivodeship
- Province Koszalin (Koslin)
- Krakow Voivodeship
- Łódź Voivodeship
- Lublin Voivodeship
- Province Olsztyn (Allenstein)
- Opole Voivodeship
- Poznan Voivodeship
- Rzeszów Voivodeship
- Szczecin Voivodeship
- Warsaw Voivodeship
- Wroclaw Voivodeship
- Zielona Góra Province (Grünberg)
Voivodeships 1975–1998
In 1975 the number was increased to 49, officially in order to optimize the state administration, to strengthen the authorities in the regions and to compensate for the disparities in the economic developments between the regions. None of the stated goals were achieved; instead, as expected, the influence of the central government was increased.
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See also
- List of Polish voivodeships according to their human development index
- Flags and coats of arms of the Voivodeships of Poland
- Vojvodina
Individual evidence
- ^ Andrzej Chwalba : Brief history of the Third Republic of Poland. 1989 to 2005. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2010, ISBN 978-3-447-05925-1 , p. 59.
- ↑ Powierzchnia i ludność w przekroju terytorialnym w 2008 r. online ( Memento from April 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).
- ^ Iwona Sagan: Polish regional and metropolitan policy. In: Poland analyzes. No. 103, February 21, 2012, ISSN 1863-9712 , pp. 1–12, digital version (PDF; 795 KB) .
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