Mielnik Land (Polish: ziemia mielnicka), also known as

Land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various isla ...

of Mielnik, was an administrative unit (

ziemia Land is a historical unit of administration in Poland and Ruthenia. In the Polish language, the term is not capitalization, capitalized (''ziemia chełmińska'', Chelmno Land; not ''Ziemia Chełmińska''). All ''ziemias'' are named after main urb ...

) of both the

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

and 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 Poland and Lithuania ru ...

. With its seat in the town (now a village) of

Mielnik Mielnik ( be, Мельнік, uk, Мельник) is a village in Siemiatycze County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, close to the border with Belarus. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Mielnik. ...

, it belonged to Podlasie Voivodeship. The history of Mielnik Land as a separate unit begins in the 1530s, when it was carved out of

Drohiczyn Land Drohiczyn Land ( pl, ziemia drohiczynska, also '), named after the town of Drohiczyn, was an administrative unit (ziemia) of both the Kingdom of Poland (1385–1569), Kingdom of Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was part of Podlas ...

. Until the

Union of Lublin The Union of Lublin ( pl, Unia lubelska; lt, Liublino unija) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the per ...

, the province of Podlasie was 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 Lit ...

; in 1569 it was transferred to the Kingdom of Poland. Local

sejmik A sejmik (, diminutive of ''sejm'', occasionally translated as a ''dietine''; lt, seimelis) was one of various local parliaments in the history of Poland and history of Lithuania. The first sejmiks were regional assemblies in the Kingdom of ...

s for Mielnik Land took place at

Drohiczyn Drohiczyn () ( lt, Drohičinas/Drogičinas, be, Дарагічын, ua, Дорогочин, Дорогичин, ''Dorohochyn'', ''Dorohychyn'') is a town in Siemiatycze County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Poland. The town has a population of 2,11 ...

, where two envoys were selected to the

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

. Mielnik Land was not divided into counties. It had two royal towns, Mielnik and Łosice, both were residences of the starostas. Other towns of the province were

Siemiatycze Siemiatycze ( uk, Сім'ятичі ''Simiatychi'', be, Сямятычы ''Siamiatyčy'') is a town in eastern Poland, with 15,209 inhabitants (2004). It is situated in the Podlaskie Voivodeship (since 1999); previously it was in Białystok V ...

, Niemirów Horodyszcze and Rossosz. The town of Mielnik had a royal castle, in which on October 23, 1501, the Union of Mielnik was signed. The Land of Mielnik ceased to exist after the

third partition of Poland The Third Partition of Poland (1795) was the last in a series of the Partitions of Poland–Lithuania and the land of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth among Prussia, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Russian Empire which effectively ended Polis ...

in 1795.

Sources

Mielnik Land and its history
Ziemias 1530s establishments in Europe 16th-century establishments in Poland {{Poland-hist-stub