Podkarpackie Voivodeship

Podkarpackie Voivodeship (in Polish, województwo podkarpackie ), or Subcarpathian Voivodeship, is a voivodeship, or province, in extreme-southeastern Poland. Its administrative capital and largest city is Rzeszów. (Historically Lwów was the administrative center of this part of Poland, but after 1945, when Lwów became part of the Soviet Union, that city's role was relinquished to Rzeszów.)

The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Rzeszów, Przemyśl, Krosno and (partially) Tarnów and Tarnobrzeg Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local-government reforms adopted in 1998. The name derives from the region's location near the Carpathian Mountains, and the voivodeship comprises areas of two historic regions of Eastern Europe — Lesser Poland (western and northwestern counties) and Red Ruthenia. In the Interbellum, Subcarpathian Voivodeship belonged to "Poland B", the less-developed, more rural parts of Poland. To boost the local economy, the government of the Second Polish Republic began in the mid-1930s a massive program of industrialization, known as the Central Industrial Region. The program created several major armament factories, including PZL Mielec, PZL Rzeszów, Huta Stalowa Wola, and factories in other Subcarpathian towns such as Dębica, Nowa Dęba, Sanok, Tarnobrzeg and Nowa Sarzyna.

It is bordered by Lesser Poland Voivodeship to the west, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship to the north-west, Lublin Voivodeship to the north, Ukraine to the east and Slovakia to the south. It covers an area of 17844 km2, and has a population of 2,096,971 (as at 2006). The voivodeship is mostly hilly or mountainous (see Bieszczady, Beskidy); its northwestern corner is flat. It is one of the most wooded Polish voivodeships (35.9% of total area), within its borders there is whole Bieszczady National Park, and parts of Magura National Park. Furthermore, the creation of Turnicki National Park is planned.

Cities and towns
The voivodeship contains 50 cities and towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures as of 30 June 2008)

Administrative division
Subcarpathian Voivodeship is divided into 25 counties (powiats): 4 city counties and 21 land counties. These are further divided into 160 gminas.

The counties are listed in the following table (ordering within categories is by decreasing population).

Protected areas
Protected areas in Subcarpathian Voivodeship include two national parks and 11 Landscape Parks. These are listed below.
 * Bieszczady National Park (part of the East Carpathian Biosphere Reserve)
 * Magura National Park (partly in Lesser Poland Voivodeship)
 * Cisna-Wetlina Landscape Park
 * Czarnorzeki-Strzyżów Landscape Park
 * Jaśliska Landscape Park
 * Janów Forests Landscape Park (partly in Lublin Voivodeship)
 * Pasmo Brzanki Landscape Park (partly in Lesser Poland Voivodeship)
 * Pogórze Przemyskie Landscape Park
 * Puszcza Solska Landscape Park (partly in Lublin Voivodeship)
 * San Valley Landscape Park
 * Słonne Mountains Landscape Park
 * South Roztocze Landscape Park (partly in Lublin Voivodeship)

Ethnic groups

 * Poles
 * Pogorzans
 * Ukrainians
 * Lemkos

Most popular surnames in the region

 * 1) Mazur: 9,530
 * 2) Nowak: 9,301
 * 3) Baran: 8,020

Notable residents

 * Moe Drabowsky, American major league baseball pitcher