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Voivodeships of Poland
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The voivodeship or province has been a high-level administrative subdivision of Poland since the 14th century. Pursuant to the Local Government Reorganization Act of 1998, effective January 1, 1999, sixteen new voivodeships were created, replacing the former 49 that had existed from July 1, 1975.
Today's voivodeships are largely based on the country's historic regions, while those of 1975–1998 were centred on and named for individual cities.
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The voivodeship or province has been a high-level administrative subdivision of Poland since the 14th century. Pursuant to the Local Government Reorganization Act of 1998, effective January 1, 1999, sixteen new voivodeships were created, replacing the former 49 that had existed from July 1, 1975.
Today's voivodeships are largely based on the country's historic regions, while those of 1975–1998 were centred on and named for individual cities. The new units range in area from under (Opole Voivodeship) to over (Masovian Voivodeship), and in population from one million (Lubusz Voivodeship) to over five million (Masovian Voivodeship).
Administrative authority at voivodeship level is shared between a government-appointed governor called a voivode (Polish wojewoda), an elected assembly called a sejmik, and an executive chosen by that assembly. The leader of that executive is called the marszalek województwa (voivodeship marshal). Voivodeships are further divided into powiats (counties) and gminas (communes or municipalities): see Administrative division of Poland.
Voivodeships since 1999
Administrative powers
Competences and powers at voivodeship level are shared between the voivode (governor), the sejmik (regional assembly) and the executive. In most cases these institutions are all based in one city, but in Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Lubusz Voivodeship the voivode's offices are in a different city from those of the executive and the sejmik. Voivodeship capitals are listed in the table below.
The voivode is appointed by the Prime Minister and is the regional representative of the central government. The voivode acts as the head of central government institutions at regional level (such as the police and fire services, passport offices, and various inspectorates), manages central government property in the region, oversees the functioning of local government, coordinates actions in the field of public safety and environment protection, and exercises special powers in emergencies. The voivode's offices collectively are known as the urzad wojewódzki.
The sejmik is elected every four years, at the same time as the local authorities at powiat and gmina level. It passes bylaws, including the voivodeship's development strategies and budget. It also elects the marszalek and other members of the executive, and holds them to account.
The executive (zarzad województwa), headed by the marszalek, drafts the budget and development strategies, implements the resolutions of the sejmik, manages the voivodeship's property, and deals with many aspects of regional policy, including management of European Union funding. Its offices collectively are known as the urzad marszalkowski.
Map and table of voivodeships
See also:
Former voivodeships
Poland's voivodeships 1975-1998 (49 voivodeships)
(since 1989, the Third Polish Republic)
See also Administrative division of People's Republic of Poland)
This reorganization of administrative division of Poland was mainly a result of local government reform acts of 1973–1975. In place of the three-level administrative division (voivodeship, county, commune), a new two-level administrative division was introduced (49 small voivodeships, and communes). The three smallest voivodeships – Warsaw, Kraków and Lódz – had the special status of municipal voivodeship; the city president (mayor) was also provincial governor.
Poland's voivodeships 1945-1975 (14+2 voivodeships, then 17+5)
Administrative divisions of the People's Republic of Poland
After World War II, the new administrative division of the country was based on the prewar one. The areas in the east that had not been annexed by the Soviet Union had their borders left almost unchanged. The newly acquired territories in the west and north were organized into the voivodeships of Szczecin, Wroclaw and Olsztyn, and partly joined to Gdansk, Katowice and Poznan voivodeships. Two cities were granted voivodeship status: Warsaw and Lódz.
In 1950, new voivodeships were created: Koszalin (previously part of Szczecin), Opole (previously part of Katowice), and Zielona Góra (previously part of Poznan, Wroclaw and Szczecin voivodeships). In addition, three more cities were granted voivodeship status: Wroclaw, Kraków and Poznan.
Poland's voivodeships 1921-1939 (15+1 voivodeships +1 Autonomous Silesian)
From 1816 to 1837 there were 8 voivodeships in Congress Poland.
