Silesian Voivodeship (also known as Silesian Province, or by its Polish name of województwo śląskie or simply Śląskie) is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centring on the region known as Upper Silesia (Górny Śląsk). Its capital is Katowice.

It was created on January 1, 1999, out of the former Katowice, Częstochowa and Bielsko-Biała Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998.

Geography

Silesian Voivodeship borders both the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south. It is also bordered by four other Polish voivodeships: those of Opole (to the west), Łódź (to the north), Świętokrzyskie (to the north-east), and Lesser Poland (to the east).

The region includes the Silesian Upland (Wyżyna Śląska) in the centre and north-west, and the Krakowsko-Częstochowska Upland (Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska) in the north-east. The southern border is formed by the Beskidy Mountains (Beskid Śląski and Beskid Żywiecki).

The current administrative unit of Silesian Voivodeship is just a fraction of the historical Silesia which is within the borders of today's Poland (there are also fragments of Silesia in the Czech Republic and Germany). Other parts of today's Polish Silesia are administered as the Opole and the Lower Silesian Voivodeships. On the other hand, a large part of the current administrative unit of the Silesian Voivodeship is not part of historical Silesia (e.g., Częstochowa, Zawiercie, Myszków, Jaworzno, Sosnowiec, Żywiec, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Będzin and east part of Bielsko-Biała, which are historically Lesser Poland).

Population

Silesian Voivodeship has the highest population density in the country (379 people per square kilometre, compared to the national average of 124). The region's considerable industrialisation gives it the lowest unemployment rate nationally (6.2%). The Silesian region is the most industrialized and the most urbanized region in Poland: 78% of its population live in towns and cities.

Cities and towns

Due to its industrial and urban nature, the voivodeship has many cities and large towns. Of Poland's 40 most-populous cities, 12 are in Silesian Voivodeship. 19 of the cities in the voivodeship have the legal status of city-county (see powiat). In all it has 71 cities and towns (with legal city rights), listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 2006):

Administrative division

Silesian Voivodeship is divided into 36 counties (powiats). These include 19 city counties (far more than any other voivodeship) and 17 land counties. The counties are further divided into 167 gminas.

The counties are listed in the following table (ordering within categories is by decreasing population).

English and Polish names	Area (km²)	Population (2006)	Seat	Other towns	Total gminas
City counties
Katowice	165	315,996			1
Częstochowa	160	246,129			1
Sosnowiec	91	225,202			1
Gliwice	134	199,099			1
Zabrze	80	190,610			1
Bytom	69	187,205			1
Bielsko-Biała	125	176,678			1
Ruda Śląska	78	145,929			1
Rybnik	148	141,382			1
Tychy	82	130,842			1
Dąbrowa Górnicza	188	129,753			1
Chorzów	33	114,434			1
Jaworzno	152	96,051			1
Jastrzębie-Zdrój	85	95,149			1
Mysłowice	66	74,988			1
Siemianowice Śląskie	25	72,451			1
Żory	65	62,625			1
Piekary Śląskie	40	59,494			1
Świętochłowice	13	55,172			1
Land counties
Cieszyn County powiat cieszyński	730	171,029	Cieszyn	Ustroń, Skoczów, Wisła, Strumień	12
Wodzisław County powiat wodzisławski	287	155,228	Wodzisław Śląski	Rydułtowy, Radlin, Pszów	9
Będzin County powiat będziński	368	151,122	Będzin	Czeladź, Wojkowice, Sławków, Siewierz	8
Bielsko County powiat bielski	457	150,764	Bielsko-Biała *	Czechowice-Dziedzice, Szczyrk, Wilamowice	10
Żywiec County powiat żywiecki	1,040	149,492	Żywiec		15
Tarnowskie Góry County powiat tarnogórski	643	137,979	Tarnowskie Góry	Radzionków, Kalety, Miasteczko Śląskie	9
Częstochowa County powiat częstochowski	1,519	133,553	Częstochowa *	Blachownia, Koniecpol	16
Zawiercie County powiat zawierciański	1,003	124,127	Zawiercie	Poręba, Łazy, Ogrodzieniec, Szczekociny, Pilica	10
Gliwice County powiat gliwicki	663	114,963	Gliwice *	Knurów, Pyskowice, Toszek, Sośnicowice	8
Racibórz County powiat raciborski	544	111,505	Racibórz	Kuźnia Raciborska, Krzanowice	8
Pszczyna County powiat pszczyński	473	104,638	Pszczyna		6
Mikołów County powiat mikołowski	232	91,022	Mikołów	Łaziska Górne, Orzesze	5
Kłobuck County powiat kłobucki	889	84,730	Kłobuck	Krzepice	9
Lubliniec County powiat lubliniecki	822	76,628	Lubliniec	Woźniki	8
Rybnik County powiat rybnicki	225	73,527	Rybnik *	Czerwionka-Leszczyny	5
Myszków County powiat myszkowski	479	71,619	Myszków	Żarki, Koziegłowy	5
Bieruń-Lędziny County powiat bieruńsko-lędziński	157	55,868	Bieruń	Lędziny, Imielin	5
* seat not part of the county

