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88-754: 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 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

176-552: 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

264-529: A complex of buildings once owned by the tsars of Russia during the Partitions of Poland . At present, a hotel and restaurant with a car park is located there. Guided tours into the strictly protected areas of the park can be arranged on foot, bike or by horse-drawn carriage. Approximately 120,000–150,000 tourists visit the Polish part of the forest annually (about 10,000 of them are from other countries). Among

352-518: 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

440-540: A month earlier. Thousands of deer and wild boar had also been shot. After the Polish–Soviet War in 1921, the core of the forest was declared a National Reserve. In 1923, Professor Józef Paczoski , a pioneer of the science of phytosociology , became a scientific manager of the forest reserves in the Białowieża Forest. He carried out detailed studies of the structure of forest vegetation there. In 1923 it

528-463: A total area of 141,885 ha (1,418.85 km ; 547.82 sq mi). Since the border between the two countries runs through the forest, there is a border crossing available for hikers and cyclists. The Białowieża Forest takes its name from the Polish village of Białowieża , which is located in the middle of the forest and was probably one of the first human settlements in the area. Białowieża means "White Tower" in Polish . The name stems from

616-522: A tripling of logging in the forest, from the 2012–21 limit of 63,000 m (2,200,000 cu ft) – almost exhausted at the time – to 188,000 m (6,600,000 cu ft), offering the excuse of "combatting an infestation of the bark beetle". Robert Cyglicki , head of Greenpeace Polska, argued that logging to fight the bark beetle would "bring more damage than benefits", gathering more than 120,000 signatures to petition Prime Minister Beata Szydło to reverse Szyszko's move. Greenpeace also said

704-489: A zoo where European bison (reintroduced into the park in 1929), konik (a semi-wild horse), wild boar , Eurasian elk and other indigenous animals may be viewed in enclosures of their natural habitat. A new attraction there is a New Year's museum with Ded Moroz (the East Slavic counterpart of Father Christmas ). The entire area of northeastern Europe was originally covered by ancient woodland similar to that of

792-452: Is a voivodeship ( province ) in east-central Poland , containing Poland's capital Warsaw . Masovian Voivodeship has an area of 35,579 square kilometres (13,737 sq mi) and had a 2019 population of 5,411,446, making it Poland's largest and most populous province. Its principal cities are Warsaw (1.783 million) in the center of the Warsaw metropolitan area , Radom (212,230) to

880-460: 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

968-763: 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

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1056-533: Is also popular with tourists due to the many historical monuments and its over 20% forested area of pine and oak . The province's Kampinos National Park is a UNESCO biosphere reserve . In the Early Middle Ages , the territory was inhabited by the Masovians , an old Polish tribe . It formed part of Poland since its establishment in the 10th century, with the then-regional capital Płock being

1144-462: 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 the west edge of

1232-680: Is headed by the province's voivode ( governor ) who is appointed by the Polish Prime Minister . The voivode is then assisted in performing his duties by the voivodeship's marshal , who is the appointed speaker for the voivodeship's executive and is elected by the sejmik ( provincial assembly ). The current voivode of Masovia is Konstanty Radziwiłł . The Sejmik of Masovia consists of 51 members. Protected areass include one National Park and nine Landscape parks . These are shown below. Masovia Voivodeship, 1526–1795 ( Polish : Województwo Mazowieckie )

1320-520: Is outside the national park; almost half of all the wood in the forest is dead – 10 times more than in managed forests – with half the 12,000 species depend on decaying logs, including the near-threatened beetle Cucujus cinnaberinus . Traditional forest management would remove the dead wood, as a fire risk. In 2011, Zdzisław Szkiruć , director of the Białowieża National Park, said that cutting and replanting allows for re-establishment of

1408-1034: 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

1496-425: Is roughly coterminous. However, the province's southern part, including Radom, historically belonged to Lesser Poland ; while Łomża with environs, though historically part of Mazovia, is now part of Podlaskie Voivodeship . Masovian Voivodeship is Poland's prime center of science , research, education, industry, and infrastructure . It has Poland's lowest unemployment rate and is a very high-income province. It

