Polesia, Polesie, or Polesye, uk, Полісся (Polissia), pl, Polesie, russian: Полесье (Polesye) is a natural and
historical region
Historical regions (or historical areas) are geographical regions which at some point in time had a cultural, ethnic
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that ...
that starts from the farthest edge of
Central Europe
Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...
and encompasses
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...
, including Eastern
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, the
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
–
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
border region and
Southwestern Russia.
Extent
One of the largest forest areas on the continent, Polesia is located in the southwestern part of the
Eastern-European Lowland
The East European Plain (also called the Russian Plain, "Extending from eastern Poland through the entire European Russia to the Ural Mountaina, the ''East European Plain'' encompasses all of the Baltic states and Belarus, nearly all of Ukraine, ...
, the
Polesian Lowland
The Polesian Lowland is a lowland in the southwestern portion of the East European Plain in the drainage basins of several rivers including the Dnieper, Prypiat and Desna. It stretches along the Belarus–Ukraine border. The eastern part of the l ...
. On the western side, Polesia originates at the crossing of the
Bug River
uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг
, name_etymology =
, image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg
, image_size = 250
, image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland
, map = Vi ...
valley in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and the
Pripyat River
The Pripyat or Prypiat ( , uk, Прип'ять, ; be, Прыпяць, translit=Prypiać}, ; pl, Prypeć, ; russian: Припять, ) is a river in Eastern Europe, approximately long. It flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and Ukraine ag ...
valley of
Western Ukraine
Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...
.
The swampy areas of central Polesia are known as the
Pinsk Marshes
__NOTOC__
The Pinsk Marshes ( be, Пінскія балоты, ''Pinskiya baloty''), also known as the Pripet Marshes ( be, Прыпяцкія балоты, ''Prypiackija baloty''), the Polesie Marshes, and the Rokitno Marshes, are a vast natural ...
(after the major local city of
Pinsk
Pinsk ( be, Пі́нск; russian: Пи́нск ; Polish: Pińsk; ) is a city located in the Brest Region of Belarus, in the Polesia region, at the confluence of the Pina River and the Pripyat River. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk a ...
). Large parts of the region were contaminated after the
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...
and the region now includes the
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, Belarusian: Хона адчужэння Чарнобыльскай АЭС, ''Zona adčužennia Čarnobyĺskaj AES'', russian: Зона отчуждения Чернобыльской АЭС ...
and
Polesie State Radioecological Reserve
The Polesie State Radioecological Reserve ( be, Палескі дзяржаўны радыяцыйна-экалагічны запаведнік, russian: Полесский государственный радиационно-экологич ...
, named after the region.
Name
The names ''Polesia/Polissia/Polesye'', etc. may reflect the Slavic root ''les'' 'forest', and the Slavic prefix ''po-'' 'on, in, along'.
[Compare ] Inhabitants of Polesia are called
Polishchuk
The Poleshuks, also known as Polesians ( ua, поліщуки, polishchuky, be, палешукі, paleshuki, russian: полещуки, poleshchuki) are an ethnic group that lives in Polesia (a.k.a. Polesie and Polissia). Their language (or dia ...
s.
The term is not related to ''
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
'', ''
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
'', ''
Pole
Pole may refer to:
Astronomy
*Celestial pole, the projection of the planet Earth's axis of rotation onto the celestial sphere; also applies to the axis of rotation of other planets
*Pole star, a visible star that is approximately aligned with the ...
'', etc., which is ultimately derived from
Old Slavic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language.
Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and other ...
''
pole
Pole may refer to:
Astronomy
*Celestial pole, the projection of the planet Earth's axis of rotation onto the celestial sphere; also applies to the axis of rotation of other planets
*Pole star, a visible star that is approximately aligned with the ...
'' 'field'.
History
In ancient times, the areas of today's western and west-central Polesia were inhabited by the people of the
Milograd culture
The Milograd culture (also spelled Mylohrad, also known as Pidhirtsi culture on Ukrainian territory) is an archaeological culture, lasting from about the 7th century BC to the 1st century AD. Geographically, it corresponds to present day souther ...
, the
Neuri
The Neuri or Navari were a tribe described by Herodotus in the . Contemporary scholars equate this group with the Yotvingians, a Western Baltic people, and believe they lived near the river Narew in or Belarus.
Primary sources Herodotus's ac ...
.
In the late Middle Ages Polesia became part of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...
, following it into the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...
(1569). Polesia was largely part of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
from 1921 to 1939, when the country's largest provinces bore that name.''
Polesia has rarely been a separate administrative unit. However, there was a
Polesie Voivodeship
Polesie Voivodeship ( pl, województwo poleskie) was an administrative unit of interwar Poland (1918–1939), named after the historical region of Polesia. It was created by the Council of Ministers of the Second Polish Republic on February 19, 1 ...
during 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 ...
