Province of West Prussia Provinz Westpreußen |
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Province of the Kingdom of Prussia (until 1918) and the Free State of Prussia | ||||||
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West Prussia (red), within the Kingdom of Prussia, within the German Empire, as of 1878. | ||||||
Capital |
Marienwerder (1773–1793, 1806–1813) Danzig (1793–1806, 1813–1919) |
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History | ||||||
• | Established | 1773 | ||||
• | Division by Napoleon | 1806 | ||||
• | Restored | 1815 | ||||
• | Province of Prussia | 1824–1878 | ||||
• | Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | ||||
• | Disestablished | 1922 | ||||
Area | ||||||
• | 1890 | 25,534 km2(9,859 sq mi) | ||||
Population | ||||||
• | 1890 | 1,433,681 | ||||
Density | 56.1 /km2 (145.4 /sq mi) | |||||
Political subdivisions |
Danzig Marienwerder |
The Province of West Prussia (German: Provinz Westpreußen; Kashubian: Zôpadné Prësë; Polish: Prusy Zachodnie) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and from 1878–1919/20, within the German Reich, which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia. In February 1920, Germany (after it had been defeated in 1918) handed over West Prussia's mainly German populated central parts to become the so-called Polish Corridor (i.e. Pomeranian Voivodeship) and the Free City of Danzig, while the parts remaining with the German Weimar Republic became the new Posen-West Prussia or were joined to the Province of East Prussia as Regierungsbezirk West Prussia. The territory was included within Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia from 1939–45, after which it became part of Poland.
West Prussia is also used as a general name for the region in historical context from the 13th century to 1945.
In the Middle Ages, it was inhabited by Slavic and Baltic tribes: by Pomeranians in Pomerelia west to Vistula river, by Old Prussians and later Masovians in Kulmerland, and by Old Prussians (mainly Pomesanians) in the part of the region located east to Vistula river and north to Kulmerland. Due to immigration and cultural changes, the population became mixed over centuries and consisted of Germans, Kashubians, Poles, as well as Slovincians, Huguenots, Mennonites, and Jews, among others.