Podlaskie Voivodeship ( ) is a voivodeship, or province, in northeastern Poland. The name of the voivodeship refers to the historical region of Podlasie, and some part of its territory corresponds to that region.Podlasie - bogactwo różnorodności (in Polish) The capital and largest city is Białystok.
It borders the Masovian Voivodeship to the west, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the northwest, Lublin Voivodeship to the south, Belarus to the east, and Lithuania to the northeast.
The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998, from the former Białystok and Łomża Voivodeships and the eastern half of the former Suwałki Voivodeship.
Etymology 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 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). However, this etymology was supported by the Polish linguist Bogumił Samuel Linde, who in his Dictionary of the Polish Language proposed that Podlasie was named for its proximity to dense forests, referring to it as "a land near the forests". He argued that the name could be linked to its geographical position and historical landscape. Heavily wooded Podlaskie is home to the primeval Białowieża Forest and National Park, the habitat of 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", as the region was under Polish rule at various periods in the Middle Ages, although the area belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1466 until the 1569 Privilege of restoration of Podlasie land to the Polish Crown, however, the south-eastern part remained within Lithuania until 1795.
A better variant of the latter theory holds that 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, primarily a fief of the Poland of the Piasts, and later part of the Kingdom of Poland. Hence pod Lachem would mean "near the Poles", "along the border with Poland". The Lithuanian name of the region, Palenkė, has exactly this meaning.
History
The voivodeship 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.
As a result of the introduction of the new administrative division of the country on 1 January 1999, Łomża lost its status as the capital of the voivodeship, which in connection with this weakened the rank of this city as an administrative centre of regional importance. Since the beginning of the existence of the voivodeship, the most loud dispute between Łomża and Białystok has been the Via Baltica, which as an expressway, according to the original plans, was to run from Warsaw to the borders of Lithuania through Łomża-Grajewo-Suwałki. After Łomża lost its status as a voivodeship capital and the strengthening of Białystok's position, the project was changed, the course of the route was moved by several dozen kilometres. The construction of the Via Baltica was complicated by the conflict over the Rospuda Valley, a protected natural area, which was to be cut by the Augustów bypass. One of the biggest problems of the newly established voivodeship was unemployment. In 1999, companies began to generate losses for their owners, which resulted in employee layoffs. The deterioration of the companies' condition was related to the crisis in Russia, the low competitiveness of companies on Polish and foreign markets. The poverty zone was growing. In January 2000, approximately 75 thousand people were unemployed in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. The unemployment rate was over 12%. The highest unemployment rate in the Podlaskie Voivodeship was in Grajewo County.
In the Podlaskie Voivodeship Development Strategy adopted in 2000, Białystok was included in the central functional area. On March 21, 2005, the Podlaskie Voivodeship Sejmik adopted the first Regional Innovation Strategy for the Podlaskie Voivodeship. The restructuring of the economic base and creation of conditions for international cooperation were assumed. On 30 January 2007, the Council of Ministers accepted the draft Operational Programme for the Development of Eastern Poland for the years 2007-2013 together with the Indicative Investment Plan for the programme, which is a list of large and key projects selected from among the applications submitted to the Ministry of Regional Development from 5 voivodeships. Podlaskie Voivodeship received 386.86 million euros. Four priorities were implemented: modern economy, voivodeship growth centres, road infrastructure and technical assistance.
On November 15, 2024, a commemorative ceremony to the 25th anniversary of the creation of the voivodeship took place at the Magna Hall of Branicki Palace in Białystok, in which the Badge of Honour of Podlaskie Voivodeship was awarded.
Geography 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 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 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.
Environment
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 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 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".
Climate Podlaskie has a Warm Summer Continental or Hemiboreal climate (Dfb) according to 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 . The average temperature in a year is . The number of frost days ranges from 50 to 60, with frost from 110 to 138 days and the duration of snow cover from 90 to 110 days. Mean annual rainfall values oscillate around , and the vegetation period lasts 200 to 210 days.Białystok - Klimat - INFORMATOR BIAŁOSTOCKI
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 is affected by the cold fronts which come from Scandinavia and Siberia. The average temperature in the winter ranges from to .
One of the cities located in Podlaskie, Suwałki, is called as The Polish North Pole, due to it is coldest temperature average around Poland.
Subdivisions and Białystok Metropolitan Region
Podlaskie Voivodeship is divided into 17 counties (powiats): 3 city counties, those being Białystok, Suwałki, and Łomża. It 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 Rozporządzenie Nr 52/05 Wojewody Podlaskiego z dnia 16 maja 2005 r. w sprawie wyznaczenia aglomeracji Białystok (Dz. Urz. Woj. Podl. Nr 130, poz. 1547) 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 km2. For one km2, 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.
Demographics
Podlaskie is the most culturally diverse region of Poland. It has the country's largest Eastern Orthodoxy population (but Caholicism is still the dominant) mainly from the large Belarusian minority. It also has the highest amount of Lithuanians and Tatars of the voivodeships, and Poland's oldest mosque is located in the village of Kruszyniany. The historic Jews have also influenced the local culture.
Today, mainly Polish is spoken in Podlaskie. The Belarusian language is spoken by the Belarusian minority in the Bielsk, Hajnówka and Siemiatycze counties, while Lithuanian is preserved by the small but compact Lithuanian minority concentrated in the Sejny county. Podlachian language is spoken by a small local minority.
Population according to 2002 census: Poles - 1,135,347 Belarusians - 46,420 Lithuanians - 5,156 Ukrainians - 1,441 Russians - 647 Romanis - 369 Tatars - 323
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 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.
Government The voivodeship's seat is the city of Białystok. Like all voivodeships, it has a government-appointed governor called the Voivode (), 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.
Cities and towns
The voivodeship contains 3 cities and 37 towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 2019)
Economy The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the voivodeship 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 12th voivodeship in terms of GDP per capita in Poland.