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Administrative
division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth :
The administrative division of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth was the result of the long and complicated history
of the framgentation of the Polish Kingdom and the union of Poland
and Lithuania.
The lands that once belonged to the Commonwealth are now largely
distributed among several Central and East European countries: Poland,
Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, with smaller pieces
in Estonia, Slovakia, Romania and Moldova.
While the term "Poland" was also commonly used to denote
this whole polity, Poland was in fact only part of a greater whole
— the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which comprised primarily
two parts:
· the Crown of the Polish Kingdom (Poland proper), colloquially
"the Crown"; and
· the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, colloquially "Lithuania."
The Crown in turn comprised two "prowincjas": Greater
Poland and Lesser Poland. These and a third province, the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania, were the only three regions that were properly
termed "provinces." The Commonwealth was further divided
into smaller administrative units known as voivodeships (województwa).
Each voivodeship was governed by a voivod (governor). Voivodeships
were further divided into starostwa, each starostwo being governed
by a starosta. Cities were governed by castellans. There were frequent
exceptions to these rules, often involving the ziemia subunit of
administration: for details on the administrative structure of the
Commonwealth, see the article on offices in the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
Other notable regions of the Commonwealth often referred to, without
respect to province or voivodeship divisions, include:
· Lesser Poland (Polish: Malopolska), southern Poland, with
its capital at Kraków;
· Greater Poland (Polish: Wielkopolska), west–central
Poland, including much of the area drained by the Warta River and
its tributaries;
· Masovia (Polish: Mazowsze), central Poland, with its capital
at Warsaw;
· Duchy of Livonia (Polish: Inflanty), a joint domain of
the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Parts, lost to Sweden
in the 1620s and in 1660;
· Courland (Polish: Kurlandia), a northern fief of the Commonwealth.
It established a colony in Tobago in 1637 and on St. Andrews Island
at the Gambia River in 1651 (see Courland colonization);
· Prussia (Polish: Prusy), parts of which belonged to the
Commonwealth:
o Royal Prussia (Polish: Prusy Królewskie), incorporated
into the Crown in 1569, at the time of the Commonwealth's formation;
o Duchy of Prussia, a Polish fief until 1660;
· Kresy, the southeastern "Borderlands" of the
Crown;
· Ruthenia (Polish: Rus), the eastern Commonwealth, adjoining
Russia;
· Samogitia (Polish: Zmudz), western Lithuania.
· Silesia (Polish: Slask) was not part of the Commonwealth,
but small parts belonged to various Commonwealth kings; in particular,
the Vasa kings were dukes of Opole from 1645 to 1666.
· Pomerania (Polish: Pomorze) is the term for the southern
shore of the Baltic Sea, partially outside the Commonwealth and/or
in Prussia.
· Galicia (Polish: Galicja) was a term not widely used until
the 18th century.
Commonwealth borders shifted with wars and treaties, sometimes several
times in a decade, especially in the eastern and southern regions.
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