The Biała Podlaska Voivodeship was a voivodeship (

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

) of the

Polish People's Republic The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

from 1975 to 1989, and the

Third Republic of Poland Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

from 1989 to 1998. Its capital was

Biała Podlaska Biała Podlaska ( la, Alba Ducalis) is a city in eastern Poland with 56,498 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is situated in the Lublin Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been the capital of Biała Podlaska Voivodeship (1975–1998). ...

. It was established on 1 June 1975, from the parts of the voivodeships of

Lublin Lublin is the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the center of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin is the largest Polish city east of t ...

, and Warsaw Voivodeship,''Ustawa z dnia 28 maja 1975 r. o dwustopniowym podziale administracyjnym Państwa oraz o zmianie ustawy o radach narodowych.'' In: ''1975 Journal of the Laws'', no. 16, position, 91.
and existed until 31 December 1998, when it was partitioned between then-established

, and Masovian Voivodeships.Ustawa z dnia 24 lipca 1998 r. o wprowadzeniu zasadniczego trójstopniowego podziału terytorialnego państwa (Dz.U. z 1998 r. nr 96, poz. 603).

History

The Biała Voivodeship was established on 1 June 1975, as part of the administrative reform, and was one of the

voivodeships A voivodeship is the area administered by a voivode (Governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval ...

(provinces) of the

. It was formed mostly from the part of the territory of the Lublin Voivodeship, additionally including part of the territory of the Łosice County, of the Warsaw Voivodeship. Its capital was located in the city of

Bielsko-Biała Bielsko-Biała (; cs, Bílsko-Bělá, german: Bielitz-Biala, szl, Bjylsko-Bjoło) is a city in southern Poland, with a population of approximately 168,319 as of December 2021, making it the 22nd largest city in Poland, and an area of . It is a ...

. In 1975, it had a population of 280 400 people. On 9 December 1989, the Polish People's Republic was replaced by the

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

& Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p. 1491. In 1997, the voivodeship had a population of 309 000 people, and had an area of 5 348 km². It existed until 31 December 1998, when it was partitioned between then-established

, and Masovian Voivodeships.

Subdivisions

In 1997, the voivodeship was divided into 40

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

s (

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

), including four urban municipalities, two urban-rural municipalities, and 34 rural municipalities. It had six cities that functioned as separate municipalities.
Rocznik statystyczny województw 1998
', Warsaw: Central Statistical Office, 1998, p. 40-41 (p. 41–42 of the PDF document). From 1990 to 1998, it was additionally divided into three district offices, each comprising several municipalities.
Rozporządzenie Ministra Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji z dnia 8 czerwca 1998 r. zmieniające rozporządzenie w sprawie określenia siedzib i terytorialnego zasięgu działania urzędów rejonowych.
'

Demographics

Leaders

The leader of the administrative division was the

voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...

. The people in that office, between 1975, and 1998, were: *1975–1986: Józef Piela; *1986–1990:

Stanisław Rapa Stanislav and variants may refer to: People * Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, C ...

; *1990–1992:

Andrzej Czapski Andrzej is the Polish form of the given name Andrew. Notable individuals with the given name Andrzej * Andrzej Bartkowiak (born 1950), Polish film director and cinematographer * Andrzej Bobola, S.J. (1591–1657), Polish saint, missionary and ma ...

; *1992–1997:

Tadeusz Korszeń ''Tadeusz'' is a Polish first name, derived from Thaddaeus. Tadeusz may refer to: * Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski (1895–1966), Polish military leader * Tadeusz Borowski (1922–1951), Polish writer and The Holocaust survivor * Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński ...

; *1997–1998:

Marek Czarnecki Marek Aleksander Czarnecki (born 22 March 1959 in Chorzów) is a Polish politician and was from 2004 to 2009 a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the Masovian Voivodship with the Self-Defense, and was therefore a Non-Inscrit in the Eur ...

Citations

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Biala Podlaska Voivodeship Former voivodeships of Poland (1975–1998) Biała Podlaska States and territories established in 1975 States and territories disestablished in 1998 1975 establishments in Poland 1998 disestablishments in Poland