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Cieszyn County

Cieszyn County
Powiat cieszyński
County
County office building in Cieszyn
County office building in Cieszyn
Flag of Cieszyn County
Flag
Coat of arms of Cieszyn County
Coat of arms
Location within Silesian Voivodeship
Location within Silesian Voivodeship
Coordinates (Cieszyn): 49°44′55.07″N 18°38′5.69″E / 49.7486306°N 18.6349139°E / 49.7486306; 18.6349139Coordinates: 49°44′55.07″N 18°38′5.69″E / 49.7486306°N 18.6349139°E / 49.7486306; 18.6349139
Country  Poland
Voivodeship Silesian
Seat Cieszyn
Gminas
Government
 • Starosta Jerzy Nogowczyk
Area
 • Total 730.2 km2 (281.9 sq mi)
Population (2006)
 • Total 171,029
 • Density 230/km2 (610/sq mi)
 • Urban 80,925
 • Rural 90,104
Car plates SCI
Website http://www.powiat.cieszyn.pl/

Cieszyn County (Polish: powiat cieszyński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Czech and Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998.

The county's administrative seat and largest town is Cieszyn, which lies on the Czech border 62 kilometres (39 mi) south-west of the regional capital Katowice. The county also contains four other towns: Ustroń, 14 km (9 mi) east of Cieszyn, Skoczów, 15 km (9 mi) north-east of Cieszyn, Wisła, 20 km (12 mi) south-east of Cieszyn, and Strumień, 23 km (14 mi) north-east of Cieszyn.

The county covers an area of 730.2 square kilometres (281.9 sq mi). As of 2006 its total population is 171,029, out of which the population of Cieszyn is 36,014, that of Ustroń is 15,420, that of Skoczów is 14,641, that of Wisła is 11,453, that of Strumień is 3,397, and the rural population is 90,104.

The County was first created after Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire in 1850 as Politischer Bezirk Teschen, one of the seven counties in Austrian Silesia. After World War I, fall of Austria-Hungary, Polish–Czechoslovak War and the division of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, the territory of the county was divided between Czechoslovakia and Poland. The bigger part of the Austrian county found in Czechoslovakia was superseded by Český Těšín District and smaller part found in Poland, was enlarged by four municipalities of the Austrian Bezirk Freistadt and more than a dozen from Bezirk Bielitz and was admissioned to Silesian Voivodeship. Following the Munich Agreement, in October 1938 the Zaolzie region was annexed by Poland and on 27 September Český Těšín was joined with Cieszyn and 53 municipalities were also adjoined to Cieszyn County. It was then annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II with the county known as Landkreis Teschen. After the war pre-1938 borders were restored. In 1975 the county-level division of Poland was replaced with 49 voivodeships, with the territory of Cieszyn County being encompassed by Bielsko-Biała Voivodeship. It was recreated on January 1, 1999 within Silesian Voivodeship, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998.


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