|
|
|
|
Pomerania
|
| |
|
| |
Pomerania ( , ) is a historical region on the south coast of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdansk in the East. The region It is inhabited primarily by Poles, Germans and Kashubians.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Pomerania' Start a new discussion about 'Pomerania' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Pomerania ( , ) is a historical region on the south coast of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdansk in the East. The region It is inhabited primarily by Poles, Germans and Kashubians. Pomerania was strongly affected by 20th century, post-World War I and II border and population shifts.
Pomerania belongs to the lowlands of the North European Plain. Outside the few urban centers, most notably the Szczecin and Tricity metropolitan areas, the poor soil is mostly used as farmland, dotted with numerous lakes, forests, and small towns. Pomeranians occupied with agriculture primarily do in livestock raising, forestry, fishery and cultivate cereals, sugar beets, and potatoes. Since the late 19th century, tourism has become an important sector of the economy, primarily in the numerous seaside resorts along the coast. Of the limited industrial zones, the most important products are ships, metal products, refined sugar, and paper.
Geography
.]]
beach (Ahlbeck (Usedom))]]
Pomerania is the area along the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea between the rivers Recknitz in the west and Vistula in the east. It formerly reached as far south as the Notec (Netze) and Warta (Warthe) rivers, but since 1250 its southern boundary has been placed further north. Most of the region is coastal lowland of the North European Plain, its southern, hilly parts belong to the Baltic Ridge, a belt of terminal moraines formed during the Pleistocene. Within this ridge, a chain of moraine-dammed lakes constitutes the Pomeranian Lake District. The soil is generally poor, often sandy or marshy.
The western coastline is jagged, with lots of peninsulae (e.g., Darß-Zingst) and islands (Rügen, Usedom, Wolin and other, small isles) enclosing numerous bays (Bodden) and lagoons (e.g., the Lagoon of Szczecin).
The eastern coastline is smooth. The lakes Lebsko, Jamno and Gardno were formerly bays but have been cut off from the sea. The easternmost coastline along the Gdansk Bay (with Bay of Puck) and Vistula Bay has the Hel peninsula and the Vistula peninsula jut out into the Baltic.
Etymology
Pomerania in all languages is derived from Old Slavic po, meaning "by/next to/along", and more, meaning "sea", thus "Pomerania" is literally "seacoast", referring to its proximity to the Baltic Sea.
Pomerania was first mentioned in an imperial document of 1046, referring to a Zemuzil dux Bomeranorum (Zemuzil, Duke of the Pomeranians). Pomerania is mentioned repeatedly in the chronicles of Adam of Bremen (ca. 1070) and Gallus Anonymous (ca. 1113).
Subdivisions of Pomerania
(Vorpommern)]]
(Vorpommern)]]
(shared by Germany and Poland)]]
(West Pomeranian Voivodeship)]]
(Pomeranian Voivodeship)]]
Pomerania is currently divided between the following main regions:
The bulk of historical Farther Pomerania is included within the modern West Pomeranian Voivodeship, its easternmost parts (Slupsk (Stolp) area) now constitute the northwestern Pomeranian Voivodeship. Farther Pomerania in turn comprised several other historical regions itself, most notably the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp, the Lauenburg and Bütow Land, the County of Naugard and the principality of the Cammin bishops. In the South, Farther Pomerania comprised historical Neumark regions, and former Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia was attached during World War II.
Parts of Pomerania and surrounding regions have constituted a euroregion since 1995. The Pomerania euroregion comprises Germany's Vorpommern and Uckermark, Poland's Zachodniopomorskie, and Scania in Sweden.
Terminology
The term "West(ern) Pomerania" is potentially ambiguous, since it may refer to either Vorpommern (in historical and German usage), to the Polish West Pomeranian Voivodeship, or both (in Polish usage).
