Western Pomerania
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- Western Pomerania is a translation of "Vorpommern" (also "Hither Pomerania"), both redirect here.
- For other uses, see Western Pomerania (disambiguation)
Western Pomerania or Hither Pomerania are terms used in English to translate the German Vorpommern (Low German: Vörpommern) – the western extremity of the historic region of the Duchy of Pomerania, nowadays divided between the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Poland.
Forming part of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, its boundaries have changed through the centuries and its overlords have included Poland, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia. Before 1945, Vorpommern embraced the whole area of Pomerania west of the Oder River. In 1945 the left-bank cities of Szczecin (German: Stettin) and Świnoujście (German: Swinemünde) passed to Poland (see Territorial changes of Poland after World War II), with the remainder of the region becoming part of East Germany. German Vorpommern now forms about one-third of the present-day north-eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
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[edit] Terminology
English texts vary in their rendering of the term Vorpommern (which in German means, loosely, "the nearer part of Pomerania"). Historically the name "Hither Pomerania" has been used, but in modern English the German region is more commonly called "Western Pomerania" or by its native name.
The Polish name for this region is Pomorze Przednie or Przedpomorze – corresponding in meaning to Vorpommern – even though from the Polish point of view the region is more distant than the rest of Pomerania. Poland has a province called West Pomeranian Voivodeship (województwo zachodniopomorskie), which covers the west of that part of Pomerania which now belongs to Poland.
[edit] History
[edit] Early history and Middle Ages
In prehistoric times, the area was inhabited by megalith cultures. In the first half of the first millennium, the East Germanic Rugians [1] are reported in the area, who are known to later set up a kingdom far South in Pannonia in the 5th century.
By the 6th and 7th century, West Slavic people populated the region. If they met a substantial Rugian population and whether and/or how these were assimilated by the Slavs is not known. The Slavic inhabitants, also referred to as part of the Wilzen/Veleti, divirged into several small tribes, listet from Northwest to Southeast: The Rujanes or Rani around Rügen, the Circipanes around the Pane (Peene) River, the Redarians around the temple of Rethra, the Wollinians on the isle of Wolin, the Tollensians around the Tollense River and the Ukranians around the Uecker River in the Uckermark. The collective term Liutizians also covers some of these tribes, as they allied in late 10th century to secure their sovereignty. The Lutician alliances headquarters were at Rethra, where delegates from the independent allied tribes held their meetings. Whether or not the Rani were part of the Veleti or later the Lutizians is disputed. The Slavic tribes referred to as Pomeranians settled east of the Oder River.
In this era, large mixed Slavic and Scandinavian [disambiguation needed] settlements were build at the natural havens of the bay-rich coast, the most important of which were Ralswiek (Rügen), Menzlin at the Peene River and Wolin, which is assumed to be identical with Vineta and Jomsborg. Important pagan temple sites were Arkona and Rethra. Other local strongholds were Dimin (Demmin) in the Circipan and Stetin (Szczecin) in the Pomeranian area.
At the beginning of the second millennium, western Pomeranian tribes were surrounded by the expanding states of Denmark in the North, Piast Poland in the Southeast and the German Holy Roman Empire in the Southwest. While the eastward expansion of the latter coud be halted for some time by a Slavic uprising of the Southern (Heveller) and Western (Obodrites) neighbors of the western Pomeranian tribes, which even was supported by the Liutizian alliance, the Pomeranians East of the Oder River were conquered by the Poles in the late 10th century and remained vassals of the Piasts until 1035, had to pay tribute to the Poles after 1042 and were conquered again in 1121.
In spite of his surrender or even with military help from the succeeding Poles, the Pomeranian duke Wartislaw I of the House of Griffins successfully started conquering the small lands west of Stettin the years after 1121. These lands had experienced bad times before. The coast was raided by the Danes, which destroyed Jomsborg in 1043, shifting the power in the Oder delta South to Pomeranian Stettin. Rethra was raided and devastated by the Germans in winter 1068/69, the Lutizian alliance fell apart, instead the Lutizians fought against each other.
Wartislaw's aim was not only the expansion of his duchy, but also the spread of the Christian faith. In 1124, he invited Otto von Bamberg to mission in his duchy east of the Oder River. By 1128, Wartislaw I had expanded his duchy even to Circipania, and invited Otto von Bamberg again to mission in these pagan areas West of the Oder River, too. The dukes of the small western Pomeranian duchies became Kastellans under the Pomeranian duke and converted from their pagan to Christian religion in Usedom 1128. So, except for the Ranes living North of the Ryck River and Demmin, all western Pomeranian territories were united and Christian. Wartislaw's dependency on Poland loosened in the years thereafter, and in 1135 with the death of Polish king Bogislaw III, Wartislaw's duchy regained independence. About ten years later, he was slain by pagans near Stolpe.
