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72-597: Różanystok, formerly known as Krzywy Stok ("Crooked Slope"), is located in the township of Dąbrowa Białostocka , which is in turn situated in the Podlaskie region's Sokółka County division. From the years 1975-1998 the area was part of the Białystok Voivodeship (1975-1998) administrative district. The Belarusian city of Grodno can be seen from the Basilica's bell tower. Part of the village's geographical boundary

144-541: A World Heritage Site ) is in Podlaskie. There are four National Parks ( Białowieża , Biebrza , Narew and Wigry ), three Landscape Parks ( Knyszyń Forest , Łomża and Suwałki ), 88 nature reserves, and 15 protected landscape areas . The voivodeship constitutes a part of the ecologically clean area known as "the Green Lungs of Poland". Podlaskie has a Warm Summer Continental or Hemiboreal climate (Dfb) according to

216-510: A farm was 10.35 ha. Agriculture in Podlaskie Voivodeship is characterized by a high share of agricultural land in good agricultural condition (99.3%) - these include arable land, permanent crops, home gardens, permanent meadows and permanent pastures. 98.9 percent from all land in agricultural holdings, i.e. 1,254.3 thous. ha, belongs to individual farms. Podlaskie Voivodeship has the highest percentage of grassland among all voivodships of

288-547: A low level of national identity during the census usually choose the major nationality in their region. Orthodox autochthonous inhabitants are known as khakhly (without any negative connotations, though today in Ukraine it is known as an ethnic slur for Ukrainians). According to Mykhailo Lesiv, this name appeared after it was used to denote locals in the Russian Imperial Army . Many scientific researches prove that

360-619: A varied landscape, shaped in the north by Baltic glaciation, the rest by Middle Poland glaciation. The highest peaks are in the north (Rowelska Top - 298 m), where the landscape is dominated by a hilly lake district. Lakeland: Zachodniosuwalskie, Wschodniosuwalskie, Ełckie) and Sandrowy lake district (Augustów Plain) in the central and southern pre-glacial plains prevail (plateaus: Kolneńska, Białystok, Wysokomazowiecka, Drohiczynska, Sokólskie Hills, Międzyrzecko łomżyński, Plain Bielsko), varied in topography with small basins and river valleys. Kurpie lies on

432-429: Is Drohiczyn that lies into northern and southern parts. The former is included in the modern-day Podlaskie Voivodeship with its capital at Białystok (the historical boundary goes exactly through the city). Sometimes, Siedlce has been considered the capital of the region. Podlaskie Voivodeship is a multicultural and multi-religious region. It is the region where people's identity has been shaped throughout history by both

504-599: Is a voivodeship ( province ) in northeastern Poland . The name of the province refers to the historical region of Podlachia (in Polish, Podlasie ), and part of its territory corresponds to that region. The capital and largest city is Białystok . It borders on Masovian Voivodeship to the west, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the northwest, Lublin Voivodeship to the south, the Belarusian oblasts of Grodno and Brest to

576-411: Is a historical region in north-eastern Poland . Its largest city is Białystok , whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn . Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g. Greater Poland , Lesser Poland , Mazovia , Pomerania , Silesia , Warmia , Podlachia possesses its own folk costumes, unique traditional architecture and cuisine. Between 1513 and 1795 it was a voivodeship with

648-461: Is affected by the cold fronts which come from Scandinavia and Siberia . The average temperature in the winter ranges from -15 °C (5 °F) to -4 °C (24.8 °F). One of the cities located in Podlaskie - Suwalki - is called as The Polish North Pole, due to it is coldest temperature average around Poland. Podlaskie Voivodeship is divided into 17 counties ( powiats ): 3 city counties, those being Białystok , Suwałki , and Łomża . It

720-760: Is also divided into 14 land counties, which these 14 counties are further divided into 118 gminas . Metropolitan Białystok was designated by the Voivodeship in the Regulation No. 52/05 of 16 May 2005 in order to help economically develop the region. In 2006, the metropolitan area's population was 450,254 inhabitants. It covers an area of 1.521 km ². For one km , there are about 265 people. Among urban residents there are more women - 192 thousand. For every 100 men, there are 108 women on average. The municipalities adjacent to Białystok are slowly losing their agricultural character, becoming residential suburban neighborhoods. Religion in Podlaskie Voivodeship (2021) Podlaskie

