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Polish Vojvodships (Wojewodztwo)

Last modified: 2003-04-26 by jarig bakker
Keywords: poland | vojvodship | wojewodztwo | county |
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New polish voivodships and counties (powiatu)

Dolnośląskie (DS) - Wrocław (capital) (Lower Silesia)
Dolnośląskie counties and municipalities Kujawsko-pomorskie (KP) - Bydgoszcz (capital and the largest city) & Toruń (seat of regional council) - (Cuiavia-Pomerania)
Kujawsko-pomorskie counties and communes Lubuskie (LB) - Gorzów & Zielona Góra (Lubuskia)
Lubuskie counties and communes. Łódzkie (LD) - Łódź (Lodzia)
Łódzkie counties and communes Lubelskie (LU) - Lublin (Lublinia)
Lubelskie counties and communes Mazowieckie (MA) - Warszawa (Mazovia or Warsawia)
Mazowieckie counties and communes Małopolskie (MP) - Kraków (Little Poland or Cracovia)
Malopolskie counties and communes Opolskie (OP) - Opole (Opola)
Opolskie counties and communes Podlaskie (PD) - Białystok (Bialystokia)
Podlaskie counties and communes Podkarpackie (PK) - Rzeszów (Subcarpathia)
Podkarpackie counties and communes Pomorskie (PM) - Gdańsk (East Pomerania)
Pomorskie counties and communes Śląskie (SL) - Katowice (Upper Silesia)
Śląskie counties and communes Świętokrzyskie (SW) - Kielce (Kielceian (or Holyroodian, after the name of the highest peak in Holyrood mountains)
Świętokrzyskie counties and communes Warmińsko-mazurskie (WM) - Olsztyn (Mazuria)
Warmińsko-mazurskie communes and counties Wielkopolskie (WP) - Poznań (Great Poland or Posnania)
Wielkopolskie counties and communes Zachodniopomorskie (ZP) - Szczecin (West Pomerania)
Zachodniopomorskie counties and communes Info by Gwidon S. Naskrent, 15 Dec 2000

Old and new voivodships

On July 18, 1998, the Sejm, which is the lower house of Polish Parliament, approved legislation transforming Poland's 49 provinces into 16 new ones, a process which is part of an administrative reform. The Sejm voted 326-45-41 for the measure, one of many in a package of legislation aimed at doing away with the communist era administration and shifting power to local governments. On July 27, 1998, President Aleksander Kwasniewski signed into law a bill dividing Poland into 16 new provinces. On August 7, 1998, the government decided there will be 308 counties (powiaty) in Poland. A number of cities (65 of them) will have county rights. The decentralization, being a result of territorial reform which will take effect on January 1, 1999, has broad support. These decisions ended the argument concerning administrative reform. (Info from this site)
Jarig Bakker, 31 Aug 2000

Common patterns in county flags

Why do some Polish counties have a triangular fly and others do not? Do they represent some specific region, and therefore the shape is indicative of this situation?
Blas Delgado Ortiz, 30 Oct 2001

County flags have been designed only since the regional reorganization of 1999, so it's quite early to look for common patterns. So far there are two regional patterns:
1. Malopolskie vojvodship: some counties, but by no means all, use the civic Malopolskie flag with the CoA of the county in the center.
2. Wielkopolskie vojvodship: the Wielkopolskie flag has the trapezoid pattern, now taken over by several (but not all) counties.
Jarig Bakker, 30 Oct 2001