Kashubians
The Kashubians, also known as Cassubians or Kashubs, are a Lechitic indigenous people native to the historical region of Pomerania, including its eastern part called Pomerelia, in north-central Poland. Their settlement area is referred to as Kashubia. They speak the Kashubian language, which is classified as a separate language closely related to Polish.
The Kashubs are closely related to the Poles and sometimes classified as their subgroup. Moreover, the vast majority of Kashubians declare themselves as Poles and many of them have a Polish-Kashubian identity. The Kashubs are grouped with the Slovincians as Pomeranians. Similarly, the Slovincian and Kashubian languages are grouped as Pomeranian languages, with Slovincian either a distinct language closely related to Kashubian, or a Kashubian dialect.
Modern Kashubia
Among larger cities, Gdynia contains the largest proportion of people declaring Kashubian origin. However, the biggest city of the Kashubia region is Gdańsk, the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Between 80.3% and 93.9% of the people in towns such as Linia, Sierakowice, Szemud, Kartuzy, Chmielno, Żukowo, etc. are of Kashubian descent.The traditional occupations of the Kashubs have been agriculture and fishing. These have been joined by the service and hospitality industries, as well as agrotourism. The main organization that maintains the Kashubian identity is the Kashubian-Pomeranian Association. The recently formed "Odroda" is also dedicated to the renewal of Kashubian culture.
The traditional capital has been disputed for a long time and includes Kartuzy among the seven contenders. The biggest cities claiming to be the capital are: Gdańsk, Wejherowo, and Bytów.
Population
The total number of Kashubians varies depending on one's definition. A common estimate is that over 500,000 people in Poland are of the Kashubian ethnicity, the estimates range from ca. 500,000 to ca. 567,000. In the Polish census of 2002, only 5,062 people declared Kashubian national identity, although 52,655 declared Kashubian as their everyday language. Most Kashubs declare Polish national identity and Kashubian ethnicity, and are considered both Polish and Kashubian. On the 2002 census there was no option to declare one national identity and a different ethnicity, or more than one ethnicity. On the 2011 census, the number of persons declaring "Kashubian" as their only ethnicity was 16,000, and 233,000 including those who declared Kashubian as first or second ethnicity. In that census, over 108,000 people declared everyday use of Kashubian language. The number of people who can speak at least some Kashubian is higher, around 366,000.| County / City | Kashubian descent | % | Can speak at least some Kashubian | % | Total population |
| Puck | 56,358 | 80,2 | 163,707 | 53,3 | 69,900 |
| Wejherowo | 113,097 | 66,1 | 163,707 | 53,3 | 171,100 |
| Kościerzyna | 49,116 | 74,5 | 163,707 | 53,3 | 65,900 |
| Kartuzy | 94,136 | 93,8 | 83,592 | 83,3 | 100,300 |
| Bytów | 37,767 | 49,2 | 26,544 | 34,6 | 76,700 |
| Chojnice | 23,926 | 26,3 | 37,954 | 18,8 | 91,000 |
| Lębork | 19,594 | 29,7 | 37,954 | 18,8 | 65,800 |
| Gdańsk | 13,742 | 30,6 | 37,954 | 18,8 | 45,000 |
| Gdynia City | 81,090 | 31,8 | 10,223 | 4,0 | 255,000 |
| Gdańsk City | 47,163 | 10,3 | 31,211 | 6,2 | 457,900 |
| Sopot City | 5,795 | 13,7 | 31,211 | 6,2 | 42,300 |
| Słupsk | 7,945 | 8,4 | 8,889 | 4,5 | 94,100 |
| Słupsk City | 9,504 | 9,3 | 8,889 | 4,5 | 102,200 |
| Człuchów | 7,814 | 13,3 | 3,713 | 6,3 | 58,800 |
| Total | 567,000 | 33,4 | 366,000 | 21,6 | 1,696,000 |
As of 1890, linguist Stefan Ramułt estimated the number of Kashubs in Pomerelia as 174,831. He also estimated that at that time there were over 90,000 Kashubs in the United States, around 25,000 in Canada,15,000 in Brazil and 25,000 elsewhere in the world. In total 330,000.
In the census of 2021 in total 179,685 people in Poland claimed Kashubian as their ethnic-national identity. Of them only 12,846 claimed it without accompanying Polish identity.