792-560: Is believed to be miraculous. A "coronation" celebration for the Różanystok icon was held on June 28, 1981, and the church was named a minor basilica on August 30, 1987. [1] Since 1954, Różanystok has also been the location of a state-run Zespól Szkól Rolniczych (Group Agricultural School). The school's five-year technical program prepares students for work in agriculture and related fields, while its four-year economics program prepares students for work in business and/or advanced studies at

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864-471: Is defined by a stone wall that remains from its days as a monastery. Różanystok is a stop on the northeastern Poland PKP train line, which also stops in Białystok , Sokółka , Augustów and Suwałki . The village is home to a well-known Mary, Mother of God shrine , to which tens of thousands of pilgrims travel each year. The shrine's focus is a 17th-century image of Mary holding the infant Jesus which

936-944: Is rich in Baroque churches and monasteries, most notably in Różanystok , Wigry , Sejny , Tykocin , Drohiczyn , Bielsk Podlaski, Siemiatycze , Choroszcz , although there are also churches in other styles, including the Gothic St. Michael and John the Baptist Cathedral in Łomża and Saint John the Baptist church in Wizna , the Renaissance Old Parish Church in Białystok and the adjacent Białystok Cathedral , and Neoclassical Co-cathedral of St. Alexander in Suwałki . The Catholic Sanctuary of

1008-399: Is the land of the confluence of cultures – Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Jewish and Tatar – and is indicative of the ethnic territories limits. Eastward of Podlaskie lie historic Polish lands, which are now part of Ukraine and Belarus and Lithuania . Today, mainly Polish and Ruthenian ( Ukrainian and Belarusian ) are spoken in Podlaskie, while Lithuanian is preserved by

1080-719: The Central Powers puppet Kingdom of Poland ) while the areas further east, including Białystok and the Suwałki Governorate, fell under Ober Ost . In the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution , parts of the region, particularly Białystok, were contested by several states but ultimately became part of the Second Polish Republic following the Polish–Soviet War . During the interwar period

1152-764: The Kingdom of Poland of the Jagiellons . Podlachia is located along the middle stretch of the Bug River between Mazovia in the west, Polesia and Volhynia in the east, the Narew River in the north and the Chełm Land in the south. The borders of Podlachia changed with time and was not the same as historical Podlaskie Voivodeship . Podlachia is sometimes divided into two parts (southern and northern), which had different administrative subordination. Traditional capital of Podlachia

1224-606: The Köppen climate classification system, which is characterized by warm temperatures during summer and long and frosty winters. It is substantially different from most of the other Polish lowlands. The region is one of the coldest in Poland, with the average temperature in January being −5 °C (23 °F). The average temperature in a year is 7 °C (45 °F). The number of frost days ranges from 50 to 60, with frost from 110 to 138 days and

1296-756: The Middle Ages Podlachia was only partially under Polish rule, and since 1446 until 1569 the area belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . A better variant of this theory holds that the name originates from the period when the territory was within the Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, along the borderline with the Mazovia province, primarily a fief of the Poland of the Piasts and later on part of

1368-612: The Osowiec and Łomża fortresses. There are numerous World War II memorials scattered across the voivodeship, including memorials at the sites of German and Soviet massacres of Poles, and Holocaust memorials. The ruins of the bunker of Captain Władysław Raginis in Góra Strękowa are preserved as a memorial to the heroic Polish defense in the Battle of Wizna . The chief universities of

1440-624: The Soviet Union following World War II, Poland was left with only 2 Tatar villages, Bohoniki and Kruszyniany (both outside the historical borders of Podlachia). Some Tatars from the territories annexed to the USSR have been repatriated to Poland and clustered in cities, particularly Białystok. In 1925 the Muslim Religious Union ( Muzułmański Związek Religijny ) was formed in Białystok. In 1992,

