Wolin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Polish town, see Wolin (town).
Wolin (German: Wollin) is the name shared by an island located in the Baltic Sea located just off the Polish coast, and a town located on the island. It is separated from the island of Usedom by the Świna river, and from mainland Pomerania by the Dziwna river. Origins of the name are unknown, probably it is of Slavic origin, in the old Slavic language the word "wolyn" meant a wetland, and in the course of the time, it was germanised.
Water from the river Oder (Polish: Odra) flows into the Szczecin Lagoon. From there it flows through the Peene (to the west of Usedom), Świna and Dziwna into the Bay of Pomerania, which is part of the Baltic Sea.
- Area: 265 km²
- Highest point: Mount Grzywacz, 115 m above sea level
Most of the island consists of forests and postglacial hills. Located in the middle is the Wolin National Park. The island is a main tourist attraction of northwestern Poland, and it is crossed by several specially marked tourist trails, such as 73-kilometer long trail from Miedzyzdroje to Dziwnowek. There is a main, electrified rail line, which connects Szczecin and Swinoujscie, also across the island goes international road E65, which crosses Europe from north to south.
Places on Wolin island:
- Świnoujście (German name: Swinemünde)
- Międzyzdroje (German name: Misdroy)
- Wolin (German name: Wollin)
- Międzywodzie (German name: Heidebrink)
- Wisełka (German name: Neuendorf)
- Świętoujść (German name: Swantuss)
- Wapnica (German name: Kalkofen)
- Chorzelin
- Kodrąb (German name: Codram, 1937-45: Kodram)
- Łuskowo (German name: Lüskow)
- Warnowo (German name: Warnow)
- Dargobądz (German name: Dargebanz)
- Lubin (German name: Lüben)
- Wicko (German name: Vietzig)
- Ognica (German name: Werder)
- Przytór (German name: Pritter)
- Łunowo (German name: Haferhorst)
- Mokrzyca Mała (German name: Klein Mokratz)
- Mokrzyca Wielka (German name: Groß Mokratz)
- Darzowice (German name: Darsewitz)
- Jarzębowo (German name: Jarmbow)
- Dziwnów (German name: Berg Dievenow)
Distances:
- Szczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport ~ 60 km
- Szczecin ~ 90 km
- Police ~ 110 km
- Berlin ~ 220 km
- Rostock ~ 240 km
- Copenhagen ~ 250 km
- Malmö ~ 250 km
- Warsaw ~ 650 km
[edit] History
An mediæval document of ca. 850, called Bavarian Geographer after its anonymous creator, mentions the Slavic tribe of Volinians who then had 70 strongholds (Uelunzani civitates LXX). The town of Wolin was first mentioned in the 10th century. Archaeologists believe that in the Early Middle Ages there was a great trade emporium, spreading along the shore for four kilometers and rivaling in importance Birka and Hedeby.
Archaeological finds on the island are not very rich but they dot an area of 20 hectares, making it the second largest Baltic marketplace of the Viking Age after Hedeby. Some scholars speculated that Wolin may have been the basis for the semi-legendary settlements Jomsborg and Vineta. This is dubious, as "no trace has been found there of its artificial harbour for 360 warships, or of a citadel, unless the nearby hill of Silberberg is accepted as the site of such; but there were Norsemen there around the year 1000, and the archaeological finds reveal a mixed population of Vikings and Slavs".[1]
Around 972 the island became controlled by Poland, under prince Mieszko I, however, it has not been established if Wolin became part of Poland, or if it was a fief. Polish influences were not firm and they ended around 1007. In the following years Wolyn became famous for its pirates, who would plunder ships cruising the Baltic. As a reprisal, in 1043 it was attacked by the Danish king Magnus the Good.
In early XII century the island was captured by Polish king Boleslaw III Wrymouth, also at that time the inhabitants of Wolyn accepted Christianity, and in 1140 pope Innocent II created a diocese there, with capital in the town of Wolyn. Some time later the island, together with whole Western Pomerania, became controlled by the Holy Roman Empire and its inhabitants were germanized. In 1535 Wolyn accepted protestantism, in 1630 the island was captured by Sweden, which sold Wolyn to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1720. Since then, until 1945, it was part of Germany, inhabited mostly by Germans who were expelled in the same year and replaced with Poles who were expelled from territories in eastern Poland ceded to the Soviet Union. This is the reason all of the places on this island also have former German names.
[edit] References
- ^ Gwyn Jones. A History of the Vikings. Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-280134-1. Page 127.
[edit] External links
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