1584-399: 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

1672-511: The European spruce bark beetle . In 2012, the amount of wood that can be extracted by foresters annually was briefly reduced from about 120,000 m (4,200,000 cu ft) to 48,500 m (1,700,000 cu ft), approximately 20,000,000 board feet , most which is sold locally, mainly as firewood. On 25 March 2016, Jan Szyszko , Poland's Environment Minister, former forester and forestry academic, announced that he would approve

1760-619: 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

1848-531: The Masovia Governorate . Three major international road routes pass through the voivodeship: Cork–Berlin–Poznań–Warszawa–Minsk–Moscow–Omsk ( European route E30 ), Prague–Wrocław–Warsaw–Białystok–Helsinki ( E67 ) and Pskov–Gdańsk–Warsaw–Kraków–Budapest ( E77 ). Currently, there are various stretches of highways in the area, with the A2 highway connecting the region, and therefore the capital city, with

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1936-745: The Modlin Fortress and Warsaw Citadel . The sole spa town of the voivodeship is Konstancin-Jeziorna . There are museums dedicated to composer Fryderyk Chopin and chemist Marie Curie at their birthplaces in Żelazowa Wola and Warsaw , respectively. There is also a Fryderyk Chopin Museum in Warsaw. There is a museum dedicated to famous Renaissance poet Jan Kochanowski in Czarnolas . The Krasiński Palace in Opinogóra Górna hosts

2024-636: The November Uprising of 1830–1831, and the January Uprising of 1863–1864. In the interbellum , the region was part of reborn independent Poland. In 1920, the region was invaded by Soviet Russia , but Poland secured its freedom in the victorious Battle of Warsaw . The southern part of the current province was rapidly industrialized as part of the Central Industrial Region of Poland. During World War II , it

2112-621: 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

2200-847: The Temple of Mercy and Charity in Płock, the worldwide headquarters of the Mariavite Church , the Abbey Church in Czerwińsk nad Wisłą , one of the best preserved Romanesque fortified churches in Poland, and the Saints Roch and John the Baptist church in Brochów , a Gothic-Renaissance fortified church, place of baptism of Fryderyk Chopin . Otwock , Józefów and Warsaw are home to the local Świdermajer architectural style. There are also

2288-591: The Via Baltica which heads on to Lithuania, and to Wrocław in the south-west, and the S17 being built to connect Warsaw with Lublin in the south-east and on to Ukraine. The two main railway carriers operating in the region are the regional Koleje Mazowieckie and nationwide PKP Intercity . Three of ten busiest railway stations of Poland are located in the voivodeship: Warszawa Centralna , Warszawa Wschodnia , Warszawa Zachodnia . The main international airport in

2376-485: The "Białowieża royal forest decree" ( Ordynacja Puszczy J.K. Mości leśnictwa Białowieskiego ). The document freed all serfs living in the forest in exchange for their service as osocznicy , or royal foresters. They were also freed of taxes in exchange for taking care of the forest. The forest was divided into 12 triangular areas ( straże ) with a centre in Białowieża. Until the reign of King John II Casimir ,

2464-518: The Belarusian side, built of red brick, is also referred to as the White Tower ( Belaya Vezha ) even though it was never white, perhaps taking the name from the pushcha . The forest was declared a hunting reserve in 1541 to protect bison. In 1557, the forest charter was issued, under which a special board was established to examine forest usage. In 1639, King Vladislaus IV issued

2552-617: The Belarusian side, the forest is protected as the Belavezhskaya Pushcha National Park with an area of 1,771 km (684 sq mi). The core, strictly protected, area covers 38%, the zone of regulated use 26,1%, and the touristic zone and economic zone combined 36%; the National Park and World Heritage Site comprises 876 km (338 sq mi). The Belovezhskaya pushcha headquarters at Kamieniuki include laboratory facilities and

