Polesia, also called Polissia, Polesie, or Polesye, is a natural (geographic) and

historical region History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

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. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

within the

East European Plain The East European Plain (also called the Russian Plain, "Extending from eastern Poland through the entire European Russia to the Ural Mountains, the ''East European Plain'' encompasses all of the Baltic states and Belarus, nearly all of Ukraine, ...

, including the Belarus–Ukraine

border region The Border Region (coded IE041) is a NUTS Level III statistical region within the Republic of Ireland. The name of the region refers to its location along the Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border. It is not a cross-border region, so ...

and part of eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. This region should not be confused with parts of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

also traditionally called "Polesie".

Extent

One of the largest forest areas on the continent, Polesia is located in the southwestern part of the Eastern-European Lowland, 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, Pripyat and Desna. It stretches along the Belarus–Ukraine border. It basically defines the ...

. On the western side, Polesia includes the crossing of the

Bug River The Bug or Western Bug is a major river in Central Europe that flows through Belarus (border), Poland, and Ukraine, with a total length of .Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and the

Pripyat River The Pripyat or Prypiat is a river in Eastern Europe. The river, which is approximately long, flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and into Ukraine again, before draining into the Dnieper at Kyiv Reservoir. Name etymology Max Vasmer notes in h ...

valley of

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine (, ) refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions ( oblasts) of Chernivtsi, I ...

. The westernmost part of the region, located in Poland and around

Brest, Belarus Brest, formerly Brest-Litovsk and Brest-on-the-Bug, is a city in south-western Belarus at the border with Poland opposite the Polish town of Terespol, where the Bug (river), Bug and Mukhavets rivers meet, making it a border town. It serves as ...

, historically also formed part of the historic region of

Podlachia Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie (; ; ), is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn. Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g ...

, and is also referred to as such. The modern Polish part was not considered part of Polesia by the late 19th-century ''

Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland The Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic Countries () is a monumental Polish gazetteer, published 1880–1902 in Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns ...

'', which defined the region as roughly a triangle between the cities of Brest in the west,

Mogilev Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...

in the northeast and

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

in the southeast. The swampy areas of central Polesia are known as the

Pinsk Marshes __NOTOC__ The Pripet Marshes or Pripyat Marshes (), also known as Pinsk Marshes (), the Polesie Marshes, and the Rokitno Marshes, are a vast natural region of wetlands in Polesia, along the forested basin of the Pripyat River and its tributaries ...

(after the major local city of

Pinsk Pinsk (; , ; ; ; ) is a city in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Pinsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. It is located in the historical region of Polesia, at the confluence of t ...

). Large parts of the region were contaminated after the

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

and the region now includes the

Chernobyl Exclusion Zone The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, also called the 30-Kilometre Zone or simply The Zone, was established shortly after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the Ukrainian SSR of the Soviet Union. Initially, Soviet authorities declar ...

and

Polesie State Radioecological Reserve The Polesie State Radioecological Reserve (PSRER; ; ) is a radioecological nature reserve in the Polesie region of Belarus, which was created to enclose the territory of Belarus most affected by radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl disaster ...

, named after the region. This includes Ukraine north-northwest of its capital

region. File:Палеская правінцыя (2001).svg, Polesie within Belarus File:Regions of Ukrainian Polesia.svg, Geographic regions of Polesie (Polissia) within Ukraine File:Podlasie Historia.png, Polesia or Podlachia in eastern Poland

Name

The names ''Polesia/Polissia/Polesye'', etc. are constructed from the East Slavic root ''les'' 'forest', and the prefix '' po-'', which in the meaning of 'on, by, along' is used to create place names.Compare Inhabitants of Polesia are called

Polishchuk The Poleshuks, or Polishchuks, also known as Polesians (, , , ) are the indigenous population of Polesia (also known as ''Polesie'' and ''Polissia''). Their native speech forms a dialect continuum between the Belarusian and Ukrainian languag ...

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 Milahrad or 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 pres ...

, the

Neuri The Neuri or Navari (; ) were an ancient Slavs, Slavic or Balts, Baltic people whose existence was recorded by ancient Greco-Roman world, Graeco-Roman authors. Identification The Neuri belonged to a group of northern European peoples of unknown ...

. In the late Middle Ages Polesia became part of the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...

, following it into the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

(1569). It became part of

in the late-18th-century

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

. Polesia was largely part of

from 1921 to 1939, when the country's largest province, the

Polesie Voivodeship Polesie Voivodeship () 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, 1921, as a result of peac ...

, bore that name, with the eastern part forming part of the

Byelorussian SSR The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (BSSR, Byelorussian SSR or Byelorussia; ; ), also known as Soviet Belarus or simply Belarus, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1922 as an independent state, and ...

