Sołectwo
A sołectwo ( Polish plural: ''sołectwa'') is an administrative unit in Poland, an optional subdivision of a gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' ) is the basic unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,479 gminy throughout the country, encompassing over 43,000 villages. 940 gminy include cities and tow .... The actions and organs of the sołectwo are decided by the gmina council. On 31 December 2018 Poland had 40 740 sołectwa. Government and politics The legislative organ in a sołectwo is a (village meeting) and the executive is a sołtys. A sołectwo council (''rada sołecka'') provides support to the sołtys. The sołtys and the council are elected by permanent citizens of the sołectwo. A zebranie wiejskie is an example of a direct democracy, as the most important concerns of the citizens are addressed. Citizens' participation in these events varies significantly. The national average is 15%. From 2010, so� ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sołtys
A sołtys () is a head of a sołectwo elected by its permanent citizens in a village meeting (''zebranie wiejskie''). According to data from 2010, Poland had 40 thousand sołtys, 30.7% of which were women. Role and powers Since 1990, a sołtys is an executive of a sołectwo that is supported by a sołectwo council. The detailed powers, duties and responsibilities of the sołtys are decided in the statute made by the gmina council. The sołtys can use the legal protection of a civil servant in his favour. Duties A sołtys has the duty to: *Represent the sołectwo *Organise village meetings *Introduce laws made by the gmina to the sołectwo *Collect taxes *Participate in gmina council meetings History The office of the sołtys was introduced during the Partitions of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. It varied among countries. In Congress Poland, a sołtys was an executive branch of a gromada. He was supposed to guard order in the city. In Congress Poland, a gmina was ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighborhoods. Villages are normally permanent, with fixed dwellings; however, transient villages can occur. Further, the dwellings of a village are fairly close to one another, not scattered broadly over the landscape, as a dispersed settlement. In the past, villages were a usual form of community for societies that practice subsistence agriculture and also for some non-agricultural societies. In Great Britain, a hamlet earned the right to be called a village when it built a church.-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... ''village'', from Latin ''villāticus'', ultimately from Latin ''villa'' (English ''vi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jastrzębie-Zdrój
Jastrzębie-Zdrój (, ) is a city in the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland with 86,632 inhabitants (2021). Its name comes from the Polish words ''jastrząb'' ("hawk") and ''zdrój'' ("spa" or "spring"). From 1861 until the 20th century, it was a spa town, spa village situated in Upper Silesia. It was granted Town privileges, city rights in 1963. In the early 1980s, the city was one of main centers of Jastrzębie-Zdrój 1980 strikes, workers' protests, which resulted in the creation of Solidarity (Polish trade union), Solidarity. History The first written documentation, relating to this area, date back to around 1305 (''Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis''), when it was part of fragmented Piast dynasty, Piast-ruled Poland. Administratively, the town is made up of several old settlements, whose origins go back to the distant past. The original name of the town was Jastrzemb. The origin of the name, which means 'hawk' in Polish language, Polish, is connected with the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Polish Language
Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spoken in Poland and serves as the official language of the country, as well as the language of the Polish diaspora around the world. In 2024, there were over 39.7 million Polish native speakers. It ranks as the sixth-most-spoken among languages of the European Union. Polish is subdivided into regional Dialects of Polish, dialects. It maintains strict T–V distinction pronouns, Honorifics (linguistics), honorifics, and various forms of formalities when addressing individuals. The traditional 32-letter Polish alphabet has nine additions (, , , , , , , , ) to the letters of the basic 26-letter Latin alphabet, while removing three (x, q, v). Those three letters are at times included in an extended 35-letter alphabet. The traditional set compri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kalisz
Kalisz () is a city in central Poland, and the second-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship, with 97,905 residents (December 2021). It is the capital city of the Kalisz Region. Situated on the Prosna river in the southeastern part of Greater Poland, the city forms a conurbation with the nearby towns of Ostrów Wielkopolski and Nowe Skalmierzyce. Kalisz is one of the oldest cities in Poland and one of the two traditional capitals of Greater Poland (alongside Poznań). It has served as an important regional center in Poland since the Middle Ages as a provincial capital and notable royal city. It is one of the historical burial sites of medieval Polish monarchs and dukes of the Piast dynasty and the site of a number of significant events in Polish history as well as several battles. Since the 19th century it has been the center of an industrial district. It is the cultural, scientific, educational and administrative center of the eastern and southern Greater Poland regio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Municipality
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, 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 governing body of a given municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special district (United States), special-purpose district. The English language, English word is derived from French language, French , which in turn derives from the Latin language, Latin , based on the word for social contract (), referring originally to the Latin communities that supplied Rome with troops in exchange for their own incorporation into the Roman state (granting Roman citizenship to the inhabitants) while permitting the communities to retain their own local governments (a limited autonomy). A municipality can be any political jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction, from a sovereign state s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Settlement Geography
