Powiat
Encyclopedia : P : PO : POW : Powiat
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| Administrative divisions of Poland |
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Voivodeships Counties (list) Communes () |
A county (Polish: powiat, pronounced "povyat"; plural, powiaty) is the Polish third-level unit of administration, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (NUTS-3) in other countries. The county is part of a larger entity called the voivodship (Polish: województwo), and in turn usually comprises several communes, each called a gmina (plural: gminy).
History and functioning
Some Polish urban communes constitute administrative entities called the "urban county" (powiat grodzki), similar in local administration and self-governance to "land counties." An average county (the largest being the powiat of Białystok) comprises 5 – 8 communes. The largest urban county, in terms of population and area, is the city of Warsaw.
Legislative power within the county is vested in a "county council" (rada powiatu) or "city council" (rada miasta), while local executive power is vested in the starosta, who in urban counties is called the mayor (burmistrz) or "president."
The history of Polish counties goes back to the second half of the 14th century. They remained the basic units of territorial organization in Poland, then in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, until the latter's total dismemberment by its neighbors in 1795. In the 19th century, counties continued to function in the part of Poland that had been incorporated into the Russian Empire ("Congress Poland") and as Polish equivalent of Kreis in bilingual Grand Duchy of Poznań. After Poland regained independence in 1918, counties again became the basic territorial units throughout Poland.
Powiats were abolished in 1975, in favor of a larger number of voivodships, but were reintroduced in 1999. There are now 308 "land counties" (powiat ziemski) and 65 "urban counties" (powiat grodzki).
See also
| Current: Administrative division of Poland Historical: Administrative division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth | ||
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| National: | województwo | powiat | gmina | |
| Rural: | sołectwo | gromada | |
| Urban: | dzielnica | osiedle | |
| Historical: | prowincja | ziemia | księstwo | okręg | gubernia | departament | rejencja | |
| See also: List of terms for sub-national entities | ||
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