Administrative divisions of Poland

Voivodeships Counties (list) Communes (list) Image File history File links Polska_kontur_bialy. ... The voivodeship or province (Polish: województwo) has been a second-level administrative unit in Poland since the 14th century. ... The following is a list of powiats in Poland. ... The municipality or commune (Polish: gmina, plural: gminy) is the principal unit (lowest level) of territorial division in Poland. ...

A county (Polish: powiat, pronounced "povyat"; plural, powiaty) is the Polish third-level unit of administration, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (NUTS-4 or rather LAU-1) in other countries. A county is part of a larger unit called a "voivodship" (in Polish, województwo—an entity whose equivalent in most other countries is rendered in English as "province"), and in turn usually comprises several communes, each called a gmina (plural: gminy). Look up Administration in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A county is generally a sub-unit of regional self-government within a sovereign jurisdiction. ... Local government areas called districts are used, or have been used, in several countries. ... The term prefecture (from the Latin Praefectura) indicates the office, seat, territorial circonscription of a Prefect; consequentally, like that word, is its applied in English in relation to actual Prefects, whose title is just that (or the forms it takes in other, especially Romance, languages), in the broadest sense in... The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) is a geocode standard for referencing the administrative division of countries for statistical purposes. ... A Voivodship (also voivodeship, Romanian: voievodat, Polish: województwo, Serbian: vojvodstvo or vojvodina) was a feudal state in medieval Romania, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Serbia (see Vojvodina), ruled by a Voivod (voivode). ... A province is a territorial unit, almost always a country subdivision. ... A commune is an administrative subdivision of various European and African countries, including Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Senegal, and the Scandinavian countries. ... The municipality or commune (Polish: gmina, plural: gminy) is the principal unit (lowest level) of territorial division in Poland. ...

Names

With few exceptions, a Polish county is named after its capital city, or county seat. The county's name is the masculine-gender adjective formed from that city's name (to go with the masculine gender of the word "powiat"). Thus the County with its seat at the city of Kutno is named powiat kutnowski (both parts of the name being written lower-case). If the city's name comprises a noun followed by an adjective, as in Maków Mazowiecki ("Mazovian Maków"), the adjectival county name will generally be formed from the city's noun name alone ("powiat makowski"). A county seat is a term for an administrative center for a county, primarily used in the United States. ... In linguistics, grammatical genders, also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once. ... An adjective is a part of speech that modifies a noun or a pronoun, usually by describing it or making its meaning more specific. ... In linguistics, grammatical genders, also called noun classes, are classes of nouns reflected in the behavior of associated words; every noun must belong to one of the classes and there should be very few which belong to several classes at once. ... Kutno is a town in central Poland with 51,000 inhabitants (1995). ... Kutno County (Polish: ) is a powiat (county) in Poland, in Łódź Voivodeship. ... Minuscule, or lower case, is the smaller form (case) of letters (in the Roman alphabet: a, b, c, ...). Originally alphabets were written entirely in majuscule (capital) letters which were spaced between well-defined upper and lower bounds. ... In English, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which can co-occur with (in)definite articles and attributive adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. ... An adjective is a part of speech that modifies a noun or a pronoun, usually by describing it or making its meaning more specific. ... Orzyc river in Maków Maków Mazowiecki is a town in Poland, in Masovian Voivodship. ... Masovia (Polish: Mazowsze) is a geographical and historical region situated in central Poland with its capital in Warsaw. ... Orzyc river in Maków Maków Mazowiecki is a town in Poland, in Masovian Voivodship. ... A county is generally a sub-unit of regional self-government within a sovereign jurisdiction. ... The city of Chicago, as seen from the sky A city is an urban area that is differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. ... In English, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which can co-occur with (in)definite articles and attributive adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. ... Maków County (Polish: ) is a powiat (county) near Warsaw, in Mazowsze Voivodship. ...

There is more than one way to render Polish counties into English. One way yields "Powiat of Kutno." But since "powiat" is not an English word (unless regarded as being such by adoption), it is commonly rendered as "county," thus yielding either "Kutno County" or "County of Kutno." Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent (or parents) other than the birth parents. ...

