Voivodeships of Poland

The voivodeship, or province, The word "voivodeship" appears in some larger English dictionaries, such as the OED and Webster's Third New International Dictionary, but it is not in common usage. Thus, to facilitate understanding outside Poland, the word "province" is a recommended translation: "Jednostki podziału administracyjnego Polski tłumaczymy tak: województwo—province..." ("Polish administrative units are translated as follows: województwo—province..."). Arkadiusz Belczyk, "Tłumaczenie polskich nazw geograficznych na język angielski" ("Translation of Polish Geographical Names into English"), 2002-2006. Examples: New Provinces of Poland (1998), Map of Poland, English names of Polish provinces. More examples:
 * "Following the reform of the administrative structure in 1973-1975, the number of provinces (województwa) was increased from 22 to 49... [I]ncreasing the number of provinces meant the reduction of each in size.  In this way Warsaw was able to dilute the political importance of the provincial party chiefs."  "Poland", The Encyclopedia Americana, 1986, volume 22, p. 312.
 * "Poland is divided into 49 provinces." "Poland", The Columbia Encyclopedia, sixth edition, edited by Paul Lagassé, Columbia University Press, 2000, p. 2256.
 * "Local government in Poland is organized on three levels. The largest units, at the regional level, are the województwa (provinces)..."  "Poland", Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th edition, 2010, Macropaedia, volume 25, p. 937.
 * "GOVERNMENT... Administrative divisions: 16 provinces (wojewodztwa, singular–wojewodztwo)..."  "Poland," in Central Intelligence Agency, The CIA World Factbook 2010, New York, Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., 2009, ISBN 978-60239-727-9, p. 546.  The same information appears in the current online CIA World Factbook --> "Poland --> Administrative divisions".  Note that in this source, where "English translations" of province names are given, they are in the noun ("Silesia"), not the adjective ("Silesian"), form. called in Polish województwo  (plural województwa), has been a high-level administrative subdivision of Poland since the 14th century.

The Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998, which went into effect on 1 January 1999, created sixteen new voivodeships. These replaced the 49 former voivodeships that had existed from 1 July 1975.

Today's voivodeships are mostly named after historical and geographical regions, while those prior to 1998 generally took their names from the cities on which they were centered. The new units range in area from under 10000 km2 (Opole Voivodeship) to over 35000 km2 (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 marszałek województwa (voivodeship marshal). Voivodeships are further divided into powiats (counties) and gminas (communes or municipalities): see Administrative division of Poland.

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 urząd 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 marszałek and other members of the executive, and holds them to account.

The executive (zarząd województwa), headed by the marszałek, 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 urząd marszałkowski.

Map and table of voivodeships
See also:
 * Map of Polish Regions
 * ''Administrative division of Poland (from Commission on Standardization of Geographical Names Outside Poland website, in English)
 * ''Official map by Head Office of Geodesy and Cartography

Poland's voivodeships 1975–1998


Administrative division of Poland between 1979 and 1998 included 49 voivodeships upheld after the establishment of the Third Polish Republic in 1989 for another decade. 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 Łódź – had the special status of municipal voivodeship; the city president (mayor) was also provincial governor.

Poland's voivodeships 1945–1975


After World War II, the new administrative division of the country within the new national borders was based on the prewar one and included 14 (+2) voivodeships, then 17 (+5). The voivodeships 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 new voivodeships of Szczecin, Wrocław and Olsztyn, and partly joined to Gdańsk, Katowice and Poznań voivodeships. Two cities were granted voivodeship status: Warsaw and Łódź.

In 1950, new voivodeships were created: Koszalin (previously part of Szczecin), Opole (previously part of Katowice), and Zielona Góra (previously part of Poznań, Wrocław and Szczecin voivodeships). In addition, three more cities were granted voivodeship status: Wrocław, Kraków and Poznań.

Poland's voivodeships 1921–1939
The administrative division of Poland in the interwar period included 16 voivodeships and Warsaw (with voivodeship rights).

Congress Poland 1816–1837


From 1816 to 1837 there were 8 voivodeships in Congress Poland.