2640-723: The Białowieża Forest between 1942 and 1944 that resulted in the murder of thousands of Jews and Polish civilians.) In July 1944 the area was overtaken by the Red Army . Withdrawing Wehrmacht troops demolished the historic Białowieża hunting manor. After the war, the forest's territory was divided between Poland and the Belarusian SSR of the Soviet Union . The chairman of the Polish Committee of National Liberation , Edward Ochab , wrote in his memoirs regarding

2728-428: The Białowieża Forest. Until about the 14th century, travel through the woodland was limited to river routes; roads and bridges appeared much later. Limited hunting rights were granted throughout the forest in the 14th century. In the 15th century the forest became a property of Grand Duke Jogaila . A wooden manor in Białowieża became his refuge during a plague pandemic in 1426. The first recorded piece of legislation on

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2816-722: The Białowieża National Park in 1947. Belovezhskaya Pushcha was protected under Decision No. 657 of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union, 9 October 1944; Order No. 2252-P of the USSR Council of Ministers, 9 August 1957; and Decree No. 352 of the Byelorussian SSR Council of Ministers, 16 September 1991. In December 1991, the Belavezha Accords , the decision to dissolve

2904-838: The Biosphere Programme designated the Polish Biosphere Reserve Białowieża in 1976 and the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve Biełavieskaja pušča in 1993. In 2015, the Belarusian Biosphere Reserve spanned 216,200 ha (2,162 km ; 835 sq mi), subdivided into transition, buffer and core zones. The forest has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an EU Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation . The World Heritage Committee, through its decision of June 2014, approved

2992-566: 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 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

3080-612: The European average. The top tourist destination of the voivodeship is the capital city of Warsaw with its Old Town and Royal Castle , a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Historic Monument of Poland . Further Historic Monuments in Warsaw include the Royal Route with several palaces and parks, most notably the Łazienki Palace and Wilanów Palace , and the Warsaw Water Filters . Other historic cities include Radom with its old center and parks, Pułtusk with

3168-470: The Museum of Romanticism . There are numerous World War II memorials, including memorials at the sites of Nazi massacres of Poles, including Palmiry , and Holocaust memorials, and museums at the sites of the former Nazi German Treblinka extermination camp , Pawiak Prison in Warsaw and Dulag 121 camp in Pruszków . Football , handball , volleyball and basketball enjoy the largest following in

3256-776: 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

3344-558: 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

3432-420: The Soviet Union , were signed at a meeting in the Belarusian part of the reserve by the leaders of Ukraine , Russia and Belarus. The forest contains a number of large, ancient pedunculate oaks ( Quercus robur ), some of which are individually named. Trunk circumferences are measured at breast height , 130 cm (51 in) above the ground. Some 84% of the 60,000 hectares (150,000 acres) of Polish forest

3520-491: The Soviet government. After a half an hour or so, Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov called and informed Ochab by phone that Stalin had agreed to transfer half of the forest to Poland including the village of Białowieża and congratulated him. According to Ochab, he was unhappy with the decision as he was counting on the entire Białowieża Forest. The Soviet part was put under public administration while Poland reopened

3608-511: The attractions are birdwatching with local ornithologists, the chance to observe rare birds, pygmy owl observations, watching bison in their natural environment, and sledge as well as carriage rides, with a bonfire. Expert nature guides can also be found in the nearby urban centres. Tours are possible all year round. The popular village of Białowieża lies within the forest. Białowieża means "the white tower" in Old Polish . On

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3696-594: The capital of Poland from 1079 to 1138. The Wzgórze Tumskie ("Cathedral Hill") in Płock with the Płock Castle and the Catholic Cathedral , seat of one of the oldest Polish dioceses, est. in 1075, which contains the sarcophagi of a number of Polish monarchs , is listed as a Historic Monument of Poland . Later, Płock, Warsaw and Czersk were medieval ducal seats of the Piast dynasty . In 1505, Radom hosted