1512-598: The Union of Tatars of the Republic of Poland ( Związek Tatarów Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej ) with autonomous branches in Białystok and Gdańsk began operating. The dominant language in Podlaskie Voivodeship is Polish. Autochthonous inhabitants speak a Podlachian variety . Many linguists relate them to the Ukrainian language. Linguists have been exploring them since 19th century, when they were also known as Siedlce dialects (because of

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1584-551: The historic region of Poland called Podlasie , or in Latin known as Podlachia . There are two opinions regarding the origin of the region's name . People often derive it from the Proto-Slavic les or las , meaning "forest", i.e., it is an area "by the wood(s)" or an "area of forests", which would bring Podlasie close in meaning to adjacent Polesia . This theory has been questioned, as it does not properly take into consideration

1656-654: The 1795 Third Partition of Poland which brought an end to Poland-Lithuania, the former Podlachia Voivodeship was divided between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg monarchy ( Austrian Empire from 1804), with the Bug forming the border between them. Part of Podlachia's eastern border became the boundary between Prussia and the Russian Empire . Within Prussia the Podlachian territory

1728-708: The Bug ever since. At the end of the Napoleonic wars in 1815, the Congress of Vienna transformed most of the Duchy of Warsaw, including the formerly Podlachian parts, into " Congress Poland " (formally the Kingdom of Poland) and placed it in a personal union with Russia; with that, all of Podlachia fell under Russian control. In theory this kingdom was created as an autonomous entity but in practice its separate laws and freedoms were simply ignored by

1800-798: The Drohiczyn Uyezd was merged into Bielsk Uyezd . In 1844 the Podlachian Governorate was merged into the Lublin Governorate . In the 19th century the region was a stronghold of Polish resistance against Russian rule. Stanisław Brzóska , the last partisan of the January Uprising, operated there until 1865. He was hanged publicly by the Russians in Sokołów Podlaski in May 1865. As a result of

1872-592: The Duchy of Warsaw lay within the Łomża Department , itself based on the territory of the Prussian Białystok Departement after the removal of the Belostock Oblast. The Habsburg part of Podlachia became part of the Duchy of Warsaw by the 1809 Treaty of Schönbrunn , forming much of the Siedlce Department . Although Prussian and Austrian rule was brief, it has remained administratively divided by

1944-837: The Emperors and control was steadily centralised, particularly following the November and January Uprisings (1830–31, 1863–64). Within Congress Poland the former Siedlce Department became the Podlachia Voivodeship, while the former Łomża Department became the Augustów Voivodeship ; these became the Podlachian and Augustów Governorates in 1837. In 1842 the Belostok Oblast was dissolved and merged into Grodno Governorate , and

2016-727: The Greek-Catholic faith in northern Podlachia and it disappeared from the area. In 1875, Russians forbade this rite in the southern portion as well, and all Greek-Catholic inhabitants were forced to accept the Eastern Orthodox faith. However, the resistance of the local people was surprisingly strong and Ruthenian speakers from this area rejected the separation from the Pope . In 1874, blessed Wincenty Lewoniuk and 12 companions were killed by Russian soldiers in Pratulin . In reaction to these measures,

2088-504: The Jagiellons . Hence pod Lachem would mean "near the Poles", "along the border with Poland". The Lithuanian name of the region, Palenkė , has exactly this meaning. The voivodeship was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Białystok and Łomża Voivodeships and the eastern half of the former Suwałki Voivodeship , pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. It has

2160-526: The Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, and since the Reformation, also by Evangelical churches. Until today, Podlaskie has been considered Poland's most culturally diverse region. Throughout its early history, Podlachia was inhabited by various tribes of different ethnic roots. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the area was inhabited by East Slavic tribes, mostly by Drevlians , with settlements of Dregoviches to

2232-911: The Pact would have given all of Podlachia to the Soviet Union, the final border agreed upon in the German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty signed after the invasion gave the southern part to the Nazi General Government , while the northern part of Podlachia was annexed by the Soviet Union as the Belastok Region of the Byelorussian SSR . Nazi Germany would annex the Soviet part as the Bialystok District in 1941. Under German occupation,