, as well as a
Polesia Voblast in
Byelorussian SSR
The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, or Byelorussian SSR; be, Беларуская Савецкая Сацыялістычная Рэспубліка, Bielaruskaja Savieckaja Sacyjalistyčnaja Respublika; russian: Белор ...
. From 1931 to 1944, it was explicitly mentioned as constituent part of the short-lived (
Byzantine Rite
The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople.
Th ...
)
. Since the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the region of Polesie or Polesia has encompassed areas in eastern Poland, southern Belarus, northwestern Ukraine, and southwestern Russia.
Geography
Polesia is a marshy region lining the
Pripyat River
The Pripyat or Prypiat ( , uk, Прип'ять, ; be, Прыпяць, translit=Prypiać}, ; pl, Prypeć, ; russian: Припять, ) is a river in Eastern Europe, approximately long. It flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and Ukraine ag ...
(
Pripyat Marshes
__NOTOC__
The Pinsk Marshes ( be, Пінскія балоты, ''Pinskiya baloty''), also known as the Pripet Marshes ( be, Прыпяцкія балоты, ''Prypiackija baloty''), the Polesie Marshes, and the Rokitno Marshes, are a vast natural ...
) in Southern Belarus (
Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
*Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
*Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
**Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Brest, ...
,
Pinsk
Pinsk ( be, Пі́нск; russian: Пи́нск ; Polish: Pińsk; ) is a city located in the Brest Region of Belarus, in the Polesia region, at the confluence of the Pina River and the Pripyat River. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk a ...
,
Kalinkavichy
, nickname =
, image_skyline = Kalinkavichy2.JPG
, image_size =
, image_caption = City street
, image_flag = Flag_of_Kalinkavičy.svg
, image_shield = Coat_of_Arms_of_Kalinkavičy,_Belarus.svg
, image_m ...
,
Gomel
Gomel (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census).
Etymology
There are at least six narratives of the ori ...
), Northern Ukraine (in the
Volyn
Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. The ...
,
Rivne
Rivne (; uk, Рівне ),) also known as Rovno (Russian: Ровно; Polish: Równe; Yiddish: ראָוונע), is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the surrounding Rivne Raio ...
,
Zhytomyr
Zhytomyr ( uk, Жито́мир, translit=Zhytomyr ; russian: Жито́мир, Zhitomir ; pl, Żytomierz ; yi, זשיטאָמיר, Zhitomir; german: Schytomyr ) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, a ...
,
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
and
Chernihiv Oblast
Chernihiv Oblast ( uk, Черні́гівська о́бласть, translit=Chernihivska oblast; also referred to as Chernihivshchyna, uk, Черні́гівщина, translit=Chernihivshchyna) is an oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. T ...
s), and partly in Poland (
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 Russia (
Bryansk
Bryansk ( rus, Брянск, p=brʲansk) is a city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the River Desna, southwest of Moscow. Population:
Geography Urban layout
The location of the settlement was originally ass ...
). It is a flatland within the
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...
s of the
Western Bug
uk, Західний Буг be, Захо́дні Буг
, name_etymology =
, image = Wyszkow_Bug.jpg
, image_size = 250
, image_caption = Bug River in the vicinity of Wyszków, Poland
, map = Vi ...
and
Prypyat rivers. The two rivers are connected by the
Dnieper-Bug Canal, built during the reign of
Stanislaus II of Poland 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 ...
, the last king of the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...
.
Notable tributaries of the Pripyat are the
Horyn
The Horyn or Haryn ( uk, Горинь ; be, Гарынь ; russian: Горы́нь; pl, Horyń) is a tributary of the Pripyat, which flows through Ukraine and Belarus. The Horyn is long, and has a drainage basin of .[Stokhid
The Stokhid (also written Stokhod, according to the Russian name; uk, Стохід) is a river in Volyn Oblast, Ukraine. It is a right tributary of the Pripyat River. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .
Description
Stokhid is the longest ...]
,
Styr
The Styr (; ; ) is a right tributary of the Pripyat, with a length of 494 km. Its basin area is 13,100 km2 located in historical region of Volhynia.
The Styr begins near Brody, in the Ukrainian Oblast of Lviv, then flows into Rivne Ob ...
,
Ptsich
The Ptsich, or Pcič official transliteration ( be, Пціч, ) is a river in Eastern Europe. It flows south through Belarus, taking its source near Minsk, and draining into the Pripyat, being its left tributary. It is long, and has a drainage b ...