3784-494: 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

3872-695: 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

3960-449: 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

4048-576: The extension of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Belovezhskaya Pushcha / Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland", which became "Białowieża Forest, Belarus, Poland". It straddles the border between Podlachia historical region in Poland and Brest and Grodno Oblasts in Belarus, and is 62 kilometres (39 miles) southeast of Białystok , Poland and 70 kilometres (43 miles) north of Brest , Belarus. The Białowieża Forest World Heritage site covers

4136-531: The forest had a special historical place in the Polish national memory as a place where guerilla fights took place during the uprising against the tsarist regime . In addition, Poland had its forests decimated by the Germans during the occupation of Poland and finally, the forest was Poland's raw material basin for the timber industry in Hajnówka . According to Ochab's memories, when Stalin fiercely insisted on

4224-457: The forest in 50 years, rather than the 300–400 years that nature would require; environmentalist Janusz Korbel argued that the unique nature of the primeval forest demands a lighter style of management. Andrzej Kraszewski , Poland's Environment Minister from February 2010 to November 2011, sought to increase protection over the whole forest, starting with a more modest 12,000–14,000-hectare (30,000–35,000-acre) expansion, against opposition from

4312-417: The forest to support the local industry. Three lumber mills were built, in Hajnówka , Białowieża and Gródek . Up to 25 September 1915, at least 200 bison were killed, and an order was issued forbidding hunting in the reserve. However, German soldiers, poachers and Soviet marauders continued the slaughter until February 1919 when the area was captured by the Polish army. The last bison had been killed just

4400-544: The forest was declared a national park. The reintroduction proved successful, and by 1939 there were 16 bison in Białowieża National Park. Two of them, from the zoo in Pszczyna , were descendants of a pair from the forest given to the Duke of Pszczyna by Tsar Alexander II in 1865. In 1939 the local inhabitants of Polish ethnicity were deported to remote areas of the Soviet Union and replaced by Soviet forest workers. In 1941

4488-443: The forest was mostly unpopulated. However, in the late 17th century, several small villages were established for development of local iron-ore deposits and tar production. The villages were populated with settlers from Masovia and Podlaskie and many of them still exist. After the Partitions of Poland , Tsar Paul I turned all the foresters into serfs and handed them over to various Russian aristocrats and generals along with

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4576-599: The forest was occupied by Germans and the Russian Soviet inhabitants were also expelled. Hermann Göring planned to create the largest hunting reserve in the world there. After July 1941 the forest became a refuge for both Polish and Soviet partisans and Nazi authorities organised mass executions. A few graves of people who were killed by the Gestapo can still be seen in the forest. (Hermann Göring directed anti-partisan operations by Luftwaffe security battalions in

4664-417: The foresters (500 out of 502) took part in the November Uprising of 1830–31, and their posts were abolished, leading to a breakdown of protection. Tsar Alexander II visited the forest in 1860 and decided to re-establish the protection of bison. Following his orders, locals killed all predators : wolves , bears and lynx . Between 1888 and 1917, the Russian tsars owned all of primaeval forest, which became

4752-403: The former Białystok and Łomża Voivodeships and the eastern half of the former Suwałki Voivodeship . The voivodeship takes its name from 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

4840-409: 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

4928-434: 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

5016-404: The local community and the Forestry Service. Environmentalists say that logging is threatening the flora and fauna in the forest, including species of rare birds, such as the white-backed woodpecker , who lost 30% of their population in forestry-managed areas in the 1990s and 2000s. Poland's state forestry board claims the logging is for protection and for ecological reasons, protecting against

5104-520: The logging could trigger the EU to launch punitive procedures against Poland for violating its Natura 2000 programme, though Szyszko claims that the logging plans would not apply to strictly protected areas, and claims that, rather than being 8,000 years old, as scientists claim, parts of the forest had been created by an "enterprising hand of man" on lands that centuries ago included fields of wheat and millet . Large-scale logging started in 2017. 190,000 cubic metres of wood (160,000 to 180,000 trees)