  - Poznan Voivodeship (województwo poznanskie, Poznan)
- Kalisz Voivodeship (województwo kaliskie, Kalisz)
- Gniezno Voivodeship (województwo gnieznienskie, Gniezno) from 1768
- Sieradz Voivodeship (województwo sieradzkie, Sieradz)
- Leczyca Voivodeship (województwo leczyckie, Leczyca)
- Brzesc Kujawski Voivodeship (województwo brzesko-kujawskie, Brzesc Kujawski)
- Inowroclaw Voivodeship (województwo inowroclawskie, Inowroclaw)
- Chelmno Voivodeship (województwo chelminskie, Chelmno)
- Malbork Voivodeship (województwo malborskie, Malbork)
- Pomeranian Voivodeship (województwo pomorskie, Gdansk)
- Duchy of Warmia (Ksiestwo Warminskie, Lidzbark Warminski)
- Duchy of Prussia (Ksiestwo Pruskie, Lidzbark Warminski)
- Plock Voivodeship (województwo plockie, Plock)
- Rawa Voivodeship (województwo rawskie, Rawa Mazowiecka)
- Masovian Voivodeship (województwo mazowieckie, Warszawa)
- Kraków Voivodeship (województwo krakowskie, Kraków)
- Sandomierz Voivodeship (województwo sandomierskie, Sandomierz)
- Lublin Voivodeship (województwo lubelskie, Lublin)
- Podlaskie Voivodeship (województwo podlaskie, Drohiczyn)
- Ruthenian Voivodeship (województwo ruskie, Lwów)
- Belz Voivodeship (województwo belzkie, Belz)
- Volhynian Voivodeship (województwo wolynskie, Luck)
- Podole Voivodeship (województwo podolskie, Kamieniec Podolski)
- Braclaw Voivodeship (województwo braclawskie, Braclaw)
- Kijów Voivodeship (województwo kijowskie, Kijów)
- Czernihów Voivodeship (województwo czernichowskie, Czernihów)
Here the first name given is English, then in brackets Lithuanian, and then Polish.
- Wilno Voivodeship (Vilniaus vaivadija, województwo wilenskie, Vilnius)
- Troki Voivodeship (Traku vaivadija, województwo trockie, Trakai)
- Nowogródek Voivodeship (Naugarduko vaivadija, województwo nowogrodzkie, Nowogródek)
- Brest-Litovsk Voivodeship (Lietuvos Brastos vaivadija, województwo brzesko-litewskie, Brzesc Litewski)
- Minsk Voivodeship (Minsko vaivadija, województwo minskie, Minsk)
- Mscislaw Voivodeship (Mstslavlio vaivadija, województwo mscislawskie, Mscislaw)
- Smolensk Voivodeship (Smolensko vaivadija, województwo smolenskie, Smolensk)
- Vitebsk Voivodeship (Vitebsko vaivadija, województwo witebskie, Witebsk)
- Polock Voivodeship (Polocko vaivadija, województwo polockie, Polock)
- Duchy of Samogita (Žemaiciu seniunija, ksiestwo zmudzkie, Medininkai-Varniai)
Etymology and use of "voivodeship"
Some English-language sources, especially in historic contexts, speak of "palatinates" rather than "voivodeships"; the former term traces back to the Latin palatinus. More commonly used now is the term "voivodeship", a calque of the original Polish term województwo. Other sources refer instead to "provinces", though in pre-1795 contexts this may be misleading since the word "province" (in Polish, prowincja) was applied, until the third and last of the Partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795, to the three main Regions (Greater Poland, Lesser Poland and Lithuania) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, each of which comprised a number of voivodeships.
The Polish term województwo, designating a second-tier Polish or Polish–Lithuanian administrative unit, derives from wojewoda (etymologically, a "war leader", but now merely the governor of a województwo) and the suffix -stwo (a "state or condition").
The English word "voivodeship", which is a hybrid of voivode and -ship (a suffix likewise meaning a "state or condition") that calques (replicates) those two elements found in the Polish original, has never been much used and is absent from many dictionaries. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its first use dates from 1792, spelled woiwodship, in the sense of "the district or province governed by a voivode." The word subsequently also appeared, for the first time in 1886, in the sense of "the office or dignity of a voivode."
An official Polish body, the Commission on Standardization of Geographic Names outside the Republic of Poland, recommends use of the spelling "voivodship", without the e. This is consistently reflected in publications and in the international arena, e.g., at the United Nations.
See also
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