History of Podlaskie Voivodeship
Throughout its early history, the area comprising the current day Podlaskie Voivodeship was inhabited by various tribes of different ethnic roots. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the area was likely inhabited by Lechitic tribes in the south, Baltic (Yotvingian) tribes in the north, and Ruthenian tribes in the east. Between the 10th and 13th centuries, the area was part of the Ruthenian principalities. The area became a part of the Medieval Slavic cities union of Cherven cities. Until the 14th century the area was part of pro-Kyivan Ruthenian states, and was later annexed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1569, after the Union of Lublin, the western part of Podlaskie was ceded to the Kingdom of Poland.[1][2]
- This is a sub-article to Podlaskie Voivodeship
Historical periods
The following is a partial list of political subdivisions in which part or all of current day Podlaskie Voivodeship was wholly or partially contained within:
| Years | Historical Political Unit | Area of present Voivodeship | ||
| East/South Areas |
West Areas |
North Areas | ||
| 1998 1989 |
Third Polish Republic | Białystok Voivodeship | Łomża Voivodeship | Suwałki Voivodeship |
| 1989 1975 |
People's Republic of Poland | Białystok Voivodeship | Łomża Voivodeship | Suwałki Voivodeship |
| 1975 1952 |
Białystok Voivodeship | |||
| 1952 1945 |
Republic of Poland | Białystok Voivodeship | ||
| 1945 1944 |
Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic | Belastok Voblast | ||
| Republic of Poland | Provisional Committees | |||
| 1944 1941 |
Nazi Germany | Bezirk Bialystok | East Prussia | |
| 1941 1939 |
Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic | Belastok Voblast | ||
| Nazi Germany | East Prussia | |||
| 1939 1938 |
Second Polish Republic | Białystok Voivodeship | Warsaw Voivodeship | Białystok Voivodeship |
| 1938 1918 |
Białystok Voivodeship | |||
| 1918 1915 |
German Empire | Bialystok-Grodno District | Lithuania District | |
| Kingdom of Poland | TBD | |||
- Russian Empire
- Grodno Governorate (1842–1915)
- Belostok Oblast (1807–1842)
- Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland)
Kingdom of Prussia
- Białystok Department (1795–1807)
- Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Grand Duchy of Lithuania
- Kingdom of Poland
- Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia
- Kievan Rus
History
In the second half of the 15th century, the Drohicka land was divided into three smaller administrative and territorial units: the Drohicka land, the Bielsko land and the Mielnica land. The formal creation of the Podlaskie Voivodeship took place on August 29 1513 when Ivan Sapieha, who held the office of governor and later the Vitebsk governor was appointed the Voivode of Podlasie even before he was formally called to live in that voivodeship. Ivan Sapieha died in 1517 and for three years the voivodship did not have a voivode. In 1519 to this office was appointed to Albertas Goštautas, who possessed extensive Tykocin estates and he was the Voivode of Trotsky.[3]
In 1520, Sigismund I the Old, who was in Toruń, appointed Janusz Kostewicz for the position of the Podlaskie voivode. In 1566, the area of the Podlasie Voivodship was reduced by the Brest, Kamnica and Kobrin lands, which, together with the Turn-Pińsk principality, formed the Brest-Lithuanian Voivodship. Three years later, in 1569, the reduced Podlasie Province was incorporated into the Crown by the order of Sigismund II Augustus and the resolution of the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
After the third partition of Poland in 1795, Białystok Region came under Prussian rule. In the occupied areas, the Prussians formed the Organization Camera of the War and Domain Camera, which was located in Bialystok. The area of operation of the Camera Organizational Committee in Bialystok included 4 compartments: Wierzbołowski, Pułtusk, Białystok and Łomża. Circuses were divided into smaller organizational units, i.e. districts. They were established in Białystok, Bielsko, Dąbrowa, Goniądz, Sokółka, Tykocin, Ciechanowiec, Drohiczyn, Ostrołęka, Wąsosz, Zambrów, Wiźno, Ciechanów, Maków, Nasielsk, Płońsk, Przasnysz, Wyszków, Hołynka, Kalwaria, Mariampach, Wampachki. The lowest level of the territorial division was made up of village clusters with head leaders, nobility clusters with caretakers and cities with mayors. The works of the Commission ended in 1797 and the Camera of War and Domains of the Białystok Department was created. The Bialystok Department embraced 10 landrat districts. Their headquarters were: Łomża, Goniądz, Drohiczyn, Suraż, Bielsk, Białystok, Dąbrowa, Wigry, Kalwaria, and Mariampol.[4]
Napoleon gave the poviats of Bialystok, Drohiczyn, Bielsko and Sokólski, with parts of the Suraski, Biebrza and Dąbrowa poviats to Aleksander I, on July 7, 1807, the Tsar of Tylyce, a year later the Russian authorities created a separate administrative unit from this territory - the Belostok Oblast, consisting of from four counties: Białystok, Bielsko, Sokólski and Drohiczyn.