Pomeranian Voivodeship

Pomeranian Voivodeship
Województwo pomorskie
—  Voivodeship  —

Flag
Coat of arms
Location within Poland
Coordinates (Gdańsk):
Country  Poland
Capital Gdańsk
Counties
Area
 - Total 18,293 km2 (7,063 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 - Total 2,201,069
 - Density 120.3/km2 (311.6/sq mi)
 - Urban 1,478,802
 - Rural 722,267
Car plates G
Website http://www.woj-pomorskie.pl
* further divided into 123 gminas
Logo of Pomeranian Voivodeship
Sea port in Gdańsk
Population density by gmina (at 2007-01-01)

Pomeranian Voivodeship, known in Polish as województwo pomorskie [vɔjɛˈvut​͡stfɔ pɔˈmɔrskʲɛ] or simply Pomorskie, is a voivodeship, or province, in north-central Poland. It comprises most of Pomerelia (the most easterly part of historical Pomerania), as well as an area east of the Vistula river. The western part of the province, around Słupsk, belonged historically to Farther Pomerania, while Pomerelia and the eastern bank of the Vistula belonged to the historical region of Prussia. The central parts of the province are also known as Kashubia, named after the Kashubian minority. The provincial capital is Gdańsk.

The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk, Elbląg and Słupsk, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. It is bordered by West Pomeranian Voivodeship to the west, Greater Poland and Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeships to the south, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the east, and the Baltic Sea to the north. It also shares a short land border with Russia, on the Vistula Spit.

Gdańsk, the regional capital, forms part of the Tricity of Sopot, Gdańsk and Gdynia. The voivodeship also includes the narrow Hel Peninsula and the Polish half of the Vistula Spit. Other tourist destinations include Sopot, Jurata, Łeba, Władysławowo, Puck, Krynica Morska, Ustka, Jastarnia, Rozewie, Kuźnica, and many fishing ports and lighthouses.

Most of the territory of the voivodeship was until 1918 part of Germany’s West Prussia, which had the same city – then Danzig – as its capital.

Contents

Cities and towns

The voivodeship contains 42 cities and towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 2006[1] ):

  1. Gdańsk (457,630)
  2. Gdynia (252,443)
  3. Słupsk (98,402)
  4. Tczew (60,263)
  5. Starogard Gdański (48,136)
  6. Wejherowo (45,170)
  7. Rumia (44,497)
  8. Sopot (39,836)
  9. Chojnice (39,716)
  10. Malbork (38,478)
  11. Kwidzyn (37,814)
  12. Lębork (35,069)
  13. Pruszcz Gdański (23,986)
  14. Kościerzyna (23,016)
  1. Reda (18,509)
  2. Bytów (16,715)
  3. Ustka (16,227)
  4. Kartuzy (15,263)
  5. Władysławowo (14,892)
  6. Człuchów (14,597)
  7. Puck (11,329)
  8. Miastko (10,987)
  9. Nowy Dwór Gdański (9,948)
  10. Sztum (9,945)
  11. Czersk (9,463)
  12. Prabuty (8,488)
  13. Pelplin (8,486)
  14. Skarszewy (6,824)
  1. Gniew (6,787)
  2. Żukowo (6,302)
  3. Czarne (5,917)
  4. Dzierzgoń (5,630)
  5. Debrzno (5,359)
  6. Brusy (4,582)
  7. Nowy Staw (4,447)
  8. Jastarnia (4,033)
  9. Hel (3,898)
  10. Kępice (3,829)
  11. Łeba (3,824)
  12. Skórcz (3,512)
  13. Czarna Woda (3,182)
  14. Krynica Morska (1,371)

Administrative division

Kartuzy
Wejherowo
Puck
Gdynia
Sopot
Gdańsk
Gdańsk
N. Dwór Gd.
Lębork
Słupsk
Słupsk
Tczew
Malbork
Sztum
Kwidzyn
Kościerzyna
Człuchów
Chojnice
Bytów
Starogard
Gdański

Pomeranian Voivodeship is divided into 20 counties (powiats): 4 city counties and 16 land counties. These are further divided into 123 gminas.

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

English and
Polish names		 Area
(km²)		 Population
(2006)		 Seat Other towns Total
gminas
City counties
Gdańsk 262 457,630 1
Gdynia 136 252,443 1
Słupsk 43.15 98,402 1
Sopot 17.31 39,836 1
Land counties
Wejherowo County
powiat wejherowski		 1,280 181,834 Wejherowo Rumia, Reda 10
Starogard County
powiat starogardzki		 1,345 121,963 Starogard Gdański Skarszewy, Skórcz, Czarna Woda 13
Tczew County
powiat tczewski		 698 112,614 Tczew Pelplin, Gniew 6
Kartuzy County
powiat kartuski		 1,120 109,311 Kartuzy Żukowo 8
Słupsk County
powiat słupski		 2,304 92,172 Słupsk * Ustka, Kępice 10
Chojnice County
powiat chojnicki		 1,364 91,585 Chojnice Czersk, Brusy 5
Gdańsk County
powiat gdański		 793 85,566 Pruszcz Gdański 8
Kwidzyn County
powiat kwidzyński		 835 80,704 Kwidzyn Prabuty 6
Bytów County
powiat bytowski		 2,193 75,313 Bytów Miastko 10
Puck County
powiat pucki		 578 74,196 Puck Władysławowo, Jastarnia, Hel 7
Kościerzyna County
powiat kościerski		 1,166 66,778 Kościerzyna 8
Lębork County
powiat lęborski		 707 63,659 Lębork Łeba 5
Malbork County
powiat malborski		 495 62,960 Malbork Nowy Staw 6
Człuchów County
powiat człuchowski		 1,574 56,797 Człuchów Czarne, Debrzno 7
Sztum County
powiat sztumski		 731 41,808 Sztum Dzierzgoń 5
Nowy Dwór Gdański County
powiat nowodworski (pomorski)		 653 35,498 Nowy Dwór Gdański Krynica Morska 5
* seat not part of the county

