Pomeranian Voivodeship ( ; ) is a voivodeship, a first-level administrative subdivision, in northwestern Poland. Its capital is Gdańsk.
The voivodeship was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former voivodeships of Gdańsk, Elbląg, and Słupsk, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1997. It is bordered by the West Pomeranian Voivodeship to the west, Greater Poland and the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship to the south, the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the east, and the Baltic Sea to the north. It also shares a short land border with Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) on the Vistula Spit. The bulk of the voivodeship is located in the historic region of Pomerania, with the territories on the eastern bank of the Vistula being part of Powiśle. The Pomeranian part of the region comprises most of Pomerelia (the easternmost part of Pomerania) with its subregions of Kashubia and Kociewie, whereas the western part, around Słupsk, is part of Farther Pomerania.
The province is one of rich cultural heritage. The Tricity urban area, consisting of Gdańsk, Gdynia, and Sopot, is one of the main cultural, commercial, and educational centres of Poland. Gdańsk and Gdynia are two of the major Polish seaports, the first erected by Mieszko I of Poland in the Middle Ages, the latter built in the interwar period. Amongst the most recognisable landmarks of the region are the historic city centre of Gdańsk filled with Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces, the Museum of the National Anthem in Będomin, located at the birthplace of Józef Wybicki, poet and politician, author of the national anthem of Poland, the largest medieval churches of Poland (the St. Mary's Church in Gdańsk and the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Pelplin) and the Malbork Castle. The voivodeship also includes the narrow Hel Peninsula and the Polish half of the Vistula Spit. Other tourist destinations include Wejherowo, Sopot, Jurata, Łeba, Władysławowo, Puck, Krynica Morska, Ustka, Jastarnia, Kuźnica, Bytów and many fishing ports, lighthouses, and marinas.
Etymology The name Pomerania derives from the Slavic po more, meaning "by the sea" or "on the sea".Der Name Pommern (po more) ist slawischer Herkunft und bedeutet so viel wie "Land am Meer". (Pommersches Landesmuseum, German)
Cities and towns
The voivodeship contains 7 cities and 35 towns. These are listed below in descending order of population (official 2019 figures).
Administrative division Pomeranian Voivodeship is divided into 20 counties (powiats): 4 city counties, and 16 land counties. These are further divided into 123 gminas (communes).
The counties are listed below in order of decreasing population.
English and Polish namesArea (km2)Population (2019)SeatOther townsTotal gminasCity counties Gdańsk262468,1581 Gdynia136246,2441 Słupsk43.1590,7691 Sopot17.3135,8271Land countiesWejherowo County powiat wejherowski 1,280216,764WejherowoRumia, Reda10Starogard County powiat starogardzki 1,345128,055Starogard GdańskiSkarszewy, Skórcz, Czarna Woda13Tczew County powiat tczewski 698115,738TczewPelplin, Gniew6Kartuzy County powiat kartuski 1,120137,942KartuzyŻukowo8Słupsk County powiat słupski 2,30498,793Słupsk *Ustka, Kępice10Chojnice County powiat chojnicki 1,36497,616ChojniceCzersk, Brusy5Gdańsk County powiat gdański 793117,452Pruszcz Gdański8Kwidzyn County powiat kwidzyński 83583,231KwidzynPrabuty6Bytów County powiat bytowski 2,19379,260BytówMiastko10Puck County powiat pucki 57886,203PuckWładysławowo, Jastarnia, Hel7Kościerzyna County powiat kościerski 1,16672,589Kościerzyna8Lębork County powiat lęborski 70766,196LęborkŁeba5Malbork County powiat malborski 49563,575MalborkNowy Staw6Człuchów County powiat człuchowski 1,57456,225CzłuchówCzarne, Debrzno7Sztum County powiat sztumski 73141,808SztumDzierzgoń5Nowy Dwór County powiat nowodworski (pomorski) 65335,656Nowy Dwór GdańskiKrynica Morska5* seat not part of the county