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2304-665: The Polish nation ). Nowosiółki was the site of a massacre of hundreds of patients of a psychiatric hospital as part of Aktion T4 . German forces also committed crimes against Italian and French POWs at subcamps of the Stalag 366 POW camp with executions and massacres of Italians and French in Międzyrzec Podlaski and Hola , respectively, with the Italians also subjected to mass starvation, epidemics, beatings and killings at Biała Podlaska . Many Poles from Podlachia were among

2376-426: The Presentation of Virgin Mary in Różanystok , Sanctuary of Our Lady of Studzieniczna in Augustów and Christ's Transfiguration Orthodox church on the Grabarka Holy Mount are important pilgrimage destinations. The Mannerist-Baroque Tykocin Synagogue in Tykocin, one of the best preserved historic synagogues in Poland, and one of the few not destroyed by Nazi Germany, houses a museum. The largest museum dedicated to

2448-506: The REGON register in the year 2002 there were around 95 thousand companies registered in the Podlaskie region (97% of them in the private sector), dealing with; Arable land constitutes around 60% of the total area of the region – most of which is ploughland (around 40%), forests, meadows and pastures. Over 120 000 farms are registered, roughly half of which are small farms of 1–5 ha and medium-sized farms of 5–10 ha. The smaller farms prefer intensive production (gardening, orcharding), whereas

2520-487: The Ruthenians of southern Podlachia began to identify themselves with the national movement of the Roman Catholic Poles. To preserve the full communion with the Pope, they changed their rite from Eastern to Latin before the compulsory conversion of Greek Catholics into Orthodox. In 1912, Russian authorities issued a tolerance edict that made it possible to change confession from Orthodox to Roman Catholic (but not to Greek-Catholic, which had been completely deleted). A majority of

2592-414: The area belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1569, and the southern part of it—until 1795. A better variant of the latter theory holds that the name originates from the period when the territory was within the Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , along the border with Mazovia Province, primarily a fief of the Poland of the Piasts , and later part of the Kingdom of Poland of

2664-525: The capital in Drohiczyn . Now the part north of the Bug River is included in the modern Podlaskie Voivodeship with the capital in Białystok , whereas southern parts are located in the Masovian and Lublin Voivodeships . The region is called Podlasie , Podlasko or Podlasze in Polish , Palenkė in Lithuanian , Padliašša (Падляшша) in Belarusian , Podljas’e (Подлясье) in Russian , "Podlyashe" (פּאָדליאַשע) in Yiddish , and Podlachia in Latin . There are two hypotheses regarding

2736-423: The country (almost 20% of the area). This is used to develop dairy and beef cattle farming. Podlaskie has the largest cattle stock in Poland (the average herd size in 2016 is 37.9). In terms of milk producing, the voivodeship, together with the Masovian Voivodeship, ranks first in the country. Podlaskie Voivodeship receive about 20% of the total production in the country. Cereals is an important crops grown in

2808-697: The dominant religions in Podlaskie Voivodeship are Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. The voivodeship's seat is the city of Białystok . Like all voivodeships, it has a government-appointed Provincial Governor ( Polish : wojewoda ), as well as an elected Regional Assembly ( sejmik ) and of the executive elected by that assembly, headed by the voivodeship marshal ( marszałek województwa ). Administrative powers and competences are statutorily divided between these authorities. The voivodeship contains 3 cities and 37 towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 2019) Towns: The Gross domestic product (GDP) of

2880-450: The duration of snow cover from 90 to 110 days. Mean annual rainfall values oscillate around 550 millimetres (21.7 in), and the vegetation period lasts 200 to 210 days. Podlaskie is the coldest region of Poland, located in the very northeast of the country near the border with Belarus and Lithuania . The region has a continental climate which is characterized by high temperatures during summer and long and frosty winters. The climate

2952-402: The east, the Lithuanian Counties of Alytus and Marijampolė to the northeast, and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia to the north. The province was created on 1 January 1999, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998, from the former Białystok and Łomża Voivodeships and the eastern half of the former Suwałki Voivodeship . The voivodeship takes its name from

