Silesian Voivodship
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Silesian Voivodeship Województwo śląskie |
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| Voivodeship | |||
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.png) Location within Poland |
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 Division into counties |
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| Coordinates (Katowice): 50°15′N 19°0′E / 50.250°N 19.000°E | |||
| Country |
 Poland
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| Capital | Katowice | ||
| Counties |
19 cities, 17 land counties *
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| Area | |||
| • Total | 12,333.09 km2 (4,761.83 sq mi) | ||
| Population (30-06-2014) | |||
| • Total | 4,593,358 | ||
| • Density | 370/km2 (960/sq mi) | ||
| • Urban | 3,675,602 | ||
| • Rural | 1,001,381 | ||
| Car plates | S | ||
| Website | http://www.silesia-region.pl | ||
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The Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province (Polish: województwo śląskie [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ ˈɕlɔ̃skʲɛ]), is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centered on the historic region known as Upper Silesia (Górny Śląsk), with Katowice serving as its capital.
Despite the Silesian Voivodeship's name, most of the historic Silesia region lies outside the present Silesian Voivodeship — divided among Lubusz, Lower Silesian, and Opole Voivodeships — while the eastern half of Silesian Voivodeship (and, notably, in the north) was historically part of Lesser Poland.
The Voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Katowice, and Bielsko-Biała Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998.
It is the most densely populated voivodeship in Poland and within the area of 12,300 squared kilometres, there are almost 5 million inhabitants. It is also the largest urbanised area in Central and Eastern Europe. In relation to economy, over 13% of Poland’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is generated here, making the Silesian Voivodeship one of the wealthiest provinces in the country.
For the first time Silesian Voivodeship was appointed in Second Polish Republic. It had much wider range of power autonomy, than other contemporary Polish voivodeships and it covered all historical lands of Upper Silesia, which ended up in the Interwar period Poland (among them: Katowice (Kattowitz), Rybnik (Rybnik), Pszczyna (Pleß), Wodzisław (Loslau), Żory (Sohrau), Mikołów (Nikolai), Tychy (Tichau), Królewska Huta (Königshütte), Tarnowskie Góry (Tarnowitz), Miasteczko Śląskie (Georgenberg), Woźniki (Woischnik), Lubliniec (Lublinitz), Cieszyn (Teschen), Skoczów (Skotschau), Bielsko (Bielitz)). This Voivodeship did not include – as opposed to the present one – lands and cities of old pre-Partition Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Among the last ones the Southern part was included in Kraków Voivodeship Żywiec (Saybusch), Wilamowice (Wilmesau), Biała Krakowska (Biala) oraz Jaworzno), and the North Western part Będzin (Bendzin), Dąbrowa Górnicza (Dombrowa), Sosnowiec (Sosnowitz), , Myszków, Szczekociny (Schtschekotzin), Zawiercie, Sławków) belonged to Kielce Voivodeship.
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