Governors Pomeranian Voivodeship (1466–1772) Portrait Name Term Party 1 Jan z Jani – Casimir IV 2 Otto Machwicz – Casimir IV 3 Fabian Legendorf-Mgowski – Casimir IV 4 Jan Bajerski – Casimir IV 5 Mikołaj Wulkowski – Casimir IV 6 Mikołaj Szpot – Sigismund I the Old 7 Jerzy Konopacki – Sigismund I the Old 8 Mikołaj Działyński – Sigismund I the Old 9 Jan Sokołowski – Sigismund I the Old 10 Stanisław Kostka – Sigismund I the Old 11 Jan Działyński – Sigismund II August 12 Fabian Czema – Sigismund II August 13 Achacy Czema – Sigismund II August 14 Krzysztof Kostka – Stephen Báthory 15 Ludwik Mortęski – Sigismund III Vasa 16 Michał Konarski – Sigismund III Vasa 17 Samuel Żaliński – Sigismund III Vasa 18 Maciej Niemojewski – Sigismund III Vasa 19 Samuel Konarski – Sigismund III Vasa 20 Paweł Jan Działyński – Sigismund III Vasa 21 Gerhard Denhoff – Władysław IV Vasa 22 Ludwik Wejher – Władysław IV Vasa 23 Stanisław Kobierzycki – John II Casimir Vasa 24 Jan Ignacy Bąkowski – John II Casimir Vasa 25 Władysław Denhoff – John III Sobieski 26 Władysław Łoś – John III Sobieski 27 Jan Gniński – John III Sobieski 28 Jan Ignacy Działyński – Augustus II the Strong 29 Stefan Potocki – Augustus II the Strong 30 Piotr Jan Czapski – Augustus II the Strong 31 Jakub Florian Narzymski – Augustus III 32 Paweł Michał Mostowski – Augustus III 33 Jan Jerzy Flemming – Stanisław August Poniatowski 34 Ignacy Franciszek Przebendowski – Stanisław August Poniatowski 35 Feliks Antoni Łoś – Stanisław August Poniatowski 36 Józef Mier – Stanisław August Poniatowski
West Prussia 1816-1919 Portrait Name Term Party 1 Theodor von Schön – Independent 2 Heinrich von Achenbach – Free Conservative Party 3 Ernst von Ernsthausen – German Conservative Party 4 Adolf Hilmar von Leipziger – Independent 5 Gustav von Goßler – German Conservative Party 6 Clemens von Delbrück – Independent 7 Ernst Ludwig von Jagow – Independent
Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919-1939) Portrait Name Term Party 1 Stefan Łaszewski – Popular National Union 2 Jan Brejski – Independent 3 Stanisław Wachowiak – National Workers' Party 4 Kazimierz Młodzianowski – Independent 5 Wiktor Lamot – Independent 6 Stefan Kirtiklis – Independent 7 Władysław Raczkiewicz – Independent
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Portrait Name Term Party 1 Albert Forster – Nazi Party
Gdańsk Voivodeship (1945–1975) Portrait Name Term Party 1 Mieczysław Okęcki – Polish United Workers' Party 2 Stanisław Zrałek – Polish United Workers' Party 3 Mieczysław Wągrowski – Polish United Workers' Party 4 Bolesław Geraga – Polish United Workers' Party 5 Walenty Szeliga – Polish United Workers' Party 6 Józef Wołek – Polish United Workers' Party 7 Piotr Stolarek – Polish United Workers' Party 8 Tadeusz Bejm – Polish United Workers' Party 9 Henryk Śliwowski – Polish United Workers' Party
Gdańsk Voivodeship (1975–1998) Portrait Name Term Party 1 Henryk Śliwowski – Polish United Workers' Party 2 Jerzy Kołodziejski – Polish United Workers' Party 3 Mieczysław Cygan – Polish United Workers' Party 4 Jerzy Jędykiewicz – Polish United Workers' Party 5 Maciej Płażyński – Independent 6 Henryk Wojciechowski – Democratic Left Alliance
Pomeranian Voivodeship 1998-present Portrait Name Term Party 1 Tomasz Sowiński – Solidarity Electoral Action 2 Jan Ryszard Kurylczyk – Democratic Left Alliance 3 Cezary Dąbrowski – Democratic Left Alliance 4 Piotr Ołowski – Law & Justice 5 Piotr Karczewski – Law & Justice 6 Roman Zaborowski – Civic Platform 7 Ryszard Stachurski – Civic Platform 8 Dariusz Drelich – Law & Justice 9 Beata Rutkiewicz –Incumbent Independent
Timeline since 1919
Economy
The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was 29.2 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 5.9% of Polish economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 20,800 euros or 69% of the EU27 average in the same year. The GDP per employee was 74% of the EU average.
