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The 'Podlachian' or 'Podlasie Voivodeship' () is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland.
It was created January 1, 1999, out of the former Białystok and Łomża Voivodeships and half of the former Suwałki Voivodeship, pursuant to the 1998 Local Government Reorganization Act. The province's name recalls the region's traditional name, Podlachia (Podlasie), and the Podlachian Voivodeship under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795).

Contents

History

Podlachian Voivodeship (1513 – 1795)

Podlachian Voivodeship 1816 – 1837

Economy

Agriculture

Geography

Natural assets

Cities and towns

Administrative divisions

Podlachian Voivodeship counties

External links

History

Podlachian Voivodeship (1513 – 1795)

The Podlachian Voivodeship was formed in 1513 as a voivodeship in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
With Lithuania's confederation with the Kingdom of Poland in 1569, the voivodeship was transferred to the Polish Crown.

Podlachian Voivodeship 1816 – 1837

Podlachian Voivodeship was one of the voivodeships of Congress Poland. Created from the Siedlce Department, in 1837 it was transformed into Podlachian Governorate.

Economy

According to the Polish National Official Business Register, REGON, 95,000 companies were registered in the Podlachia region in 2002.

Agriculture

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 thousand farms are registered, roughly half of which are small farms between 1–5 ha and medium-sized farms of 5–10 ha. The smaller farms prefer intensive production (gardening, orcharding), whereas the larger ones engage in cattle and crop production. The cattle-raising farms are mainly oriented at milk production.
The natural conditions of the region are conducive to the development of ecologic production, which at present is realised by around 100 farms. Over 600 farms in the region run agrotourist businesses.

Geography

Natural assets

Podlachia has the lowest population density of the sixteen Polish voivodeships, and its largely unspoilt 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 is in Podlachia. There are four national parks (Wigry, Biebrza, Bialowieża, and Narew), 3 landscape parks (Suwałki, Łomża – Narew Valley, and Knyszyn Forest), 88 nature reserves, and 15 protected landscape areas. The voivodeship constitutes a part of the ecologically clean area of "the Green Lungs of Poland".

Cities and towns

The voivodeship has 35 cities and towns, among them 3 cities which are city counties. The list below orders them by population and also gives the area (GUS data from December 31, 2005):

★ Białystok – '291.823' (102 km²)

★ Suwałki – '69.268' (65,50 km²)

★ Łomża – '63.819' (32,71 km²)

★ Augustów – '29.971' (80,93 km²)

★ Bielsk Podlaski – '26.893' (26,88 km²)

★ Zambrów – '22.782' (19,02 km²)

★ Grajewo – '22.718' (18,93 km²)

★ Hajnówka – '22.159' (21,29 km²)

★ Sokółka – '18.945' (18,61 km²)

★ Łapy – '16.611' (11,90 km²)

★ Siemiatycze – '15.178' (36,25 km²)

★ Kolno – '10.772' (25,08 km²)

★ Mońki – '10.461' (7,66 km²)

★ Czarna Białostocka – '9.611' (14,28 km²)

★ Wysokie Mazowieckie – '9.279' (15,24 km²)

★ Wasilków – '8.872' (28,15 km²)

★ Dąbrowa Białostocka – '6.165' (22,64 km²)

★ Sejny – '5.971' (4,49 km²)

★ Choroszcz – '5.424' (16,79 km²)

★ Ciechanowiec – '4.923' (26,01 km²)

★ Supraśl – '4.554' (5,68 km²)

★ Brańsk – '3.800' (32,43 km²)

★ Szczuczyn – '3.576' (13,23 km²)

★ Knyszyn – '2.851' (23,68 km²)

★ Lipsk – '2.500' (4,97 km²)

★ Stawiski – '2.455' (13,28 km²)

★ Zabłudów – '2.396' (14,30 km²)

★ Suchowola – '2.255' (25,95 km²)

★ Drohiczyn – '2.092' (15,68 km²)

★ Nowogród – '2.014' (20,55 km²)

★ Jedwabne – '1.908' (11,47 km²)

★ Tykocin – '1.906' (28,96 km²)

★ Goniądz – '1.903' (4,28 km²)

★ Rajgród – '1.677' (35,18 km²)

★ Kleszczele – '1.438' (46,71 km²)

★ Suraż – '980' (33,86 km²)

Administrative divisions

Other information about Podlachia

Cities Powiats Communes Sołectwo Villages	36 17 118 3307 3272
Agriculture	12 006 km²
Road density	52,4 km/100 km²
'Economy'
Unemployment	14,1%/79 000 people ''(2003)''
GDP	1106 PLN per capita
'Production:'
food and drinks	46,2%
wood, wood products and furniture	14,6%
electric energy, gas and water	10,7%
machines and appliances	4,8%
textiles	4,4%
'Economic units in private sector'
trade and commerce	33,2%
services	11,8%
construction	10,5%
industrial processing	9,7%
transport	8,3%
agriculture, hunting and forestry	4,5%
'Administrative divisions'
Communes  - Urban  - Urban-Rural  - Rural	13 23 82
Official webpage

The Podlachian Voivodeship is divided into 17 counties (powiat), three of them urban, and comprised of 118 gminas (13 urban, 23 urban-rural and 82 rural).

Podlachian Voivodeship counties

Białystok Urban County Łomża Urban County Suwałki Urban County Augustów County, Augustów Białystok County, Białystok Bielsk County, Bielsk Podlaski Grajewo County, Grajewo Hajnówka County, Hajnówka Kolno County, Kolno Łomża County, Łomża Mońki County, Mońki Sejny County, Sejny Siemiatycze County, Siemiatycze Sokółka County, Sokółka Suwałki County, Suwałki Wysokie Mazowieckie County, Wysokie Mazowieckie Zambrów County, Zambrów

== Most common surnames in the region ==
# Dąbrowski : 7,177
# Kozłowski : 5,560
# Zalewski : 5,165

External links

★ Radzilow Web Page

★ Szczuczyn Web Page

★ Wizna Web Page

★ 'VisitBiałystok.com'

★ Podlaski Urząd Wojewódzki Official website