Pomerania
Pomerania is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian, Pomeranian and Kuyavian-Pomeranian voivodeships of Poland, while the western part belongs to the German states of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Brandenburg.
Pomerania's historical border in the west is the Mecklenburg-Western Pomeranian border Urstromtal, which now constitutes the border between the Mecklenburgian and Pomeranian part of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while it is bounded by the Vistula River in the east. The easternmost part of Pomerania is alternatively known as Pomerelia, consisting of four sub-regions: Kashubia inhabited by ethnic Kashubians, Kociewie, Tuchola Forest and Chełmno Land.
Pomerania has a relatively low population density, with its largest cities being Gdańsk and Szczecin. Outside its urban areas, it is characterized by farmland, dotted with numerous lakes, forests, and small towns. In the west of Pomerania lie several islands, the largest of which are Rügen, the largest island in Germany; Usedom/Uznam, and Wolin, the largest island in Poland. The region has a rich and complicated political and demographic history at the intersection of several cultures.
Geography
Borders
Pomerania is the area along the Bay of Pomerania of the Baltic Sea between the rivers Recknitz, Trebel, Tollense and Augraben in the west and Vistula in the east. It formerly reached perhaps as far south as the Noteć river, but since the 13th century its southern boundary has been placed further north.Landscape
Most of the region is coastal lowland, being part of the Central European Plain. Its southern, hilly parts belong to the Baltic Ridge, a belt of terminal moraines formed during the Pleistocene. Within this ridge, a chain of moraine-dammed lakes constitutes the Pomeranian Lake District. The soil is generally rather poor, sometimes sandy or marshy.The western coastline is jagged, with many peninsulas and islands enclosing numerous bays and lagoons.
The eastern coastline is smooth. Łebsko and several other lakes were formerly bays, but have been cut off from the sea. The easternmost coastline along the Gdańsk Bay and Vistula Lagoon, has the Hel Peninsula and the Vistula peninsula jutting out into the Baltic.
Subregions
The Pomeranian region has the following administrative divisions:- Western Pomerania in northeastern Germany, stretching from the Recknitz river to the Germany–Poland border. This region is part of the federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The southernmost part of historical Western Pomerania is now in Brandenburg, while its historical eastern parts are now in Poland. Western Pomerania comprises the historical regions inhabited by Western Slavic tribes Rugians and Volinians, otherwise the Principality of Rügen and the County of Gützkow.
- The West Pomeranian Voivodeship in Poland, stretching from the Oder–Neisse line to the Wieprza river, encompassing most of historical Pomerania in the narrow sense.
- The Pomeranian Voivodeship, with similar borders to Pomerelia, stretching from the Wieprza river to the Vistula delta in the vicinity of Gdańsk.
- The northern half of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, comprising most of Tuchola Forest and Chełmno Land.
Parts of Pomerania and surrounding regions have constituted a euroregion since 1995. The Pomerania euroregion comprises Hither Pomerania and Uckermark in Germany, West Pomerania in Poland, and Scania in Sweden.
Nomenclature
Etymology
In Lechitic languages the prefix "po-" means along; unlike the word "po", which means after. Pomorze, therefore, means Along the Sea. This construction is similar to toponyms Pogórze, Polesie, Porzecze, etc.Earliest sources
Pomerania was first mentioned in an imperial document of 1046, referring to a Zemuzil dux Bomeranorum. Pomerania is mentioned repeatedly in the chronicles of Adam of Bremen and Gallus Anonymous.Terminology and attribution of subdivisions
The territorial designation "Pomerania" lacks a universally accepted definition, since it may refer either to combined Hither and Farther Pomerania only or to Hither and Farther Pomerania combined with Pomerelia.As a consequence, the term "West Pomerania" is ambiguous, since it may refer to either Hither Pomerania, or to combined Hither and Farther Pomerania. In parallel, the term "East Pomerania" may similarly carry different meanings, referring either to Farther Pomerania, or to Pomerelia.
As a further complication, the borders of the eponymous administrative units have been drawn disregarding mostly the historical ones. The Polish unit called województwo zachodniopomorskie includes the whole Polish part of Hither Pomerania, but only the western two-thirds of Farther Pomerania, with the remaining easternmost one-third has been part of the województwo pomorskie. The former regional unit stretches however far more south than the historical region, to include the northern part of the historical Neumark, located in the previous medieval border area between Pomerania and Greater Poland, as well as a strip the historical Greater Poland, or even a small parts of Pomerelia and Lubusz Land ; in turn the other one comprises only approximately northern two-thirds of Pomerelia but also parts of historical Malbork Land and Upper Prussia known under the ethnographic designation of Powiśle and constituting the westernmost strip of historical Prussia; and finally, the remaining one third of Pomerelia forms part of województwo kujawsko-pomorskie, a further regional unit, in this case bearing a name accurately reflecting historical heterogeneity of its territory. Similarity but to lesser extent, borders of the combined German districts Vorpommern-Rügen and Vorpommern-Greifswald deviate significantly in numerous locations from the historical ones with Mecklenburg and Brandenburg. As a consequence, the common understanding of the terms has started to be used more and more frequently in the sense of the current administrative units.