Economy

The Silesian voivodship is predominantly an industrial region. Most of themining is derived from one of the world's largest bituminous coalfields of the Upper Silesian Industrial District (Gornoslaski Okreg Przemyslowy) and the Rybnik Coal District (Rybnicki Okreg Weglowy) with its major cities Rybnik, Jastrzębie Zdrój, Żory and Wodzisław Śląski. Lead and zinc can be found near Bytom, Zawiercie and Tarnowskie Góry; iron ore and raw materials for building - near Częstochowa. The most important regional industries are: mining, iron, lead and zinc metallurgy, power industry, engineering, automobile, chemical, building materials and textile. In the past, the Silesian economy was determined by coal mining. Now, considering the investment volume, car manufacturing is becoming more and more important. The most profitable company in the region is Fiat Auto-Poland S.A. in Bielsko-Biała with a revenue of PLN 6.2 billion in 1997. Recently a new car factory has been opened by GM Opel in Gliwice. There are two Special Economic Zones in the area: Katowice and Częstochowa. The voivodship's economy consists of about 323,000, mostly small and medium-sized, enterprises employing over 3 million people. The biggest Polish steel-works "Huta Katowice" is situated in Dąbrowa Górnicza.

Silesian Voivodship is also one of the richiest regions in Poland. Average salary is about 3 800 zlotychs (over 1 200 EUR).

Transport

Katowice International Airport (in Tarnowskie Góry County) is used for domestic and international flights and the Silesian agglomeration railway network has the largest concentration in the country. The voivodship capital enjoys good railway and road connections with Kraków (motorway A4), Wrocław (motorway A4), Łódź and Warsaw. It is also the crossing point for many international routes like E40 connecting Calais, Brussels, Cologne, Dresden, Wrocław, Kraków and Kiev and E75 from Scandinavia to the Balkans. A relatively short distance to Vienna facilitates cross-border co-operation and may positively influence the process of European integration.

Universities

There are eleven public universities in the voivodship. The biggest university is the University of Silesia in Katowice, with 43,000 students. The region's capital boasts the Medical University, The Karol Adamiecki University of Economics in Katowice, the University of Music in Katowice, the Physical Education Academy and the Academy of Fine Arts. Częstochowa is the seat of the Częstochowa University of Technology and Pedagogic University. The Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice is nationally renowned. Bielsko-Biała is home of the Technical-Humanistic Academy. In addition, 17 new private schools have been established in the region.

There are more than 300,000 people studying in the voivodship.

Protected areas

Protected areas in Silesian Voivodeship include eight areas designated as Landscape Parks:

• Eagle Nests Landscape Park (partly in Lesser Poland Voivodeship)
• Little Beskids Landscape Park (partly in Lesser Poland Voivodeship)
• Rudy Landscape Park
• Silesian Beskids Landscape Park
• Stawki Landscape Park
• Upper Liswarta Forests Landscape Park
• Załęcze Landscape Park (partly in Łódź Voivodeship)
• Żywiec Landscape Park

Tourism

Both northern and southern Silesia is surrounded by a green belt. Bielsko-Biała is enveloped by the magnificent Beskidy Mountains which are particularly popular with winter sports fans. This genuine skier's paradise offers over 150 ski lifts and 200 kilometres of ski routes. More and more slopes are illuminated and equipped with artificial snow generators. Szczyrk, Brenna, Wisła and Ustroń are the most popular winter mountain resorts. Rock climbing sites can be found in admirable corners of Jura Krakowsko-Częstochowska. The ruins of castles forming the Eagle Nests Trail are a famous attraction of the region. While in Silesia, one cannot miss the Black Madonna's Jasna Góra Sanctuary in Częstochowa - the annual destination of over 4 million pilgrims from all over the world.

With its more than two centuries of industrialisation history, region has a number of technical heritage memorials. These include narrow and standard gauge railways, coal and silver mines, shafts and its equipment from 19th and 20th century.

Most popular surnames in the region

1. Nowak: 31,838
2. Kowalski: 11,811
3. Wójcik: 11,440

References

1. http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus/45_655_PLK_HTML.htm

See also

• Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship
• History of Silesia
• Silesian Uprisings

External links

• The Website of Silesia
• Województwo Śląskie Official website