Łódź Voivodeship

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Województwo łódzkie


Flag	Coat of arms

Capital city

Łódź

Area

18,219 km²

Population (2003)
- Density

2,597,000
142.5/km²

Powiats
- Urban counties
- Land counties

3
21

Communes

177

Administrative divisions:

Łódź Voivodeship (also "Łódź Province" — Polish: województwo łódzkie) is a province of central Poland created January 1, 1999, out of the former Łódź voivodeship (1975-99) and the Sieradz, Piotrków Trybunalski, Skierniewice and part of the Płock Voivodeships, pursuant to the 1998 Local Government Reorganization Act. The province's name recalls that of the region's largest city, Łódź.

1 Administrative divisions
2 List of cities and towns
3 Most popular surnames in the region
4 History

[edit] Administrative divisions

The powiats (counties) of Łódź Voivodeship are:

[edit] List of cities and towns

The voivodeship has 43 cities and towns, among them 3 cities which are city counties. The list below orders them by population and also gives the area (data from December 31, 2005):

Łódź - 767.628 (294,39 km²)
Piotrków Trybunalski - 79.670 (67,26 km²)
Pabianice - 70.743 (32,98 km²)
Tomaszów Mazowiecki - 66.859 (41,30 km²)
Bełchatów - 62.192 (34,63 km²)
Zgierz - 58.351 (42,32 km²)
Radomsko - 49.331 (51,45 km²)
Skierniewice - 48.807 (32,86 km²)
Kutno - 47.750 (33,59 km²)
Zduńska Wola - 44.495 (24,58 km²)
Sieradz - 44.202 (51,22 km²)
Łowicz - 30.305 (23,41 km²)
Wieluń - 24.384 (16,90 km²)
Opoczno - 22.755 (24,76 km²)
Ozorków - 20.623 (15,47 km²)
Aleksandrów Łódzki - 20.486 (13,47 km²)
Łask - 18.811 (15,33 km²)
Rawa Mazowiecka - 17.635 (13,67 km²)
Konstantynów Łódzki - 17.532 (26,87 km²)
Łęczyca - 15.466 (8,95 km²)
Głowno - 15.181 (19,82 km²)
Koluszki - 13.355 (9,41 km²)
Brzeziny - 12.377 (21,58 km²)
Żychlin - 8.938 (8,69 km²)
Wieruszów - 8.792 (5,98 km²)
Zelów - 8.148 (10,75 km²)
Poddębice - 7.882 (5,89 km²)
Tuszyn - 7.199 (23,25 km²)
Pajęczno - 6.682 (20,21 km²)
Sulejów - 6.378 (26,25 km²)
Działoszyn - 6.296 (4,94 km²)
Krośniewice - 4.681 (2,96 km²)
Drzewica - 3.954 (4,90 km²)
Przedbórz - 3.778 (6,13 km²)
Stryków - 3.589 (8,15 km²)
Złoczew - 3.400 (13,80 km²)
Warta - 3.390 (10,84 km²)
Rzgów - 3.336 (16,26 km²)
Biała Rawska - 3.201 (9,62 km²)
Uniejów - 2.938 (12,33 km²)
Kamieńsk - 2.836 (11,99 km²)
Błaszki - 2.205 (1,62 km²)
Szadek - 2.036 (17,99 km²)

[edit] Most popular surnames in the region

Nowak : 15,460
Kowalski : 15,005
Kowalczyk : 13,121

[edit] History

For more details on this topic, see Łódź Voivodeship (1919-1939).

Łódź voivodeship 1921-1939

The capital of the Łódź Voivodeship has always been Łódź, but the area of land which it comprises has changed several times. The first was a unit of administrative division and local government in Poland (Second Polish Republic) in the years 1921-1939. In 1938 some western counties were ceded to Greater Poland Voivodeship (see: Territorial changes of Polish Voivodeships on April 1, 1938).

After the change, Łódź Voivodeship's area was 20,446 km², and its population (as for 1931) was 2,650,100. It consisted of 15 powiats (counties):

- Brzeziny county,

- Końskie county,

- Kutno county,

- Łask county,

- Łęczyca county,

- Łowicz county,

- city of Łódź county (powiat lodzki grodzki),

- Łódź county,

- Opoczno county,

- Piotrków Trybunalski county,

- Radomsko county,

- Rawa Mazowiecka county,

- Sieradz county,

- Skierniewice county,

- Wieluń county.

The biggest cities of the Voivodeship were (population according to the 1931 census):

- Łódź (pop. 604,600),

- Piotrków Trybunalski (pop. 51,300),

- Pabianice (pop. 45,700),

- Tomaszów Mazowiecki (pop. 38,000),

- Zgierz (pop. 26,600),

- Kutno (pop. 23,400),

- Radomsko (pop. 23,000).

(source: Maly rocznik statystyczny 1939, Nakladem Glownego Urzedu Statystycznego, Warszawa 1939 (Concise Statistical Year-Book of Poland, Warsaw 1939).

The next incarnation existed from 1945 until 1975. The City of Łódź was excluded as a separate City Voivodeship. It was later broken up, superseded by Łódź (see below), Sieradz, Piotrków Trybunalski, Skierniewice and partly Płock

Łódź voivodeship 1975-1999

Łódź Voivodeship, also known as Łódź Metropolitan Voivodeship (województwo miejskie łódzkie) existed in Poland in the years 1975-1998, superseded by the present Łódź Voivodeship. The President of the City of Łódź was also the voivodeship governor.

As of 1995, major cities and towns in the third definition included (with their 1995 populations)

Łódź (825,600);
Pabianice (75,700);
Zgierz (59,100);
Ozorków (21,900);
Aleksandrów Łódzki (20,400).

Łódź Voivodeship counties
City counties: Łódź \| Piotrków Trybunalski \| Skierniewice
Land counties: Bełchatów \| Brzeziny \| Kutno \| Łask \| Łowicz \| Łódź East \| Opoczno \| Pabianice \| Pajęczno \| Piotrków \| Poddębice \| Radomsko \| Rawa \| Sieradz \| Skierniewice \| Tomaszów Mazowiecki \| Wieluń \| Wieruszów \| Zduńska Wola \| Zgierz