History
Kashubians are a Western Slavic people living on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Kashubians have their own unique language, history, culture and traditions.Historical population
Until the end of the 12th century, the vast majority of inhabitants of Pomerania were Slavic-speakers, but the province was quite sparsely populated, with large areas covered by forests and waste lands. During the 13th century, the German Ostsiedlung began in this region. Slavic dukes of Pomerania such as Barnim I – despite calling themselves dux Slavorum et Cassubie – contributed a lot to the change of ethnic structure by promoting German immigration and granting land to German nobles, monks and clergy. The Slavic ruling dynasty itself started intermarrying with German princesses and became culturally Germanized over time. Wendish commoners became alienated in their own land, their culture replaced by that of newcomers. All of this led to Germanization of most of Slavic Pomeranians and the gradual death of their Slavic language, with the general direction of assimilation and language shift from west to east. Johannes Bugenhagen wrote that at the beginning of the 16th century the German-Slavic language border was near Koszalin. During the 17th century, the border between areas with mostly German-speaking and mostly Slavic-speaking populations ran more or less along the present-day border between West Pomeranian and Pomeranian Voivodeships.In year 1612, cartographer Eilhard Lubinus – while working on his map of Pomerania – travelled from the direction of Pollnow towards Treblin on his way to Gdańsk. While staying in the manor house of Stanislaus Stenzel von Puttkamer in Treblin, he noted in his diary: "we have entered Slavic-inhabited lands, which has surprised us a lot." Later, while returning from Gdańsk to Stettin, Lubinus slept over in Wielka Wieś near Stolp, and noted: "in the whole village, we cannot find even one German-speaker". Lubinus also travelled from Chocimino through Świerzno to Trzebielino, he entered Slavic-inhabited land. During another trip, near Wierzchocino, he was not able to find even one German-speaking person.
Over a century later, in 1772–1778, the area was visited by Johann Bernoulli. He noted that villages owned by Otto Christoph von Podewils – such as Dochow, Zipkow and Warbelin – were inhabited entirely by Slavic-speakers. He also noted that local priests and nobles were making great efforts to weed out Slavic language and turn their subjects into Germans. Brüggemann in 1779 wrote that the area to the east of Lupow river was inhabited by "pure-blood Wends", while to the west of this river some rural areas were inhabited by already half-Germanised "Wendischdeutsche".
Perhaps the earliest census figures on ethnic or national structure of West Prussia and Farther Pomerania are from 1817 to 1823.
| Ethnic group | Population | Population |
| Poles, incl. Kashubs | 327,300 | 52% |
| Germans, incl. Mennonites | 277,350 + 12,650 Mennonites | 44% + 2% |
| Jews | 12,700 | 2% |
| Total | 630,077 | 100% |
Karl Andree, Polen: in geographischer, geschichtlicher und culturhistorischer Hinsicht, gives the total population of West Prussia as 700,000 – including 50% Poles, 47% Germans and 3% Jews. Kashubians are included with Poles, while Mennonites with Germans.
Modern estimates of Kashubian population in West Prussia in the early 19th century, by county, are given by Leszek Belzyt and Jan Mordawski:
| County | Total population | Kashubians and Poles | Percent |
| Wejherowo-Puck | 35,250 | 28,905 | 82.0% |
| Kartuzy | 29,144 | 24,772 | 85.0% |
| Kościerzyna | 23,120 | 16,646 | 72.0% |
| Chojnice without Tuchola | 23,000 | 15,525 | 67.5% |
| Gdańsk Highlands | 27,000 | 9,450 | 35.0% |
| Człuchów | 32,611 | 8,100 | 25.0% |
| Total in Eastern Kashubia: | 170,125 | 103,400 | 60.8% |
According to Georg Hassel, there were 65,000 Slavic-speakers in the whole Provinz Pommern in 1817–1819. Modern estimates for just eastern parts of Pommern in early 1800s range between 40,000 and 25,000. The number declined to between 35,000 and 23,000 in years 1827–1831. In 1850-1860s there were an estimated 23,000 to 17,000 Slavic-speakers left in Pommern, down to 15,000 in 1892 according to Stefan Ramułt. The number was declining due to Germanisation. The bulk of Slavic population in 19th century Pommern was concentrated in its easternmost counties: especially Bytów, Lębork and Słupsk. According to Zygmunt Szultka at the beginning of the 19th century in Provinz Pommern Kashubians were still around 55% of the total population in county Lauenburg-Bütow and over 25% of the total population in county Stolp.