Pomerania

Historic Pomerania (outlined in yellow) on the background of modern country borders.

Pomerania (Polish: , German: , Kashubian: Pòmòrze or Pòmòrskô, Latin: Pomerania, Pomorania) is a geographical region today divided between northern Poland and Germany on the south coasts of the Baltic Sea between and on both sides of the Vistula and Oder (Odra) rivers, reaching the Recknitz river in the west.

Polish Pomerania is currently divided into 3 voivodships: the West Pomeranian Voivodship (Zachodniopomorskie, ZP), Pomeranian Voivodship (Pomorskie, PM) and the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodship (Kujawsko-Pomorskie, KP). German Pomerania (Vorpommern) is part of the German Bundesland (federal state) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania).

The history of the region is rich and varied, perhaps due to its having been under the rule of many different powers through the centuries. A Polish province since 962, from 1181 until 1806, Pomerania was a part of the Holy Roman Empire and was ruled as imperial fiefs by the Dukes of Pomerania, and, briefly, the kings of Poland; also Denmark, Saxony, Brandenburg, Prussia, and Sweden. With the demise of the Holy Roman Empire Pomerania became a part of Prussia, then, after 1871 of Germany.

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Origin and meaning of the name

Pomerania takes its name from the Latin "longum mare," and means "country by/next to/along the sea." The Polish name, "Pomorze," is literally "Seacoast" (here, the Baltic seacoast).

There is a probable first mention of Pomerania as the Latin "longum mare" (="along the sea") in a papal document of around 1080, the Dagome iudex, shortened copy of an earlier document supposedly referring to the year 992. The document speaks of Oda von Haldensleben and her husband "Dagome," assumed to be the Polish ruler Mieszko I, and refers to territory gifted by "Dagome" to the Pope. An imperial document of 1046 makes an actual first mention of "Pomerania" in reference to "Zemuzil dux Bomeranorum" (Siemomysl, Duke of the Pomeranians). From then on, "Pomerania" appears repeatedly in the chronicles of Adam of Bremen (ca. 1070) and Gallus Anonymous (ca. 1113).

Subdivisions of Pomerania

In the German tradition Pomerania is often divided into Vorpommern (on the left bank of the Oder river) and Hinterpommern (on its right bank). The easternmost part is known in German as Pommerellen, bordering and overlapping with West Prussia.

Polish terminology divides Pomerania into: Pomorze Zachodnie (Western Pomerania) and Pomorze Wschodnie or Pomorze Gdańskie (Pomerelia). The former covers roughly the teritorries referred to in German as Vorpommern and Hinterpommern, the latter corresponds to Pommerellen (Pomerelia). Under Polish administration a number of several different voivodships all using the name Pomerania have been established.

Kashubian geographic terminology with regard to Pomerania is similar to Polish, and distinguishes between Zôpadnô Pòmòrskô (Western Pomerania) and Pòrénkòwô Pòmòrskô (Eastern Pomerania).

Demographics

Polish Voivodship or German Kreis Capitals Registration plates Area
w km² Population
Polish(Dec 31st of 1999)
German 2001 territorial code
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodship Bydgoszcz¹
Toruń² C 17,969.72 2,100,771 04
Pomeranian Voivodship Gdańsk G 18,292.88 2,192,268 22
West Pomeranian Voivodship Szczecin Z 22,901.48 1,732,838 32
(¹) - the site of the Voivod office. (²) - the site of the Voivod council

Polish Pomerania total 59,164.08 6,025,877
Nordvorpommern Grimmen NPV 2,168 117,722
Ostvorpommern Anklam OVP 1,910 113,623
Rügen Bergen auf Rügen RÜG 974 74,400
Uecker-Randow Pasewalk UER 1,624 83,459
Demmin (district) Demmin DM 1,921 93,700
Greifswald HGW 52.2 52,984
Stralsund HST est. 52.2 60,000
German Pomerania total 8,701 595,888

Polish Voivodship or German Kreis	Capitals	Registration plates	Area w km²	Population Polish(Dec 31st of 1999) German 2001	territorial code
Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodship	Bydgoszcz¹ Toruń²	C	17,969.72	2,100,771	04
Pomeranian Voivodship	Gdańsk	G	18,292.88	2,192,268	22
West Pomeranian Voivodship	Szczecin	Z	22,901.48	1,732,838	32
(¹) - the site of the Voivod office. (²) - the site of the Voivod council
Polish Pomerania total			59,164.08	6,025,877
Nordvorpommern	Grimmen	NPV	2,168	117,722
Ostvorpommern	Anklam	OVP	1,910	113,623
Rügen	Bergen auf Rügen	RÜG	974	74,400
Uecker-Randow	Pasewalk	UER	1,624	83,459
Demmin (district)	Demmin	DM	1,921	93,700
Greifswald		HGW	52.2	52,984
Stralsund		HST	est. 52.2	60,000
German Pomerania total			8,701	595,888

The biggest cities are (with population figures for 1999):

in Polish Pomerania
* Tricity metropolitan area (population(2001): 1035,000 area 1,332,51 km² ) including
** Gdańsk (458,988) (1905 - 159,685)
** Gdynia (253,521)
** Sopot (46,000)
* Szczecin (416,988) (1905 - 224,078)
* Bydgoszcz (369,151)
* Toruń (206,158)
* Koszalin (112,375)
* Słupsk (102,370)
* Stargard Szczeciński (72,000)

and Kołobrzeg (Kolberg), Szczecinek Świnoujście

in German Pomerania
* Greifswald (52,984)
* Stralsund (63,000)
* Wolgast
* Barth

Geography

Pomerania is the area along the Baltic Sea between the Vistula, Noteć, Warta and Recknitz rivers. The islands of Uznam, Wolin and Rügen lie along the Pomeranian coast, while the Hel peninsula and the Vistula peninsula jut out into the Baltic.

