Historic
Western Pomerania (outlined in yellow) on the background of modern country borders.
Pomerania (Polish: Pomorze, German: Pommern and Pommerellen, Pomeranian (Kashubian): Pòmòrze and Pòmòrskô, Latin: Pomerania, Pomorania) is a geographical and historical region in 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, as all of Europe. 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 the kings of Poland, Denmark, Saxony, Brandenburg, Prussia, and Sweden. With the split of the Holy Roman Empire into Austrian and German Empire, Pomerania was a part of Germany.
Origin and meaning of the name
The name is a Pomeranian translation of 'longum mare' and means 'country by/next to/along the sea'
The name was probably first mentioned as Latin words 'longum mare' (=along the sea) in an obscure church record of around 1080), called the Dagome Iudex, but supposedly dealing with 992. It names Oda von Haldensleben and her husband as Dagome, which is assumed to refer to Mieszko I, referring to territory Dagome gave as gift to the pope. In an imperial record of 1046 there is an actual first mention of Pomerania as Zemuzil dux Bomeranorum (Siemomysl, Duke of Pomeranians). From then on Pomerania is mentioned many times in the chronicles by 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 (Gdańsk Pomerania). The former covers roughly the teritorries referred to in German as Vorpommern and Hinterpommern, the latter corresponds to Pommerellen. 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
The biggest cities are (with population figures for 1999):
- Tricity metropolitan area (population(2001): 1035,000 area 1,332,51 km² ) including
and Kołobrzeg (Kolberg), Szczecinek Świnoujście
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 migrants from Scandinavia, called the Rugians. Later, 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
- For more details on this topic, see History of Pomerania.
Duchy of Pomerania in the
17th century. Note also the variant coat of arms on this map by Eilhardus Lubinus.
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 von Hohenzollern ("Irontooth"), 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.
The 16th–17th Centuries
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 Protestant, but the process was slower than in Brandenburg.
In 1637 the last of the Wendish Dukes of Pomerania, Bogislaw XIV, died out. 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 families such as the von Lettows, 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 fully 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 the Nazis, where the network of aristocratic estates and the loyalties they generated were ideal for conspiracy. Dietrich Bonhoeffer ran his illegal seminary at Schlönwitz in 1938. It was therefore ironic that Pomerania should have been given to Poland to compensate her for losses of territory elsewhere, and the German speaking population was unceremoniously expelled. A popular account of this period can be found in Christian von Krockow's book The Hour of the Women.
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).
See also
Further reading
Publications in English
- Linda Herrick & Wendy Uncapher, Pomerania Atlantic Bridge to Germany, Origins, Janesville, WI, 2005.
- LeRoy Boehlke, Pomerania. Its People and Its History, Pommerscher Verein Freistadt, Germantown, WI, 1983.
Publications in Polish
- Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. I (to 1466), parts 1-2, Poznań 1969
- Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. II (1466–1815), parts 1-2, Poznań 1976
- Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. III (1815–1850), parts 1-3, Poznań
- Gerard Labuda (ed.), Historia Pomorza, vol. IV (1850–1918), part 1, Toruń 2003
- Marian Biskup (ed.), Śląsk i Pomorze w historii stosunków polsko-niemieckich w średniowieczu. XII Konferencja Wspólnej Komisji Podręcznikowej PRL-RFN Historyków 5–10 VI 1979 Olsztyn, Instytut Zachdni, Poznań 1987
- Antoni Czubiński, Zbigniew Kulak (ed.), Śląsk i Pomorze w stosunkach polsko-niemieckich od XVI do XVII w. XIV Konferencja Wspólnej Komisji Podręcznikowej PRL-RFN Historyków, 9–14 VI 1981 r. Zamość, Instytut Zachodni, Poznań 1987
- Szkice do dziejów Pomorza, vol. 1-3, Warszawa 1958-61
- B. Wachowiak, Rozwój gospodarczo-społeczny Pomorza Zachodniego od połowy XV do początku XVII wieku, Studia i Materiały do dziejów Wielkopolski i Pomorza, 1958, z. 1
- J. Wiśniewski, Początki układu kapitalistycznego na Pomorzu Zachodnim w XVIII wieku, Studia i Materiały do dziejów Wielkopolski i Pomorza, 1958, z. 1
- A. Wielopolski, Gospodarka Pomorza Zachodniego w latach 1800–1918, Szczecin 1959
- W. Odyniec, Dzieje Prus Królewskich (1454–1772). Zarys monograficzny, Warszawa 1972
- Dzieje Pomorza Nadwiślańskiego od VII wieku do 1945 roku, Gdańsk 1978
- Zygmunt Boras, "Książęta Pomorza Zachodniego", Poznań 1969, 1978, 1996
- Zygmunt Boras, "Stosunki polsko-pomorskie w XVI w", Poznań 1965
- Zygmunt Boras, "Związki Śląska i Pomorza Zachdoniego z Polską w XVI wieku", Poznań 1981
- Kazimierz Kozłowski, Jerzy Podralski, "Poczet Książąt Pomorza Zachodniego", KAW, Szczecin 1985
- Lech Bądkowski, W. Samp. "Poczet książąt Pomorza Gdańskiego", Gdańsk 1974
- B. Śliwiński, "Poczet książąt gdańskich", Gdańsk 1997
- Wojciech Myślenicki, "Pomorscy sprzymierzenscy Jagiellończyków", Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Poznań 1979
- Józef Spors, "Podziały administracyjne Pomorza Gdańskiego i Sławieńsko-Słupskiego od XII do początków XIV w", Słupsk 1983
- Kazimierz Ślaski, "Podziały terytorialne Pomorza w XII-XII w.", Poznań 1960
- Benon Miśkiewicz, "Z dziejów wojennych Pomorza Zachodniego. Cedynia 972-Siekierki 1945", Wydawnictwo Poznańskie, Poznań 1972
Publications in German
- M. Wehrmann, Geschichte von Pommern, vol. 1-2, Gotha 1919-21
- M. Spahn, Verfassungs- und Wirtshaftsgeschichte des Herzogtums Pommern von 1476 bis 1625, Leipzig 1896
- B. Schumacher, Geschichte Ost- und Westpreussens, Wurzburg 1959
External links
Internet directories
Culture and history
Maps of Pomerania