, and
Yaselda
The Yaselda (, alternative transliteration ''Jasieĺda'', , ), is a river in Brest Region in south-west Belarus. It is linked via the Dnieper–Bug Canal to the city of Pinsk. It is a left tributary of the Pripyat. It is connected to the Oginski C ...
rivers. The largest towns in the Pripyat basin are
Pinsk
Pinsk ( be, Пі́нск; russian: Пи́нск ; Polish: Pińsk; ) is a city located in the Brest Region of Belarus, in the Polesia region, at the confluence of the Pina River and the Pripyat River. The region was known as the Marsh of Pinsk a ...
,
Stolin
Stolin ( be, Сто́лін; uk, Сто́лін; russian: Сто́лин; pl, Stolin; Yiddish/Hebrew: סטולין) is a town in the Stolin District in Brest Region of Belarus. It is the centre of the largest district in Brest Region. The popu ...
,
Davyd-Haradok
Davyd-Haradok ( be, Давыд-Гарадок, ; russian: Давид-Городок, pl, Dawidgródek) is a city in the southwestern Belarusian voblast (province) of Brest. It has 5991 inhabitants (2021 estimate).
History
Within the Grand Duchy ...
. Huge marshes were reclaimed from the 1960s to the 1980s for
farm
A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...
land. The reclamation is believed to have harmed the environment along the course of the Pripyat.
This region suffered severely from the
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...
. Huge areas were polluted by
radioactive
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is consid ...
elements. The most polluted part includes the
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, Belarusian: Хона адчужэння Чарнобыльскай АЭС, ''Zona adčužennia Čarnobyĺskaj AES'', russian: Зона отчуждения Чернобыльской АЭС ...
and the adjacent
Polesie State Radioecological Reserve
The Polesie State Radioecological Reserve ( be, Палескі дзяржаўны радыяцыйна-экалагічны запаведнік, russian: Полесский государственный радиационно-экологич ...
. Some other areas in the region are considered unsuitable for living as well.
Tourism
The Polish part of the region includes the
Polesie National Park
Polesie National Park ( pl, Poleski Park Narodowy) is a National Park in Lublin Voivodeship, eastern Poland, in the Polish part of the historical region of Polesia. Created in 1990 over an area of 48.13 square kilometres, it covers a number of for ...
(''Poleski Park Narodowy''), established 1990, which covers an area of . This and a wider area adjoining it (up to the Ukrainian border) make up the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
-designated West Polesie
Biosphere Reserve
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
, which borders a similar reserve (the
Shatskiy Biosphere Reserve) on the Ukrainian side. There is also a
protected area
Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...
called Pribuzhskoye-Polesie in the Belarusian part of the region.
The wooden architecture structures in the region were added to the
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
Tentative List on 30 January 2004 in the Cultural category.
See also
*
Museum of Ukrainian home icons
Radomysl Castle is a historical and cultural complex created in 2007–2011 by Olga Bogomolets, a Ukrainians, Ukrainian doctor and public activist. The castle's center is an old flour mill built in the town of Radomyshl (Zhytomyr Oblast, ...
*
Radomysl Castle
Radomysl Castle is a historical and cultural complex created in 2007–2011 by Olga Bogomolets, a Ukrainian doctor and public activist. The castle's center is an old flour mill built in the town of Radomyshl ( Zhytomyr region, Ukraine) in ...
*
Polesian Lowland
The Polesian Lowland is a lowland in the southwestern portion of the East European Plain in the drainage basins of several rivers including the Dnieper, Prypiat and Desna. It stretches along the Belarus–Ukraine border. The eastern part of the l ...
*
UNESCO World Heritage Centre
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
*
Western Polesie
*
FC Polissya Zhytomyr
Polissya Zhytomyr is a Ukrainian football club based in Zhytomyr, Polissya. As of the 2020–21 season, it will play in the Ukrainian First League, the second tier of Ukrainian football, following promotion from the 2019–20 Ukrainian Second L ...
Further reading
* Пазинич В., Походження Поліських озер та параболічних дюн (Ukrainian)/Пазинич В.Г., Происхождение Полесских озер и параболических дюн (Russian)
* Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropaforschung, Heft 3/2019: ''Polesia: Modernity in the Marshlands. Interventions and Transformations at the European Periphery from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century'' Online
Bd. 68 Nr. 3 (2019): Polesia: Modernity in the Marshlands. Interventions and Transformations at the European Periphery from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century , Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung
Notes
References
External links
The Official Site of Radomysl Castleat the
Encyclopedia of Ukraine
The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' ( uk, Енциклопедія українознавства, translit=Entsyklopediia ukrainoznavstva), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies.
Development
The work was creat ...
Origin of Polesie lakes and parabolic dunes
{{coord missing, Ukraine
Divided regions
Historical regions in Belarus
Historical regions in Poland
Historical regions in Russia
Historical regions in Ukraine
Belarus–Ukraine border