History
Prehistory to the Middle Ages (circa 400 A.D. – 1400 A.D.)
Settlement in the area called Pomerania for the last 1,000 years started by the end of the Vistula Glacial Stage, some 13,000 years ago. Archeological traces have been found of various cultures during the Stone and Bronze Age, Baltic peoples, Germanic peoples and Veneti during the Iron Age and, in the Dark Ages, West Slavic tribes and Vikings. Starting in the 10th century, early Polish rulers subdued the region, successfully integrating the eastern part with Poland, while the western part fell under the suzerainty of Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire in the late 12th century. Gdańsk, established during the reign of Mieszko I of Poland, has since become Poland's main port.In the 12th century, the Duchy of Pomerania, as a vassal state of Poland, became Christian under saint Otto of Bamberg ; at the same time Pomerelia became a part of diocese of Włocławek within Poland. Since the late 12th-early 13th century, the Griffin Duchy of Pomerania stayed with the Holy Roman Empire and the Principality of Rugia with Denmark, while Pomerelia, under the ruling of Samborides, was a part of Poland. Pomerania, during its alliance in the Holy Roman Empire, shared borders with West Slavic state Oldenburg, as well as Poland and the expanding Margraviate of Brandenburg. In the early 14th century the Teutonic Knights invaded and annexed Pomerelia from Poland into their monastic state, which already included historical Prussia. As a result of the Teutonic rule, in German terminology the name of Prussia was also extended to conquered Polish lands like Gdańsk Pomerania, although it was not inhabited by Baltic Prussians but Lechitic Poles. Meanwhile, the Ostsiedlung started to turn Slavic narrow Pomerania into an increasingly German-settled area; the remaining Wends and Polish people, often known as Kashubians, continued to settle within Pomerelia. In 1325 the line of the princes of Rügen died out, and the principality was inherited by the Griffins.
Renaissance (circa 1400–1700) to Early Modern Age
In 1466, with the Teutonic Order's defeat in the Thirteen Years' War, Pomerelia became again part of the Polish Crown and formed the Pomeranian Voivodeship within the provinces of Royal Prussia and Greater Poland. While the German population in the Duchy of Pomerania adopted the Protestant reformation in 1534, the Polish population remained with the Roman Catholic Church. The Thirty Years' War severely ravaged and depopulated narrow Pomerania; few years later this same happened to Pomerelia. With the extinction of the Griffin house during the same period, the Duchy of Pomerania was divided between the Swedish Empire and Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648, while Pomerelia remained in with the Kingdom of Poland. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, French Huguenot communes were established in Gdańsk, Stargard, Prenzlau, Schwedt, Kołobrzeg, Pasewalk and Szczecin.Modern Age
of Swedish Pomerania in 1720, invaded and annexed Pomerelia from Poland in 1772 and 1793, and gained the remainder of Swedish Pomerania in 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars. The former Brandenburg-Prussian Pomerania and the former Swedish parts were reorganized into the Prussian Province of Pomerania, while Pomerelia was made part of the Province of West Prussia. With Prussia, both provinces joined the newly constituted German Empire in 1871. Under German rule, the Polish minority suffered discrimination and oppressive measures aimed at eradicating its culture.Following the German Empire's defeat in World War I, however, eastern Pomerania/Pomerelia was returned to the rebuilt Polish state, while German-majority Gdańsk/Danzig was transformed into the independent Free City of Danzig. In the interbellum, the border with Poland and the creation of what German propaganda called the "Polish Corridor" were often contested in Germany. Irredentist claims towards Poland were one of the factors contributing to the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany. In 1938 Germany's Province of Pomerania was expanded to include northern parts of the former Province of Posen–West Prussia.
Under the Nazi government, the persecution of Poles in the German-controlled part of Pomerania intensified. In January 1939, Germany resumed expulsions of Poles and many were also forced to flee. The Sturmabteilung, Schutzstaffel, Hitler Youth and Bund Deutscher Osten launched attacks on Polish institutions, schools and activists. From May to August 1939, the Gestapo carried out arrests of Polish leaders, activists, entrepreneurs, and even some staff of the Consulate of Poland in Szczecin.