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3024-433: The eastern parts. According to Polish census of 2002 , in Podlaskie Voivodeship there were 46,041 Belarusians (3.9%) and 1,366 Ukrainians (0.1%). Autochthonous inhabitants have difficulties in national self-identification and identifying of their language. They often identify their nationality as " tutejszy " (literally "locals"). Based on comparison of a survey and the census, Marek Barwiński supposes that people with

3096-409: The history of the region is the Podlaskie Museum in Białystok with branches in Białystok, Bielsk Podlaski, Choroszcz, Supraśl, Tykocin and Turośń Kościelna . Białystok is home to the Sybir Memorial Museum, the main Polish museum devoted to history of Russian deportations of Poles to Siberia . There is a museum dedicated to Polish poet Maria Konopnicka at her birthplace in Suwałki . There are also

3168-408: The inhabitants of southern Podlachia changed their faith from Orthodox to Roman Catholic. At present, very few people in this area speak Ruthenian and nearly all consider themselves Poles. Meanwhile, the eastern part of northern Podlachia is still populated by Belarusians. Podlachia is also the cultural center of Poland's small Tatar minority as well. After the annexation of eastern Poland into

3240-434: The larger ones engage in cattle and crop production. The cattle-raising farms are mainly oriented towards milk production. In June 2015, the total area of land in agricultural holdings in the Podlaskie Voivodeship amounted to 1,243.3 thousand hectares. ha. Agricultural land occupied 1058.3 thousand. ha, forests and forest land - 134.7 thous. ha, while the remaining land - 50.4 thous. ha. The average area of agricultural land in

3312-451: The name of Siedlce Governorate , where the dialects were mostly investigated). There is a problem if they should be considered as part of west Polisian dialects subgroup  [ uk ] or as a separate subgroup of northern dialectal group  [ uk ] of the Ukrainian language. In the Northern Podlachia Podlachian subdialects are also often considered to be Belarusian dialects or sometimes Ruthenian dialects. Since

3384-423: The north beyond the Narew River and likely Dulebes to the south, although a Masovian -like population had also been present. In the 14th century the area was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , although it later briefly fell under Mazovian Piast rule. In 1446, Podlachia became part of the Grand Duchy again, but from 1496 southwestern parts of Podlachia ( Drohiczyn Land and Mielnik Land ) and from 1501

3456-434: The northern part ( Bielsk Land ) used Polish law instead of Lithuanian. In 1513 King Sigismund I the Old formed the Podlaskie Voivodeship (adjective of Podlasie ). In 1566, the southeastern part of the Voivodeship became part of the newly formed Brest Litovsk Voivodeship as Brest Litovsk County. In 1569, after the Union of Lublin which formally united Poland and Lithuania as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , Podlasie

3528-400: The northern part fell entirely within the Białystok Voivodeship while the southern part belonged to the Lublin Voivodeship ; the April 1938 reforms transferred Węgrów and Sokołów from Lublin to the Warsaw Voivodeship . In 1939 Poland was invaded and partitioned between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact . Although the border agreed upon in

3600-441: The origin of the name of the region. According to the first one, the name is derived from the Polish word las ("forest"), and means "near the forest". A common folk derivation is from the Proto-Slavic word les or las meaning "forest", i.e., it is "by the wood(s)" or an "area of forests", making Podlachia close in meaning to adjacent Polesia . The theory has been questioned, as it does not properly take into consideration

3672-424: The orthodox population in Podlachia have Ukrainian origin (19th century censuses, historical and linguistic researches), though today the number of people with the Ukrainian identity is very small. Until the 19th century, Podlachia was populated by the Polish-speaking yeomanry ( drobna szlachta ), Jews (primarily in towns), and Ruthenian Greek-Catholics speaking a dialect related to modern Ukrainian –

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3744-435: The percentage of females in the total population amounted to 51.3 percent. A statistical inhabitant of Podlaskie was 37.7 years old, whereas in 2008 – 37.5 years old. The latest population projection predicts a consistent decrease in the population in Podlaskie Voivodeship. In the next 26 years, it will decrease by 117 thousand persons due to the ageing population. Population according to 2002 census: According to 2021 census

