Place:Podlasie Region, Poland

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Podlachia^[1] or Podlasie,^[2] is a historical region in the north-eastern part of Poland. Between 1513 and 1795 it was a voivodeship with the capital in Drohiczyn. Now the part north of the Bug River is included in the modern Podlaskie Voivodeship with the capital in Białystok.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Podlaskie Voivodeship is a multicultural and multi-religious region. It is the region where people's identity has been shaped throughout history by both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, and since the Reformation, also by Evangelical churches. Until today, Podlaskie has been considered Poland's most culturally diverse region. Throughout its early history, Podlachia was inhabited by various tribes of different ethnic roots. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the area was inhabited by East Slavs tribes, mostly by Drevlians, with settlements of Dregoviches to the north beyond the Narew River and likely Dulebes to the south.,^[3] although Masovian like population had been also present. In the 14th century the area was annexed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, though later on it still briefly fell under Mazovian Piast rule. In 1446, Podlachia became part of the Grand Duchy, but since 1496 southwestern parts of Podlachia (Drohiczyn Land and Mielnik Land) and since 1501 the northern part (Bielsk Land) used Polish law instead of Lithuanian. In 1513 King Sigismund I the Old formed the Podlaskie Voivodeship (adjective of Podlasie). In 1566, the southeastern part of Podlachia became part of the newly formed Brest Litovsk Voivodeship as the Brest Litovsk County. In 1569, after the Union of Lublin, Podlasie was ceded to the Kingdom of Poland. It was the northernmost part of the Lesser Poland Province of the Polish Crown. The voivodeship was divided in three lands: the Drohiczyn, Mielnik and Bielsk Land. In the 18th and 19th century the private town of Białystok became the main center of the region, thanks to the patronage of the Branicki family and the textile industry development. After the Third Partition of Poland in 1795, Podlachia was divided between the Kingdom of Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy and the Russian Empire. In 1807, the western part of Podlachia became part of the Duchy of Warsaw, a semi-independent Polish entity, while the eastern part including Białystok fell under Russian rule.

In 1842 the northern Podlachia (Bielsk Podlaski county) became part of Grodno Governorate, and the southern Podlachia was assigned to Congress Poland of Russian Empire.^[3] According to the Russian Imperial Census of 1897, the most spoken languages in Siedlce Governorate (that included southern Podlachia) were Polish (66.13%), Yiddish (15.56%) and Ukrainian (13.95%). At the same time the most spoken languages in Bielsk Podlaski county (northern Podlachia) were Ukrainian (39.1%), Polish (34.9%), Yiddish (14.9%), Russian (5.9%) and Belarusian (4.9%).

In the 19th century the region was a stronghold of Polish resistance against Russian rule. The last partisan of the January Uprising Stanisław Brzóska operated here until 1865. He was hanged publicly by the Russians in Sokołów Podlaski in May 1865. Poland regained Podlachia after restoring independence in 1918.

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