5192-545: The longest paved marketplace of Europe, and Płock , former medieval capital of Poland, with its Old Town and Wzgórze Tumskie ("Cathedral Hill") with the Płock Castle and the Płock Cathedral , which contains the sarcophagi of a number of Polish monarchs. There are several medieval castles, including at Ciechanów , Czersk , Liw , Płock, and numerous palaces in the voivodeship, including at Otwock Wielki , Guzów , Radziejowice , Krubki-Górki , Sanniki , Korczew and multiple in Warsaw itself. Unique historic churches include

5280-446: 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 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

5368-447: The need to "close the case", Ochab requested a break for consultations in the nearby room. He told his associates from the PKWN that he would resign from his position as the chairman of that body, as he could not find enough spiritual strength and inner conviction to promote Polish–Soviet friendship. The conversation was interrupted and the delegation was escorted to the premises in the seat Union of Polish Patriots and waited for news from

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5456-424: The negotiations about the demarcation of the border in the area of Białowieża Forest. According to his view, the Soviet officials repeated many times that they were not interested in enlarging their vast state, but only in sorting out the issue of Belarusian and Ukrainian nationalities in the borderland area ( Kresy ). Ochab emphasized to his Soviet negotiators that the problem didn't exist in Białowieża Forest and that

5544-410: The official Russian name Belovezhskaya pushcha ( Беловежская пуща ) from before the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union . On the Polish side, part of the Białowieża Forest is protected as the Białowieża National Park ( Polish : Białowieski Park Narodowy ), with an area of about 105 km (41 sq mi). There is also the Białowieża Glade ( Polish : Polana Białowieska ), with

5632-419: 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

5720-404: The parts of forest where they lived. Also, a large number of hunters were able to enter the forest, as all protection was abolished. Following this, the number of bison fell from more than 500 to fewer than 200 in 15 years. However, in 1801, Tsar Alexander I reintroduced the reserve and hired a small number of foresters to protect the animals, and by the 1830s there were 700 bison. However, most of

5808-434: 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

5896-431: The protection of the forest dates to 1538, when a document issued by Sigismund I instituted the death penalty for poaching a bison. The King also built a new wooden hunting manor in a village of Białowieża, which became the namesake for the whole complex. Since Białowieża means the "white tower", the corresponding Puszcza Białowieska translates as the "forest of the white tower". The Tower of Kamyenyets on

5984-420: 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

6072-438: 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

6160-408: The region is Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport . Masovian Voivodeship is the wealthiest province in Poland. The gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was PLN 596 billion in 2021, accounting for 22.8% of the Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was around PLN123,000in the same year. The unemployment rate stood at 4.8% in 2017 and was higher than the national and

6248-456: 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

6336-506: The rest of Europe. The highway passes directly through the voivodeship from west to east, connecting it with Belarus and Germany. However, the A2 is yet to be built east of Warsaw to connect Poland with Belarus. The S7 expressway runs through Poland from the north to the south passing through Warsaw, the S8 connects Warsaw with Białystok , in the neighboring north-eastern province, also forming part of

6424-481: 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

6512-561: The royal hunting reserve. The tsars sent bison as gifts to various European capitals, while at the same time populating the forest with deer , elk and other animals imported from around the empire. The last Russian royalty visit was by Czar Nicholas II in 1912. During World War I the forest suffered heavy losses. The German army seized the area in August 1915 and started to hunt the animals. During three years of German occupation, 200 kilometres (124 miles) of railway tracks were laid in

6600-612: The session of the Sejm (Polish Parliament), which enacted the Nihil novi act, and in the 16th century, Warsaw hosted several sessions of the Sejm, before King Sigismund III Vasa moved the Polish capital from Kraków to Warsaw in 1596. Following the late-18th-century Partitions of Poland , the region witnessed several uprisings against foreign rule: the Kościuszko Uprising of 1794,