3816-574: The population was subjected to mass arrests, executions and deportations to forced labour , concentration camps and Nazi ghettos , whereas under Soviet occupation the population was subjected to mass arrests, executions, deportations to forced labour in Siberia , Central Asia and the Far North . Sites of German massacres of either Polish or Jewish civilians include Mień , Olszewo (also Polish prisoners of war ), Moskwin , Grabarka , Białystok , Tykocin , Rajsk , Paulinów , Krasowo-Częstki , Wnory-Wandy , Jabłoń-Dobki (see Nazi crimes against

3888-422: The province was around 11 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 2.2% of Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €15,200 or 50% of the EU average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 57% of the EU average. Podlaskie Voivodeship is the province with the 5th lowest GDP per capita in Poland. The following are general economic indicators for Podlaskie Voivodeship: According to

3960-438: The region and themainly: wheat , rye , barley , oat , triticale , cereal mixtures, grain maize, millet , buckwheat . Other crops grown by farmers include, among others, potatoes , oil seeds , forage plants (green fodder , carrots , beets , turnips or alfalfa ). The natural conditions of the region are conducive to the development of organic growing, which at present is practised by around 100 farms. Over 600 farms in

4032-458: The region offer agritourist services. The Białowieża Forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site . There are five Historic Monuments of Poland in the voivodeship: There are several castles and palaces in the region, including the Branicki Palace and Lubomirski Palace in Białystok, Royal Castle in Tykocin , Branicki Summer Palace in Choroszcz , Ossoliński Palace in Rudka , and Buchholtz Palace in Supraśl . There are two spa towns in

4104-422: The richness of the animal world. Visitors can also see moose, wolves, lynx and bison living in the Białowieża Forest and Knyszyń Forest . Podlaskie has the lowest population density of the sixteen Polish voivodeships, and its largely unspoiled nature is one of its chief assets. Around 30% of the area of the voivodeship is under legal protection. The Polish part of the Białowieża Forest biosphere reserve (also

4176-409: The small but compact Lithuanian minority concentrated in the Sejny County. At the end of 2009 in Podlaskie Voivodeship there were 1,189,700 inhabitants, 3.1 percent of the total population of Poland. The average density of the population, the number of the population per 1 km2, was 59. The urban population in the same period was 60.2 percent of the total number of inhabitants of the voivodeship, where

4248-428: The so-called Khakhlak ( Chachlak ) dialect, which derived its name from a derogatory term for Ukrainians ( khakhol or khokhol being the name of the traditional haircut of Ukrainian Cossacks ). In the 19th century, the inhabitants of Podlachia were under the rule of the Russian Empire , with southern Podlachia constituting a part of Russian-controlled Congress Poland . After 1831, Russian authorities forbade

4320-480: The university level. The church complex was used as a military storage depot during World War I , and several of its buildings were destroyed in World War II . [2] Most of Różanystok's 510 residents, who primarily live in two three-story apartment buildings within the village, attend, work at, or are retired from employment at the school. Podlaskie Podlaskie Voivodeship ( Polish : Województwo podlaskie [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ pɔˈdlaskʲɛ] )

4392-425: The uprising, in 1867 Congress Poland was formally absorbed into Russia as the Vistula Land (Privislinsky Krai), although the Kingdom still nominally existed. The Podlachian Governorate was also restored under the name Siedlce Governorate , and the Augustów Governorate was split between the Łomża and Suwałki Governorates ; Augustów itself went to Suwałki Governorate while the rest of the Podlachian territory went to

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4464-452: The victims of the Soviet-perpetrated Katyn massacre . The region once again returned to Polish control in 1945. In 1999 the modern Podlaskie Voivodeship was established which encompasses the northern part of historic Podlachia, including Białystok and Drohiczyn, as well as surrounding areas, including Łomża and Suwałki. Its southern border lies along the Bug. While today Podlachia is mostly inhabited by Poles , many Belarusians live in