 * Augustów Voivodeship
 * Kalisz Voivodeship
 * Kraków Voivodeship
 * Lublin Voivodeship
 * Mazowsze Voivodeship
 * Płock Voivodeship
 * Podlasie Voivodeship
 * Sandomierz Voivodeship

Greater Poland (Wielkopolska)

 * Poznań Voivodeship (województwo poznańskie, Poznań)
 * Kalisz Voivodeship (województwo kaliskie, Kalisz)
 * Gniezno Voivodeship (województwo gnieźnieńskie, Gniezno) from 1768
 * Sieradz Voivodeship (województwo sieradzkie, Sieradz)
 * Łęczyca Voivodeship (województwo łęczyckie, Łęczyca)
 * Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship (województwo brzesko-kujawskie, Brześć Kujawski)
 * Inowrocław Voivodeship (województwo inowrocławskie, Inowrocław)
 * Chełmno Voivodeship (województwo chełmińskie, Chełmno)
 * Malbork Voivodeship (województwo malborskie, Malbork)
 * Pomeranian Voivodeship (województwo pomorskie, Gdańsk)
 * Duchy of Warmia (Księstwo Warmińskie, Lidzbark Warmiński)
 * Duchy of Prussia (Księstwo Pruskie, Lidzbark Warmiński)
 * Płock Voivodeship (województwo płockie, Płock)
 * Rawa Voivodeship (województwo rawskie, Rawa Mazowiecka)
 * Masovian Voivodeship (województwo mazowieckie, Warszawa)

Lesser Poland (Małopolska)

 * 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)
 * Bełz Voivodeship (województwo belzkie, Bełz)
 * Volhynian Voivodeship (województwo wołyńskie, Łuck)
 * Podole Voivodeship (województwo podolskie, Kamieniec Podolski)
 * Bracław Voivodeship (województwo bracławskie, Bracław)
 * Kijów Voivodeship (województwo kijowskie, Kijów)
 * Czernihów Voivodeship (województwo czernichowskie, Czernihów)

Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Here the first name given is English, then in brackets– Lithuanian, and then Polish.
 * Wilno Voivodeship (Vilniaus vaivadija, województwo wileńskie, Vilnius)
 * Troki Voivodeship (Trakų vaivadija, województwo trockie, Trakai)
 * Nowogródek Voivodeship (Naugarduko vaivadija, województwo nowogrodzkie, Nowogródek)
 * Brest-Litovsk Voivodeship (Lietuvos Brastos vaivadija, województwo brzesko-litewskie, Brześć Litewski)
 * Minsk Voivodeship (Minsko vaivadija, województwo mińskie, Mińsk)
 * Mścisław Voivodeship (Mstslavlio vaivadija, województwo mścisławskie, Mscislaw)
 * Smolensk Voivodeship (Smolensko vaivadija, województwo smoleńskie, Smoleńsk)
 * Vitebsk Voivodeship (Vitebsko vaivadija, województwo witebskie, Witebsk)
 * Połock Voivodeship (Polocko vaivadija, województwo połockie, Połock)
 * Duchy of Samogita (Žemaičių seniūnija, księstwo żmudzkie, Varniai then called Medininkai)

Duchy of Livonia

 * Wenden Voivodeship (województwo wendeńskie, Wenden) since 1598 till the 1620s
 * Dorpat Voivodeship (województwo dorpackie, Dorpat) since 1598 till the 1620s
 * Parnawa Voivodeship (województwo parnawskie, Parnawa) since 1598 till the 1620s
 * Inflanty Voivodeship (województwo inflanckie, Dyneburg) since the 1620s
 * Duchy of Courland and Semigalia (księstwo Kurlandii i Semigalii, Mitawa)

Etymology and use of "voivodeship"
Some English-language sources, in historic contexts, speak of "palatinates" rather than "voivodeships"; the former term traces back to the Latin palatinus ("palatine"). More commonly used now is "voivodeship", a loanword-calque hybrid formed on the Polish "województwo". Other sources refer instead to "provinces" (Polish singular: "prowincja"), though in pre-1795 contexts this may be confusing because the cognate Polish "prowincyja" (as it was then spelled) was idiosyncratically applied, until the last of the three Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, in 1795, to each of the three main Regions (Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, and Lithuania) of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, each of those Regions in turn comprising a number of województwa (plural of "województwo").

The Polish "województwo", designating a second-tier Polish or Polish–Lithuanian administrative unit, derives from "wojewoda" (etymologically, a "war leader" or "leader of warriors", but now simply the governor of a województwo) and the suffix "-stwo" (a "state or condition").

The English "voivodeship", which is a hybrid of the loanword "voivode" and "-ship" (the latter a suffix, likewise meaning a "state or condition", that calques the Polish "-stwo"), has never been much used and is absent from many dictionaries. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it first appeared in 1792, spelled "woiwodship", in the sense of "the district or province governed by a voivode." The word subsequently also appeared 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 the spelling "voivodship", without the e. This is consistently reflected in publications and in the international arena, e.g., at the United Nations.