The 1147 Wendish Crusade (Wendenkreuzzug) initiated by the Holy Roman Empire ended when the Demmin and Stettin citizens persuaded the crusaders that they were already Christians.
By the middle of the 12th century, the other independent duchy in western Pomerania, the duchy of Rügen, remained the last pagan state in Central Europe. In 1168, a Danish fleet led by Roskilde archbishop Absalon sacked Rügen. The Arkona temple was sieged and destroyed. After this main temple's fall, Rügen's capitol Charenza (Venzer Burgwall) capitulated, all other temples were given to the Danes for destruction and Jaromar I duke of Rügen became a Danish vassal. The Ranes then converted to Christianity.
From Rügen, which still had a strong navy and army, the Danish put pressure on Pomerania. Bogislaw I duke of Pomerania made his duchy a part of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) in 1181, after he had allied with Henry the Lion since 1164. So, Pomerania became the first Slavic duchy of the HRE. But the new alliance did not prevent the Danes from successfully raiding and in 1186 conquering all of Pomerania. Danish rule ended when in 1227 the Danish navy was defeated in Bornhöved by the Germans, Pomerania except for Rügen (until 1345 with the last Rugian duke's death) fell to the HRE.
The Rügen and Pomerania dukes called in many German settlers and aristocrats in order to resettle parts of their duchies devastated in the wars before and to settle new areas by turning woodland into fields. Settlers came from North German Lower Saxony. Some settlers from the Harz mountains in central Germany settled near Stettin. Cities and monasteries were founded. Between the beginning of the 12th century and the 13th century western Pomerania changed from a pagan Slavic to a Christian German country (Ostsiedlung). The Slavs were first excluded from the villages and privileges of the German settlers. They later merged with the German majority.
From that time onwards, the region shares a common history with Farther Pomerania. The first political division of Pomerania into eastern and western parts occurred in 1532 with a separation into the duchies of Pommern-Wolgast (equivalent to West Pomerania, so named from the ducal seat) and Pommern-Stettin (East Pomerania, from the German name for today's Szczecin).
- See also: Rugians, Veleti, Rani (Slavic tribe), and Ostsiedlung
[edit] European conflict
Pomerania came under Swedish military control in 1630 during the Thirty Years War. Swedish sovereignty over Vorpommern, including Stettin, was confirmed by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, and from that time onwards much of the region formed Swedish Pomerania. Possession of this region remained an issue of conflict in European politics and Swedish rule was a period marked by the ravages of warfare.
A part of the region south of the Peene river came under Prussian sovereignty by a peace treaty in 1720. Under the Peace of Kiel, Swedish Pomerania was transferred to Denmark in 1814, but this arrangement did not last long, with the 1815 Congress of Vienna ceding the territory to Prussia.
[edit] Modern borders
At the end of World War II in 1945, a small area of Vorpommern including Stettin (thereafter renamed Szczecin) - the region's principal city - and Swinemünde (thereafter renamed Swinoujscie) was transferred along with Farther Pomerania to Poland. The bulk of Vorpommern became part of the newly constituted Land (state) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The word "Vorpommern" was deleted from the state's name at the insistence of the Soviet military administration in 1947 [2] and the entire state of Mecklenburg was abolished by East Germany in 1952.
The 1945–1952 state was reconstituted, with minor border adjustments, as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern at the time of German reunification in 1990.
[edit] Geography
Vorpommern today is understood as comprising the islands of Rügen and Usedom and the nearby mainland, roughly matching the administrative districts of Rügen, Nordvorpommern, Ostvorpommern, Demmin and Uecker-Randow, though those districts' boundaries with Mecklenburg proper do not match the pre-1945 demarcation.
Consideration was given during a reform of district boundaries in 1994 to restoring the old boundary, but this was not implemented. The Ribnitz area of Nordvorpommern and the Malchin area of Demmin were both formerly part of Mecklenburg. The old western boundary line is preserved in the division between two churches of the Lutheran communion, the Evangelisch-Lutherische Landeskirche Mecklenburgs and the Pommersche Evangelische Kirche.
Major towns in Vorpommern include Stralsund, Greifswald, Demmin, Anklam, Wolgast, and Barth. With Polish entry into the European Union and the opening of borders, Szczecin has resumed its place as a dominant city for southern parts of the region. Vorpommern has almost no significant industry, although an energy complex is planned at the place near Greifswald where the Nord Stream gas pipeline is to come ashore. The region is noted chiefly for tourism, with its Baltic beaches a popular summer holiday destination.
[edit] See also
[edit] Link
[edit] References and notes
- ^ H.J. Janzen, History of Pomerania (in German)
- ^ No author, timeline of state history
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