If a county seat has a double-barreled name, as with "Maków Mazowiecki," the county may become either "Maków County" or "Maków-Mazowiecki County." Due, in all but the first case, to the existence, respectively, of two "double-barreled" county seats with the identical noun name, the corresponding adjectives "bielski," "grodziski," "ostrowski" and "tomaszowski" each denote two distinct counties. Orzyc river in Maków Maków Mazowiecki is a town in Poland, in Masovian Voivodship. ... In English, a noun or noun substantive is a lexical category which can co-occur with (in)definite articles and attributive adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. ... An adjective is a part of speech that modifies a noun or a pronoun, usually by describing it or making its meaning more specific. ... Two counties (powiats) in Poland may be referred to in English by this name, as in Polish they are both named powiat grodziski (which means powiat of Grodzisk). ... Ostrów County is a county in Poznan District, Poland. ... Two counties (powiats) in Poland may be referred to in English by this name, as in Polish they are both named powiat tomaszowski (which means powiat of Tomaszów). ...

History and functioning

Some Polish urban communes constitute administrative entities called the "urban county" (powiat grodzki), similar in local administration and self-governance to "land counties." An average county (the largest being the powiat of Białystok) comprises 5 – 8 communes. The largest urban county, in terms of population and area, is the city of Warsaw. General informations Voivodship Podlasie Capital city BiaÅ‚ystok Area 2987 km² Population  - density  - % of population of Poland 138 700 47 people/km² 0,36 % Location Administrative division Communes Communes  - Urban  - Urban-Rural  - Rural 3 5 7 Official webpage Powiat of BiaÅ‚ystok (Polish: powiat biaÅ‚ostocki ) is a unit of... Warsaw (Polish: , , in full The Capital City of Warsaw, Polish: Miasto StoÅ‚eczne Warszawa) is the capital of Poland, its largest city, and a gamma world city. ...

Legislative power within the county is vested in a "county council" (rada powiatu) or "city council" (rada miasta), while local executive power is vested in the starosta, who in urban counties is called the mayor (burmistrz) or "president." The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (or The Republic of the Two Nations, Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów in Polish; Belarusian: Рэч Паспалі́тая) was a federal monarchy-republic formed by the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, between 1569...

The history of Polish counties goes back to the second half of the 14th century. They remained the basic units of territorial organization in Poland, then in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, until the latter's total dismemberment by its neighbors in 1795. This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ...

In the 19th century, the county continued to function in the part of Poland that had been incorporated into the Russian Empire ("Congress Poland"), and as the Polish equivalent of the German "Kreis" in the German-governed Grand Duchy of Poznań. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Anthem: God Save the Tsar! Russian Empire in 1914 Capital Saint Petersburg Language(s) Russian Government Monarchy Emperor  - 1721-1725 Peter the Great  - 1894-1917 Nicholas II History  - Established 22 October, 1721  - February Revolution 2 March, 1917 Area  - 1897 22,400,000 km2 8,648,688 sq mi Population  - 1897... Kingdom of Poland 1815-31 The Congress Poland is an unofficial term for the Kingdom of Poland (1815-1831), a political entity that was created out of the Duchy of Warsaw at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, when European powers reorganised Europe following the Napoleonic wars. ... There are 439 German districts, administrative units in Germany. ... Grand Duchy of PoznaÅ„ (Polish: Wielkie KsiÄ™stwo PoznaÅ„skie, German: Großherzogtum Posen) was an autonomous province of the Kingdom of Prussia in the Polish lands commonly known as Great Poland between the years 1815-1848. ...

After Poland regained independence in 1918, the county again became the basic territorial unit throughout Poland. Year 1918 (MCMXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. ...

Powiats (counties) were abolished in 1975 in favor of a larger number of voivodships, but were reintroduced in 1999. There are now 314 "land counties" (powiat ziemski) and 65 "urban counties" (powiat grodzki), more formally "municipalities with county status" (miasto na prawach powiatu). 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... A Voivodship (also voivodeship, Romanian: voievodat, Polish: województwo, Serbian: vojvodstvo or vojvodina) was a feudal state in medieval Romania, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Serbia (see Vojvodina), ruled by a Voivod (voivode). ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

See also

• List of counties in Poland