The term Eastern Pomerania may similarly carry different meanings, referring either to historical Farther Pomerania (in historical and German usage), or the Pomeranian Voivodeship (in Polish usage).
| | < West | Pomerania | East > | | Stralsund
| | Anklam
|
| Szczecin
(Stettin)
| | Kolobrzeg
(Kolberg)
| | Slupsk
(Stolp)
| | Gdynia
(Gdingen)
| | Gdansk
(Danzig) | | Current regions | Vorpommern
(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) | Zachodniepomorskie
(West Pomeranian Voivodeship) | Pomerelia
(Pomeranian Voivodeship) | German terminology
(corresponding English term) | Pommern
(Pomerania) | Pomerellen, Pommerellen
(Pomerelia)
Kaschubei
(Kashubia) | Vorpommern
in modern usage excluding Szczecin
(Western Pomerania)
(Hither/Upper Pomerania) | Hinterpommern
(Farther/Further Pomerania)
Ostpommern
(Eastern Pomerania) | Polish terminology
(corresponding English term) | Pomorze Zachodnie, Zachodniepomorskie
in historical usage including Slupsk
(Western Pomerania)
Pomorze Szczecinskie (Szczecin Pomerania)
Pomorze Nadodrzanskie (Oder Pomerania) | Pomorze, Pomorskie
in historical usage excluding Slupsk
(Pomerelia, literally Pomerania)
Pomorze Gdanskie
(Gdansk Pomerania)
Pomorze Wschodnie
(Eastern Pomerania) | Pomorze Przednie
(Hither/Upper Pomerania)
| | Pomorze Tylne
(Farther/Further Pomerania) | Kashubian terminology
(corresponding English term) | Zôpadnô Pòmòrskô
(Western Pomerania) | Pòrénkòwô Pòmòrskô
(Eastern Pomerania) |
History
Prehistory and Early Middle Ages
Settlement in Pomerania started by the end of the Vistula Glacial Stage, some 13,000 years ago. Archeological traces have been found of various cultures during the Stone and Bronze Age, Veneti and Germanic peoples during the Iron Age and, in the Middle Ages, Slavic tribes and Vikings. Starting in the 10th century, early Polish dukes on several occasions subdued parts of the region from the southeast, while the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark augmented their territory from the west and north.
High Middle Ages to Early Modern Age
In the High Middle Ages, the area became Christian and was ruled by local dukes of the House of Pomerania (Griffins) and the Samborides, at various times vassals of Denmark, the Holy Roman Empire and Poland. From the late 12th century, the Griffin Duchy of Pomerania stayed with the Holy Roman Empire and the Principality of Rugia with Denmark, while Denmark, Brandenburg, Poland and the Teutonic Knights struggled for control in Samboride Pomerelia. The Teutonic Knights succeeded in integrating Pomerelia into their monastic state in the early 14th century. Meanwhile the Ostsiedlung started to turn Pomerania into a German-settled area, the remaining Wends, who became known as Slovincians and Kashubians, continued to settle within the rural East. In 1325 the line of the princes of Rugia (Rügen) died out, and the principality was inherited by the Griffins. In 1466, with the Teutonic Order's defeat, Pomerelia became subject to the Polish Crown as a part of Royal Prussia. While the Duchy of Pomerania adopted the Protestant reformation in 1534, Kashubia remained with the Roman Catholic Church. The Thirty Years' and subsequent wars severely ravaged and depopulated most of Pomerania. With the extinction of the Griffin house during the same period, the Duchy of Pomerania was divided between the Swedish Empire and Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648.
Modern Age
Prussia gained the southern parts of Swedish Pomerania in 1720, Pomerelia in 1772, and the remainder of Swedish Pomerania in 1815, when French occupation during the Napoleonic Wars was lifted. The former Brandenburg-Prussian Pomerania and the former Swedish parts were reorganized into the Prussian Province of Pomerania, while Pomerelia was made part of the Province of West Prussia. With Prussia, both provinces joined the newly constituted German Empire in 1871. Following the empire's defeat in World War I, Pomerelia was transformed into the Polish Corridor and the Free City of Danzig. Germany's Province of Pomerania was expanded in 1938 to include northern parts of the former Province of Posen–West Prussia, and in 1939 the annexed Polish Corridor became part of the wartime Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. The Nazis deported the Pomeranian Jews to a reservation near Lublin and, in Pomerelia, mass murdered Jews, Poles and Kashubians following Nazi Germany's untermensch ideology.
After Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II, the German–Polish border was shifted west to the Oder–Neisse line and all of Pomerania was under Soviet military control. The German population of the areas east of the line was expelled, and the area was resettled primarily with Poles (some themselves expellees from former eastern Poland) and some Ukrainians (resettled under Operation Wisla) and Jews. Most of Western Pomerania (Vorpommern) remained in Germany and today forms the eastern part of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, while the Polish part of the region is divided between West Pomeranian Voivodeship and Pomeranian Voivodeship, with their capitals in Szczecin (Stettin) and Gdansk (Danzig), respectively. During the 1980s, the Solidarnosc and Die Wende movements had overthrown the Communist regimes implemented during the post-war era, since, Pomerania is democratically governed.
Demographics
Western Pomerania is inhabited by German Pomeranians. In the eastern parts, Poles are the dominating ethnic group since World War II. Kashubians, descendants of the medieval Slavic Pomeranians, are numerous in rural Pomerelia.
Polish Voivodeship/
German Landschaft
| Capital
| Registration
plates
| Area
(km²)
| Population
Polish 31 December 1999
German 2001
| Territorial
code | Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship
(northernmost parts)
| Bydgoszcz (Voivod office)
Torun (Voivod council)
| C
| 17,969.72
| 2,100,771
| 04 | | Pomeranian Voivodeship
| Gdansk
| G
| 18,292.88
| 2,192,268
| 22 | | West Pomeranian Voivodeship
| Szczecin
| Z
| 22,901.48
| 1,732,838
| 32 | | Polish Pomerania and Kuyavia total
| 59,164.08
| 6,025,877
| | | Nordvorpommern
| Grimmen
| NVP
| 2,168
| 117,722
| | | Ostvorpommern
| Anklam
| OVP
| 1,910
| 113,623
| | | Rügen
| Bergen auf Rügen
| RÜG
| 974
| 74,400
| | | Uecker-Randow
| Pasewalk
| UER
| 1,624
| 83,459
| | | Demmin (district)
| Demmin
| DM
| 1,921
| 93,700
| | | Greifswald
|
| HGW
| 52.2
| 52,984
| | | Stralsund
|
| HST
| 39.0
| 57,613
| | | German Pomerania total
| 8,701
| 595,888
| | |
Cities and towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants
(with population figures for 1999):
- Tricity metropolitan area (Pomeranian Voivodeship) (population (2001): 1,035,000; area 1,332,51 km²), including:
- Szczecin (West Pomeranian Voivodeship, 416,988)
- Koszalin (West Pomeranian Voivodeship, 112,375)
- Slupsk (Pomeranian Voivodeship, 102,370)
- Stargard Szczecinski (Stargard i.P., West Pomeranian Voivodeship, 72,000)
- Stralsund (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 57,613)
- Greifswald (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, 52,984)
Languages and dialects
In the German part of Pomerania, Standard German and the East Low German Pomeranian dialects Vorpommersch and Mittelpommersch are spoken, though Standard German dominates. Polish is the dominating language in the Polish part, Kashubian dialects are also spoken by the Kashubians in Pomerelia.
Ostpommersch, the East Low German dialect of Farther Pomerania and western Pomerelia, Low Prussian, the East Low German dialect of eastern Pomerelia, and Standard German were dominating in Pomerania east of the Oder-Neisse line before most of its speakers were expelled after World War II. Slovincian was spoken at the Farther Pomeranian-Pomerelian frontier, but is now extinct.
Kashubian or Low German Pomeranian dialects are also spoken by the descendants of emigrees, most notably in the Americas.
Museums
The Pomeranian State Museum in Greifswald, dedicated to the history of Pomerania, has a variety of archeological findings and artefacts from the different periods covered in this article. At least 50 museums in Poland cover history of Pomerania, the most important of them The National Museum in Gdansk, Central Pomerania Museum in Slupsk, Darlowo Museum, Koszalin Museum, National Museum in Szczecin.
See also
Footnotes
External links
Internet directories
Culture and history
Maps of Pomerania
|
| |
|
|