Settlement geography is a branch of human geography that investigates the Earth's surface's part settled by humans. According to the United Nations' Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements (1976), "human settlements means the totality of the human community – whether city, town or village – with all the social, material, organizational, spiritual and cultural elements that sustain it." Classification Traditionally, it belongs to cultural geography and is divided into the geography of urban settlements ( cities and towns) and rural settlements (e.g. villages and hamlets). Thereby, settlements are mostly seen as elements of the cultural landscape that developed over time. Apart from Australia, Europe and India, the term is actually rarely used in English-speaking geography. One of the last English books on settlement geography was published by Cambridge University Press in the 1990s. However, it is a traditional and actual branch in many other countries (e.g., Germ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wąchock Jokes
In Polish culture, Wąchock jokes are jokes about the inhabitants of the town of Wąchock, and especially their ''sołtys'' (referring to the times when Wąchock was a village). For example, one joke tells of a sołtys' cat so smart that when given some coffee with milk, he would drink all the milk and leave the coffee. There is no accepted explanation for when and why Wąchock became the butt of these jokes, although several theories exist. Wąchock jokes are typically riddle jokes, for example: "Why does nobody in Wąchock watch TV? Because the sołtys put blinds on his windows." The running joke "Wąchock for the capital of Poland!" ("Wąchock stolicą Polski!") served as one of the slogans for the Good Humor Party. It fact, for several days Wąchock was a ''de facto'' capital when during the January Uprising against the Russian Empire Marian Langiewicz, the leader of the uprising, had his headquarters at Wąchock. In 2003, the Monument of the Sołtys was unveiled in Wąch ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Białołęka
Białołęka (, lit. ''White Meadow'') is one of 18 districts of Warsaw, located in the northern part of the city. Until October 27, 2002 Białołęka was a gmina. According to the Central Statistical Office data, the district's area is and 92 768 people inhabit Białołęka. History On the fields of Białołęka, one of the battles with the Swedish on July 28–30, 1656 took place. On February 25, 1831 one of the battles of the November Uprising – Battle of Białołęka – took place. * In 1425, the Białołęka village came into being and belonged to the Gołyński family. * During the interwar period, only the ''Różopol'' subdivision was part of Warsaw. * In 1938 Białołęka had 900 inhabitants and belonged to the Bródno municipality. * In 1951 a group of villages (including Białołęka) joined Warsaw as result of the new administrative divisions of Warsaw. * In 1976, during the next border changes, more villages joined Warsaw and the north-eastern border of W ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a Warsaw metropolitan area, greater metropolitan area of 3.27 million residents, which makes Warsaw the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 6th most-populous city in the European Union. The city area measures and comprises List of districts and neighbourhoods of Warsaw, 18 districts, while the metropolitan area covers . Warsaw is classified as an Globalization and World Cities Research Network#Alpha 2, alpha global city, a major political, economic and cultural hub, and the country's seat of government. It is also the capital of the Masovian Voivodeship. Warsaw traces its origins to a small fishing town in Masovia. The city rose to prominence in the late 16th cent ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Świnoujście
Świnoujście (; ; ; meaning " Świna ivermouth"; ) is a city in Western Pomerania and seaport on the Baltic Sea and Szczecin Lagoon, in the extreme north-west of Poland, mainly on the islands of Usedom and Wolin, and Karsibór island, once part of Usedom, now separated by the Piast Canal dug in the late 19th century to facilitate ship access to Szczecin. Świnoujście borders the German seaside resort of Ahlbeck on Usedom, connected by a street and of beach promenade. Since 1999, Świnoujście has been a city with powiat rights (), within West Pomeranian Voivodeship. The city lies in the geographic region of Pomerania and had a population of 38,728 in 2024. Świnoujście is one of the most important areas of the Szczecin metropolitan area. The Świnoujście LNG terminal, opened in 2015, is in the city. In 2023, the Świnoujście Tunnel connecting the islands of Wolin and Usedom was opened. Despite its relatively small population, Świnoujście is Poland's ninth-lar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sejny
Sejny (; ) is a town in north-eastern Poland and the capital of Sejny County, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, close to the northern border with Lithuania and Belarus. It is located in the eastern part of the Suwałki Lake Area (), on the Marycha river (''Seina'' in Lithuanian for which the town was named), being a tributary of the Czarna Hańcza. As of 1999 it had almost 6,500 permanent inhabitants, with a strong seasonal increase during the tourist season. Etymology According to a legend, the town of Sejny was started by three of the old knights of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Władysław II Jagiełło, who after the Battle of Grunwald granted them a land parcel in what is now Sejny. The three were very old and named the settlement ''Seni'', which is a Lithuanian word for ''Old Men''. The name was purportedly given to the city of Sejny. However, no archaeological findings or documents support this legend. The name is Yotvingian in origin. The linguist Jerzy Nalep ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |