Administrative division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
1569–1648
Administrative division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1619, around the time of Commonwealth's greatest extent
1667–1768
Administrative division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1667–1768, following the territorial losses of the mid-17th century
1773–93
Administrative division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1773–93 after the territorial losses of the First Partition of Poland
1764–95
Administrative division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1793–95 after territorial losses of the Second Partition of Poland

The administrative division of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the result of the long and complicated history of the fragmentation of the Polish Kingdom and the union of Poland and Lithuania.

The lands that once belonged to the Commonwealth are now largely distributed among several Central, Eastern, and Northern European countries today: Poland (except western Poland), Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, most of Ukraine, parts of Russia, southern half of Estonia, and smaller pieces in Slovakia, Romania and Moldova.

While the term "Poland" was also commonly used to denote this whole polity, Poland was in fact only part of a greater whole – the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, which comprised primarily two parts:

The Crown in turn comprised two "prowincjas": Greater Poland and Lesser Poland. These and a third province, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, were the only three regions that were properly termed "provinces". The Commonwealth was further divided into smaller administrative units known as voivodeships (województwa – note that some sources use the word palatinate instead of voivodeship). Each voivodeship was governed by a Voivode (governor). Voivodeships were further divided into powiats (often translated as county) being governed by a starosta generalny or grodowy. Cities were governed by castellans. There were frequent exceptions to these rules, often involving the ziemia subunit of administration: for details on the administrative structure of the Commonwealth, see the article on offices in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.