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 Greater Poland - Definition 

Greater Poland on the map of Poland
Missing image
Herb_Wielkopolska.gif
Greater Poland Voivodship modern coats of arms

Greater Poland (also Great Poland; Polish: Wielkopolska, German: Grosspolen, Latin: Polonia Maior) is one of the historical regions of Poland. It is located in western-central Poland, encompassing much of the area drained by the Warta River and its tributaries.

The Greater Poland Voivodship (in Polish województwo wielkopolskie) is an administrative region or voivodship of western-central Poland It was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Poznan, Kalisz, Konin, Pila and Leszno voivodships as a result of Local Government Reorganization Act of 1998. The voivodship's name recalls the region's traditional name of Greater Poland(Wielkopolska).

It is second in area and third in population among the country's sixteen voivodships, with 29,826 km² and 3.4 million inhabitants. Its principal cities are:

Its principal cities are Poznan, Leszno, Kalisz and Gniezno. Most of the historical region (except some southwestern communities) is included the Greater Poland voivodship (administrative province) created in 1999.

Contents
1 Name of the region

1.1 Major cities and towns
1.2 Administrative division
1.3 Major corporations

2 Most popular surnames in the region
3 Further reading
4 See also
5 External links

Name of the region

Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) was the core of the early medieval Polish state, often called the cradle of Poland, and at times was called simply Poland (in Latin: Polonia). The name of Greater Poland is mentioned first in Latin form Polonia Maior in 1257, and in Polish form w Wielkej Polszcze in 1449. The name of the region can be understool as the Old Poland as opposed to the New Poland (Lesser Poland, Małopolska, Polonia Minor, a region in south-eastern Poland with Kraków as its capital) and in opposition to the whole Poland as a state and country.

Major cities and towns

(population 2003)

Administrative division

Major corporations

Most popular surnames in the region



 
Greater Poland 		Missing image
Herb_Wielkopolska.gif
Coat of Arms of Greater Poland

Historical administrative divisions
Duchy of Greater Poland (12th-13th centuries) • Poznań Voivodship and Kalisz Voivodship (until 1793) • South Prussia (until 1806) • Duchy of Warsaw (until 1815) • Grand Duchy of Poznań (until 1918) • Poznań Voivodship (until 1939) • Reichsgau Posen (1939) • Reichsgau Wartheland (until 1945) • Poznań Voivodship (until 1975) • Poznań Voivodship, Kalisz Voivodship, Leszno Voivodship, Konin Voivodship and Piła Voivodship (until 1998) • Greater Poland Voivodship
Greater Poland Uprisings
1794 • 1806 • 1846 • 1848 • 1918


Further reading

  • Zygmunt Boras, Książęta Piastowscy Wielkopolski, Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Poznań 1983

See also

External links



 
Poland 		Flag of Poland
Voivodships of Poland
Greater Poland | Kuyavia-Pomerania | Lesser Poland | Łódź | Lower Silesia | Lublin | Lubusz | Masovia | Opole | Podlachia | Pomerania | Świętokrzyskie | Silesia | Subcarpathia | Warmia and Masuria | West Pomerania
Principal cities
Warsaw | Łódź | Kraków | Wrocław | Poznań | Gdańsk | Szczecin | Bydgoszcz | Lublin | Katowice | Białystok | Częstochowa | Gdynia | Toruń | Radom | Kielce | Rzeszów | Olsztyn



id:Provinsi Wielkopolskie de:Woiwodschaft GroĂźpolen et:Suur-Poola vojevoodkond fr:Voďvodie de Grande-Pologne pl:Województwo_wielkopolskie no:Wielkopolskie

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