6688-470: 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

6776-548: The south, Płock (119,709) to the west, Siedlce (77,990) to the east, and Ostrołęka (52,071) to the north. It borders six other provinces: Warmian-Masurian to the north, Podlaskie to the northeast, Lublin to the southeast, Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) to the south, Łódź to the southwest, and Kuyavian-Pomeranian to the northwest. The name of the province recalls the region's traditional name, Mazovia (in Polish Mazowsze , also spelled Masovia), with which it

6864-550: 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. Masovian Voivodeship Masovian Voivodeship or Mazowieckie Province or Mazowieckie Voivodeship or Mazovian Voivodeship or Mazovian Province , etc. ( Polish : województwo mazowieckie , pronounced [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ mazɔˈvjɛt͡skʲɛ] )

6952-704: The voivodeship. Successful clubs include Legia Warsaw and Polonia Warsaw in football and basketball, and Wisła Płock in handball. Since the establishment of the province, several major international sports competitions were co-hosted by the province, including the 2002 World Weightlifting Championships , 2003 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships , 2009 UCI Track Cycling World Championships , EuroBasket 2009 , UEFA Euro 2012 , 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship , 2017 Men's European Volleyball Championship , 2018 FIVB Volleyball Men's Club World Championship , 2019 UCI Track Cycling World Championships , 2023 World Men's Handball Championship . Deepspot ,

7040-540: 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

7128-460: The white wooden hunting-manor established in the village by Władysław II Jagiełło , the Grand Duke of Lithuania and later King of Poland who enjoyed going on hunting trips in the forest, which was then part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . The modern Belarusian name for the forest is Biełaviežskaja pušča ( Белавежская пушча ), although both the Belarusian authorities and UNESCO use

7216-412: 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 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

7304-561: The world's second deepest swimming pool, is located in Mszczonów . Bia%C5%82owie%C5%BCa Forest Białowieża Forest is a large forest complex on the border between Poland and Belarus . It is one of the last and the largest remaining part of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain . The forest is home to more than 800 European bisons , Europe's heaviest land animal. UNESCO's Man and

7392-633: Was occupied by Germany , with the occupiers committing their genocidal policies against Poles and Jews in the region, with expulsions , massacres of civilians and prisoners of war , including at Ciepielów , Śladów , Zakroczym , Ostrów Mazowiecka , Palmiry , Firlej , Ochota , and Wola . Germany operated numerous prisons, forced labour camps, the Treblinka extermination camp , in which some 700,000–900,000 people were murdered, and several prisoner-of-war camps for Polish, Italian , French , Soviet, and Romanian prisoners of war. Masovian Province

7480-705: Was an administrative region of the Kingdom of Poland , and of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , from the 15th century until the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1795). Together with Płock and Rawa Voivodeships , it formed the province ( prowincja ) of Masovia . Masovian Voivodeship was one of the voivodeships of Congress Poland . It was formed from the Warsaw Department and transformed into

7568-588: Was created on 1 January 1999, under the Polish local-government reforms adopted in 1998, out of the former provinces of Warsaw , Płock , Ciechanów , Ostrołęka , Siedlce , and Radom . Masovian Voivodeship is divided into 42 counties , including five city counties and 37 land counties. These are subdivided into 314 gminas (municipalities), which include 85 urban gminas. The voivodeship contains 10 cities and 78 towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 2019): Towns: The Masovian voivodeship's government

7656-399: 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 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

7744-474: Was known that only 54 European bison survived in zoos all around the world, none of them in Poland. In 1929, a small herd of four was bought by the Polish state from various zoos and from the Western Caucasus (where the bison was to become extinct just a few years later). These animals were of the slightly different Caucasian subspecies ( Bison bonasus caucasicus ). To protect them, in 1932 most of

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