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'Pomerelia' () is a historical region in northern Poland. Pomerelia was situated in eastern Pomerania on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea, centered on the city of Gdańsk at the mouth of the Vistula. It is now located in the Polish geographic region of Gdańsk Pomerania.

Contents

Early history

Duchy of Pomerelia

End of independence

Population

See also

External links

Early history

The territory is situated entirely in the eastern part of what Greek and Roman historians called "Magna Germania", a cultural rather than ethnographic concept. When the territory began to be called Pomerania in the 11th century, Pomerelia, along with the rest of Pomerania was inhabited by West Slavic tribes and was under the rule of Duchy of Polans.

Duchy of Pomerelia

In 1136, following the death of Duke Bolesław III, Poland was fragmented into several semi-independent principalities. Governors in Pomerelia gradually gained more power, evolving into semi-independent dukes, in contrast with other Polish territories that were governed by Piast descendants of Bolesław III. Gdańsk (Danzig) was the capital of an entire dynasty of the Dukes of Pomerania, the most famous being Mściwój I (1207–1220), Świętopełk II (1215–1266), and Mściwój II (1271–1294).
Polish dukes regained suzerainty later in the 12th century, while Christianity was introduced by Emperor Lothar and Otto von Bamberg. In 1181 Pomerania came under the direct control of the Holy Roman Empire. It was under Danish suzerainty from 1210-1227, after which it became independent again.

End of independence

After the death of Mściwój II in 1294, his co-ruler Przemysł II of Poland claimed Pomerelia basing it on the treaty of Kępno from 1282 (in which Mestwin declared Przemysł II his sole successor). Disputing this claim, the Margraviate of Brandenburg invaded the territory in 1308, leading Władysław I the Elbow-high to request assistance from the Teutonic Knights. After Władysław refused to pay a substantial fee to the Teutonic Knights after the Brandenburgers were evicted, the province was annexed and incorporated in into the monastic state of the Teutonic Knights in 1309. After the Second Peace of Toruń in 1466, parts of the region became part of the Polish province of Royal Prussia.
As part of Royal Prussia, Pomerelia was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia during the 18th century Partitions of Poland, becoming part of the Province of West Prussia. After World War I (1914-1918), the Treaty of Versailles transferred part of the region from Germany to a reconstituted Polish state (see Polish Corridor); many of the inhabitants were forced to leave.

Population

Some of the minority indigenous population of Pomerelia are the West Slavic Kashubians, the Kociewiacy, and the Borowiacy.

See also

★ Gdańsk Pomerania

★ History of Pomerania

★ History of Gdańsk

★ Eastern Pomerania

★ Dukes of Pomerania

★ Royal Prussia

★ West Prussia

★ Pomeranian Voivodeship

External links

★ Map of Pomerelia included in Prussia, ca. 1600