The Maritime County was a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

centered around the

Gdynia Gdynia ( ; ; german: Gdingen (currently), (1939–1945); csb, Gdiniô, , , ) is a city in northern Poland and a seaport on the Baltic Sea coast. With a population of 243,918, it is the 12th-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in th ...

and

Wejherowo Wejherowo ( csb, Wejrowò; german: Neustadt in Westpreußen, formerly Weyhersfrey) is a city in Gdańsk Pomerania, northern Poland, with 48,735 inhabitants (2021). It has been the capital of Wejherowo County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 19 ...

, that existed from 1927 to 1939, and from 1945 to 1951. From 1927 to 1939, it was located in the

Pomeranian Voivodeship Pomeranian Voivodeship, Pomorskie Region, or Pomerania Province (Polish: ''Województwo pomorskie'' ; ( Kashubian: ''Pòmòrsczé wòjewództwò'' ), is a voivodeship, or province, in northwestern Poland. The provincial capital is Gdańsk. The ...

, in the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

. In 1945, it was located in the

, and from 1945 to 1951, it was located in the Gdańsk Voivodeship,
Dekret z dnia 30 marca 1945 r. o utworzeniu województwa gdańskiego.
' which, in 1945 were under the administration of the

Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland The Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Rząd Tymczasowy Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, RTRP) was created by the State National Council () on the night of 31 December 1944. Davies, Norman, 1982 and several reprints. ''God's Playgr ...

, from 1945 to 1947, under the administration of the

Provisional Government of National Unity The Provisional Government of National Unity ( pl, Tymczasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej - TRJN) was a puppet government formed by the decree of the State National Council () on 28 June 1945 as a result of reshuffling the Soviet-backed Provisio ...

, and since 1947, under the administration 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 ne ...

. Until 1928, its seat was located in the city of

, and was since then moved to

History

The Maritime County had been established on 1 January 1927, from then-disestablished

Puck County __NOTOC__ Puck County ( pl, powiat pucki, csb, pùcczi pòwiat) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland, on the Baltic coast. The ''powiat'' of this name existed in the hist ...

, and part of the

Wejherowo County __NOTOC__ Wejherowo County ( csb, Wejrowsczi kréz, pl, powiat wejherowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland, on the Baltic coast. It came into being on January 1, 1 ...

. Its seat was located in the city of

. It was one of the

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

of the

. Upon its creation it become the only county of Poland, to border

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

, and as such, the only sea access of the country.
Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 28 grudnia 1926 r. w sprawie oznaczenia granic powiatu morskiego.
'
Rozporządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej z dnia 30 października 1926 r. w sprawie utworzenia powiatu morskiego w Gdyni.
' On 21 March 1928, the

had been incorporated into the Maritime County, with the exception of the

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 ...

) of Linja, Tłuczewo, Niepoczołowice, Zakrzewo, and Kętrzyno, that were incorporated into the

Kartuzy County __NOTOC__ Kartuzy County ( pl, powiat kartuski; csb, kartësczi pòwiat) is a county in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, with administrative seat and largest town being Kartuzy. It came into being on 1 January 1999, as a result of the Polish ...

. Additionally, the seat of the county had been transferred from Gdynia to

.
Rozporządzenie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej z dnia 29 lutego 1928 r. w sprawie zmiany art. 1 rozporządzenia z dnia 30 października 1926 r. o utworzeniu powiatu morskiego w Gdyni.
' On 24 January 1929, the city of Gdynia become a separate city county. In 1931, the Maritime County was inhabited by 79 900 people. On 15 June 1934, the municipalities of Linja, Tłuczewo, Niepoczołowice, Zakrzewo, and Kętrzyno were transferred from the

to the Maritime County. On 1 August 1934, the single-village rural municipalities were replaced by the multi-village rural municipalities. As such, the county was divided into two cities, that were, Puck and Wejherowo, and 11 municipalities. On 1 September 1939, the

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

had

invaded An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

Poland, conquering area that included the county. As such it had been replaced by the Maritime District, located within the Region of Danzig,

Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia (german: Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen) was an administrative division of Nazi Germany created on 8 October 1939 from annexed territory of the Free City of Danzig, the Greater Pomeranian Voivodship (Polish Corridor ...

. The county had been reestablished in 1945, following the area being reconquered by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and given under Polish administration of the

. Until 7 April 1945, was located within the

, when it was incorporated into then-established Gdańsk Voivodeship. On 28 June 1945 the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland had been replaced by the

,Aleksander Gella: ''Zagłada Drugiej Rzeczypospolitej 1945–1947'', Warsaw, 1998. and on the 19 February 1947, the provisional government was replaced by the

.Andrzej Ajnenkiel: ''Polskie konstytucje''. Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna. 1983. ISBN 83-214-0256-9. In 1946, the county was inhabited by 85 493 people, and in 1947, it had an area of 1281 km².
Rocznik Statystyczny 1947
', Warsaw: Central Statistical Office, 1947, p. 16. It existed until 1 July 1951, when it was replaced by the

.
Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 23 czerwca 1951 r. w sprawie zmiany nazwy powiatu morskiego.
/ref>

Citations

Notes

References

{{reflist Former counties of Poland Pomeranian Voivodeship (1919–1939) States and territories established in 1927 States and territories established in 1945 States and territories disestablished in 1939 States and territories disestablished in 1951 1927 establishments in Poland 1945 establishments in Poland 1939 disestablishments in Poland 1951 disestablishments in Poland History of Pomerania Puck County Wejherowo County Gdynia