Economy

Major corporations

Corporation name
Further information		 Location Kind of activity
Energa Gdańsk Power Generator [1] Gdańsk energy supplies
Ergo Hestia [2] Sopot insurance
Gdańsk Repair Yard[3] Gdańsk repair shipyard
Gdynia Stocznia [4] Gdynia shipyard
GE Capital Bank[5] Gdańsk banking
Grupa LOTOS [6] Gdańsk petroleum products
Intel Technology Poland [7] Gdańsk hardware
International Paper Kwidzyn [8] Kwidzyn paper products
Lubiana [9] Łubiana near Kościerzyna china-ware manufacturer
Philips Consumer Electronics Kwidzyn electronics
Polpharma[10] Starogard Gdański medicines
Prokom Software [11] Gdynia software
Destylarnia Sobieski [12] Starogard Gdański distillery
Elnord [13] Gdańsk energy supplies
LPP [14] Gdańsk designing and distributing clothes
Source:[2]

Unemployment

Uneployment rate in Pomeranian Voivodeship by powiatships (counties) as of the end of 2006

Transport

Education

Faculty of Law of Gdańsk University in Gdańsk-Przymorze

Higher education

Name Location Students
in thousands
total of which
women
Total - 97.9 55.3
Uniwersytet Gdański
(Gdańsk University)		 Tricity 29.3 19.4
Politechnika Gdańska
(Gdańsk University of Technology)		 Gdańsk 17.6 5.9
Akademia Pomorska w Słupsku
(Pomeranian Academy in Słupsk)		 Słupsk 8.1 6.0
Akademia Medyczna w Gdańsku
(Medical University of Gdańsk)		 Gdańsk 4.2 3.1
Akademia Wychowanie Fizycznego i Sportu w Gdańsku
(Sports Academy in Gdańsk)		 Gdańsk 4.1 1.9
Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Gdańsku
(Arts Academy in Gdańsk)		 Gdańsk 0.9 0.7
Akademia Marynarki Wojennej im. Bohaterów Westerplatte
(Polish Naval Academy)		 Gdynia . .
Akademia Morska w Gdyni
(Gdynia Maritime University)		 Gdynia . .
Gdańskie Seminarium Duchowne
(Gdańsk Seminary)		 Gdańsk . .
Akademia Muzyczna im. Stanisława Moniuszki w Gdańsku
(The Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk)		 Gdańsk . .
Data as of 31 November 2005, source http://www.stat.gov.pl

Protected areas

Dunes in Słowiński National Park

Protected areas in Pomeranian Voivodeship include two National Parks and nine Landscape Parks. These are listed below.

Most popular surnames in the region

  1. Wiśniewski: 7,446
  2. Kamiński: 6,752
  3. Lewandowski: 6,687

Previous Pomeranian Voivodeships

Pomeranian Voivodeship (1294–1308)

Pomerania with "Caszubia" Cassubia until 1125

Pomeranian Voivodeship was a province of the Kingdom of Poland. After the extinction of the local dukes in 1294, the province fell to Przemysł II of Poland.

Pomeranian Voivodeship (1466–1772)

Map showing voivodeships of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

This was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Kingdom of Poland from 1454/1466 until the partitions in 1772/1795. Together with the Chełmno Voivodeship and Malbork Voivodeship it formed the historical province of Royal Prussia. The capital was at Gdańsk. It was renamed to the Prussian province of West Prussia (1772–1919).

Voivodeship Governor (Wojewoda) seat:

Regional council (sejmik generalny)

Regional councils (sejmik poselski i deputacki)

Administrative divisions:

Pomeranian Voivodeship 1919–1939

Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939)

This was a unit of administration and local government in the Republic of Poland (II Rzeczpospolita) established in 1919 after World War I from the majority of the Prussian province of West Prussia which fell to Poland. Toruń was the capital. In 1938–1939 the voivodeship extended to the south at the expense of Poznań Voivodeship and Warsaw Voivodeship, and was called Great Pomerania afterwards (see: Territorial changes of Polish Voivodeships on April 1, 1938).

During WWII it was occupied by Nazi Germany and annexed as Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen "(Reich province of Gdańsk-West Prussia)." In 1945 it was returned to Poland and superseded by Gdańsk and Bydgoszcz voivodeships. In the years 1975–1998 it was reorganized into the voivodeships of Gdańsk, Elbląg, Bydgoszcz, Toruń and Włocławek.

Pomeranian Voivodeship (1945–1950)

This was a unit of administration and local government in Poland established in 1945 from most of the pre-war Pomeranian Voivodeship, later renamed Bydgoszcz Voivodeship.

Capital city: Bydgoszcz

List of counties in 1946
English county name, Polish county name, capital city

References

  1. ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20080505094648/http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/PUBL_ludnosc_stan_struktura_teryt_1pol_2007.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.woj-pomorskie.pl/downloads/ekonomia_en.pdf

External links

Counties of Pomeranian Voivodeship
City counties
Gdańsk (capital) • Gdynia • Słupsk • Sopot
 Coat of arms of Pomeranian Voivodeship
Land counties
Bytów • Chojnice • Człuchów • Gdańsk • Kartuzy • Kościerzyna • Kwidzyn • Lębork • Malbork • Nowy Dwór Gdański • Puck • Słupsk • Starogard • Sztum • Tczew • Wejherowo
Voivodeships of Poland Flag of Poland.svg
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