The Baltic forms the Bay of Pomerania, Szczecin Bay, Gdańsk Bay with Bay of Puck, and Vistula Bay along the coast. Lakes Lebsko, Jamno and Gardno were formerly bays but have been cut off from the sea.

Prehistoric times

In prehistoric times Pomerania was settled by East Germanic migrants from Scandinavia, called the Rugians. Later, around 500 AD, they moved on to Central Europe and were replaced by Slavic tribes.

The Pomeranians are first mentioned around the year 1000 AD.

The territory of northern Germania, as it was recorded 2000 years ago was covered with ice, which did not start to recede until the late period of the Old Stone Age or Paleolithic some 10,000 years BC, when the Scandinavian glacier receded to the north. Various archeological cultures developed in the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age

History of Pomerania

Duchy of Pomerania in the 17th century. Note also the variant coat of arms on this map by Eilhardus Lubinus.

Pomerania as part of Poland

Pomerania was conquered by the Polish duke Mieszko I in the second half of the 10th century. During the big pagan uprising in Poland in 1038 it became shortly independent to return later to Poland. In 1138 it became a part of the Polish seniorat, which the western part left in 1181 to join alliances with German noblemen. Since 1181 until 1806 "Pommern" (in polish terminology "Western Pommerania") was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire. The eastern part was conquered by the Teutonic Knights in 1309 and became part of the Prussian state. It returned to the kingdom of Poland in 1466 in a personal union. It was from then on called "Prussia of the part of the King of Poland". In 1569 the link to Poland became closer as a "real union" between Poland and this "Prussia of the part of the Kings of Poland" was formed.

Duchy of Pomerania in 15th century

Throughout the late mediaeval period Pomerania was claimed by Mecklenburg, Brandenburg and Poland, and occasionally by the Teutonic Knights. In 1420 the Wendish nobles of Brandenburg were supported by the Wends of Pomerania in an uprising against the Margrave of Brandenburg, Frederick I of the Hohenzollerns, but were decisively defeated at Angermünde. Frederick believed that the key to the complicated politics of his region was to forge close ties with Poland, which could now control the Teutonic order and was therefore in a position to confirm Brandenburg’s claims to Pomerania. He therefore arranged for his second son, Frederick, to get engaged to King Vladislav of Poland’s daughter.

This enraged Sigismund of Bohemia, who now threw his support behind the Dukes of Pomerania, granting them the Uckermark. In 1425 it came to war, with Brandenburg facing Pomerania, Mecklenburg, the Teutonic Order and even Poland. Frederick’s plans had come badly unstuck. In the war which followed, Frederick was able to keep the Uckermark, but Hohenzollern pretensions to rule Pomerania were thwarted.

Since 1200 a steady influx of German settlers and agricultural pioneers had existed in then mostly Slavic Pomerania.

The 16th–17th Centuries

For more details on this topic, see Swedish Pomerania.

Disputes with Brandenburg continued. These were partially agreed at the Conference of Juterbog (1527) between Joachim I of Brandenburg and the Duke of Pomerania. As the Reformation gathered pace, Pomerania also went Lutheran Protestant, but the process was slower than in Brandenburg.

In 1637 the last of the Wendish Dukes of Pomerania, Boguslaw XIV, died without direct male successor. During the Thirty Years War Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden occupied Pomerania. In the negotiations between France Brandenburg and Sweden following the Northern War the Brandenburgish diplomats Joachim Friedrich von Blumenthal and his son Christoph Caspar obtained the rights of succession for Brandenburg, though the argument with Sweden, especially over Hither Pomerania, continued to the end of the 17th century and beyond, until the Treaty of Stockholm in 1720.

The 18th–19th centuries

Prussian noblemen began to acquire estates in Pomerania, while Pomeranian noblemen were integrated into Prussian society. Thus originally Wendish noble families such as the von Lettows, von Strelows, von Peglows, von Zitzewitzes and von Krockows intermarried with German families from Brandenburg such as the von Blumenthals, who possessed great estates at Quackenburg, Varzin, Dubberzin, Schlönwitz and elsewhere. By the nineteenth century Pomerania was mostly Germanised, and was a popular place of retirement for the well-to-do such as Bismarck, who bought Varzin.

The 20th Century

During the Nazi period Pomerania was a hotbed of opposition to as well as supporter of the Nazis, where the network of aristocratic estates and the loyalties they generated were ideal for conspiracy. Dietrich Bonhoeffer ran his illegal seminary at the Pomeranian village of Schlönwitz in 1938. It was therefore ironic that Pomerania should have been given to Poland to compensate her for losses of territory in the East to the Soviet Union in 1945, and the German speaking population fled or was expelled (often by violence). A popular account of this period can be found in Christian von Krockow's book The Hour of the Women. Much of Pomerania became Polish in 1945.

Modern 20th Century divisions of Pomerania

The eastern part of Pomerania, Pomorze, is a geographical and historical region in Poland that encompasses three Polish voivodships: the West Pomeranian Voivodship (Zachodniopomorskie), Pomeranian Voivodship (Pomorskie) and the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodship (Kujawsko-Pomorskie). The most western part of Pomerania (Vorpommern, in Polish Zapomorze) is part of the German state (Bundesland) of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).

External links

Internet directories

Culture and history

Maps of Pomerania

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