4536-433: The voivodeship are the University of Białystok , Medical University of Białystok and Bialystok University of Technology . Additionally, Podlasie Białystok is one of the top athletics clubs in the country. Podlachia Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie ( Polish: [pɔˈdlaɕɛ] ; Lithuanian : Palenkė ; Belarusian : Падляшша , romanized :  Padliashsha ),

4608-423: The voivodeship: Augustów and Supraśl . Augustów and Rajgród are popular summer destinations owing to their lakes. Białystok is known for its public parks and gardens, including the Branicki Garden and Planty Park . Tykocin and Supraśl are primary examples of preserved historic small towns in the voivodeship. The Baroque town halls in Białystok and Bielsk Podlaski are home to local museums. The voivodeship

4680-465: The vowel shifts "a" > "e" > "i" in various Slavic languages (in fact, it mixes vowels from different languages). According to the second theory, the name is derived from the word liakh (or lach , Ukrainian : лях , "Pole"), and means "near Poland". The second theory holds that the term comes from the expression pod Lachem , which may be translated literally as "under the Poles" (see: Lechia ). Some claim it to mean "under Polish rule", though in

4752-468: The vowel shifts "a" > "e" > "i" in various Slavic languages (in fact, it mixes vowels from different languages). Heavily wooded Podlaskie is home to the primeval Białowieża Forest and National Park, the habitat of the European wisent bison and tarpan . A second view holds that the term comes from the expression pod Lachem , i.e., "under the Poles" (see: Lechia ). Some claim it to mean "under Polish rule", which does not seem historically sound, as

4824-436: The west edge of the outwash plains. Sand, gravel, clay, moraine, and in the valleys and basins of the rivers silt, sand and river peat predominate on the surface. The vast forests ( Białowieża , Augustów , Knyszyń , Kurpiowska ), some of which are the only ones in Europe to have retained their original character, contain a unique wealth of flora and fauna. The vegetation of the region is extremely diverse, which contributes to

4896-456: The western and northern parts of Prussian Podlachia, became part of the Duchy of Warsaw , a Polish client state of the First French Empire , while the southeastern part including Białystok fell under Russian rule as the Belostok Oblast . The Podlachian territory within the Belostock Oblast corresponded with the Bielsk and Drohiczyn Uyezds (roughly "counties") and the western part of Belostok Uyezd. The small amounts of Podlachian territory in

4968-505: The Łomża Governorate. According to the Russian Imperial Census of 1897 , the most spoken languages in the Siedlce Governorate were Polish (66.13%), Yiddish (15.56%) and Ukrainian (13.95%). At the same time the most spoken languages in Bielsk Uyezd were Ukrainian (39.1%), Polish (34.9%), Yiddish (14.9%), Russian (5.9%) and Belarusian (4.9%); those in the Białystok Uyezd were Polish (33.95%), Yiddish (28.34%), Belarusian (26.13%), Russian (6.68%) and German (3.59%). In 1912 Siedlce Governorate

5040-413: Was ceded to the Kingdom of Poland . It was the northernmost part of the Lesser Poland Province of Poland. The voivodeship was divided into three lands ( ziemie ): Drohiczyn, Mielnik and Bielsk. In the 18th and 19th century the private town of Białystok became the main center of the region, thanks to the patronage of the Branicki family and the development of the textile industry . Following

5112-440: Was once again abolished and divided between the Lublin , Łomża and Kholm Governorates , with all three gaining some parts of the former Podlachia; Kholm Governorate was also removed administratively from the Vistula Land, instead being made part of the Kiev General Governorate . During World War I the area was occupied by the German Empire , with most of the Vistula Land falling under the Government General of Warsaw (later

5184-661: Was organised as part of the Białystok Department of New East Prussia , which also included parts of the former Mazovian and Trakai Voivodeships ; the Habsburg portion lay mostly within the Siedlce Kreis of West Galicia ( Galicia and Lodomeria from 1803). In 1807, by the Treaties of Tilsit , Prussia ceded all of its gains in the second and third partitions, as well as part of the first. Most of this territory, including

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