Major corporations Corporation name Further informationLocationKind of activity Energa Gdańsk Power Generator Gdańsk energy supplies Ergo Hestia Sopot insurance Gdańsk Repair Yard Gdańsk repair shipyard Gdynia Stocznia Gdynia shipyard GE Capital Bank Gdańsk banking Grupa LOTOS Gdańsk petroleum products Intel Technology Poland Gdańskhardware International Paper Kwidzyn Kwidzyn paper products Lubiana Łubiana near Kościerzyna china-ware manufacturer Philips Consumer ElectronicsKwidzynelectronics Polpharma Starogard Gdański medicines Prokom Software Gdynia software Destylarnia Sobieski Starogard Gdański distillery Elnord Gdańsk energy supplies LPP Gdańsk designing and distributing clothesSource:
Transport
Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport Obwodnica Trójmiejska
The A1, S6 and S7 highways pass through the province.
Railway Pomorska Kolej Metropolitalna SKM
The three busiest railway stations of northern Poland, and three of ten busiest railway stations of Poland overall, are located in the voivodeship. Those are Gdynia Główna, Gdańsk Główny and Gdańsk Wrzeszcz.
Education
Higher education NameLocationStudents in thousands total of which women Total-97.955.3 Uniwersytet Gdański (Gdańsk University)Tricity29.319.4 Politechnika Gdańska (Gdańsk University of Technology)Gdańsk17.65.9 Akademia Pomorska w Słupsku (Pomeranian Academy in Słupsk)Słupsk8.16.0 Akademia Medyczna w Gdańsku (Medical University of Gdańsk) Gdańsk4.23.1 Akademia Wychowanie Fizycznego i Sportu w Gdańsku (Gdańsk Sports Academy) Gdańsk4.11.9 Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Gdańsku (Gdańsk Academy of Fine Arts) Gdańsk0.90.7 Akademia Marynarki Wojennej im. Bohaterów Westerplatte (Polish Naval Academy) Gdynia.. Akademia Morska w Gdyni (Gdynia Maritime Academy) Gdynia.. Gdańskie Seminarium Duchowne (Gdańsk Seminary) Gdańsk.. Akademia Muzyczna im. Stanisława Moniuszki w Gdańsku (Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music, in Gdańsk) Gdańsk..Data as of 31 November 2005, source http://www.stat.gov.pl
Protected areas
Protected areas in Pomeranian Voivodeship include two National Parks and nine Landscape Parks. These are listed below. Słowiński National Park (a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve) Tuchola Forest National Park (part of a UNESCO-designated biosphere reserve) Coastal Landscape Park Iława Lake District Landscape Park (partly in Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship) Kashubian Landscape Park Słupia Valley Landscape Park Tricity Landscape Park Tuchola Landscape Park (partly in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship) Vistula Spit Landscape Park Wdydze Landscape Park Zaborski Landscape Park
Sports
Football, basketball, motorcycle speedway and volleyball enjoy the largest following in the voivodeship. The Arka Gdynia and Lechia Gdańsk football clubs contest the Tricity Derby, the fiercest football rivalry in northern Poland.
Since the establishment of the province, several major international sports competitions were co-hosted by the province, including the EuroBasket 2009, UEFA Euro 2012, 2013 Men's European Volleyball Championship, 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship, 2016 European Men's Handball Championship, 2017 Men's European Volleyball Championship, 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup, 2021 Men's European Volleyball Championship, 2023 World Men's Handball Championship.