, within which the

Polesia Region Polesia Region (, ) was an administrative division in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. It was created on 15 January 1938. It included the territories of eastern Polesia and consisted of 15 districtss. The center of Polesia Region w ...

was created in 1938. 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, is a liturgical rite that is identified with the wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Chri ...

)

Ukrainian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Volhynia, Polesia and Pidliashia The Ukrainian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Volhynia, Polesia and Pidliashia was a short-lived (1931–44) pre-diocesan Eastern Catholic (notably Byzantine Rite, Ukrainian language) jurisdiction in three parts of present Ukraine. History * Es ...

Following the 1939

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, most of the region was under

Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into three differe ...

, with the western outskirts under German occupation until 1941, and then the entire region, including the pre-war Soviet-controlled part, was under German occupation until 1943–1944. Since the end of World War II, the region has encompassed areas in eastern Poland, southern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine.

Geography

Polesia is a marshy region lining the

(

Pripyat Marshes __NOTOC__ The Pripet Marshes or Pripyat Marshes (), also known as Pinsk Marshes (), the Polesie Marshes, and the Rokitno Marshes, are a vast natural region of wetlands in Polesia, along the forested basin of the Pripyat River and its tributaries f ...

) in Southern Belarus ( Brest,

Kalinkavichy Kalinkavichy (; ; ) is a town in Gomel Region, southeastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Kalinkavichy District. Kalinkavichy is located beside the Netech' River, opposite the city of Mazyr, and is the site of one of the c ...

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

), Northern Ukraine (in the

Volyn Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in Ukraine it is roughly ...

Rivne Rivne ( ; , ) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast.

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

and

Chernihiv Oblast Chernihiv Oblast (), also referred to as Chernihivshchyna (), is an administrative divisions of Ukraine, oblast (province) in northern Ukraine. The capital city, administrative center of the oblast is the city of Chernihiv. There are 1,511 sett ...

s), and partly in Poland (

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

). It is a flatland within the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which 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, ...

s of the

Western Bug The Bug or Western Bug is a major river in Central Europe that flows through Belarus (border), Poland, and Ukraine, with a total length of .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, Kherson Oblast, a coastal village in Ukraine * Stanislaus County, ...

, the last king of the

. Notable tributaries of the Pripyat are the

Horyn The Horyn or Haryn (, ; , ; ; ) 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; ) 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 and cleanest ri ...

Styr The Styr (; ; ) is a right tributary of the Pripyat, with a length of . Its basin area is and located in the historical region of Volhynia. The Styr begins near Brody, Lviv Oblast, then flows into Rivne Oblast, Volyn Oblast, then into Brest ...

Ptsich The Ptsich, or Pcič official transliteration (, ) 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 basin of .

, and Yaselda rivers. The largest towns in the Pripyat basin are

Stolin Stolin is a town in Brest Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Stolin District, the largest district in the region. Stolin is located from the Belarus–Ukraine border. As of 2025, it has a population of 14,034. Stolin i ...

Davyd-Haradok Davyd-Haradok or David-Gorodok is a town in Brest Region, Belarus. As of 2025, it has a population of 5,658. History Within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Davyd-Haradok was part of Brest Litovsk Voivodeship. In 1793, Davyd-Haradok was acquired ...

. 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 region is subdivided into several subregions among which are: ;Poland *

Western Polesia Western Polesia, also known as Podlachian Polesia and Lublin Polesia, is a geological macro-region to the west of the River Bug, which is the north-western part of Polesie (a land, mostly in Belarus and Ukraine). In geological terms, the lowland ...

;Ukraine * * , a.ka. Lviv Polissia * * * * ;Belarus * Brest Paliessie * Zaharodzie * Prypiat Paliessie * Mazyr Paliessie * Homiel Paliessie According to the late 19th-century ''Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland'' Polesie was divided into Northern Polesia, itself divided into Upper Polesia or Pinsk Polesia and Lower Polesia or Mazyr Polesia, and Southern Polesia, itself divided into Volhynian Polesia (overlapping northern

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

) and Drevlian Polesia.

Chernobyl disaster

This region suffered severely from the

. 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 conside ...

elements. The most polluted part includes the

and the adjacent

. 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 Polesian National Park () 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 former peat-bog preserves: ...

(''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 (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

-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, funga, or features of geologic ...

, which borders a similar reserve (the Shatsk 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 or cultural values. Protected areas are those areas in which human presence or the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. firewood ...

called Prybuzhskaie-Paliessie in the Belarusian part of the region. The wooden architecture structures in the region were added to the

World Heritage World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Tentative List on 30 January 2004 in the Cultural category.

Notes

References

External links

The Official Site of Radomysl Castle

at the

Encyclopedia of Ukraine The ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'' (), published from 1984 to 2001, is a fundamental work of Ukrainian Studies. Development The work was created under the auspices of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Europe (Sarcelles, near Paris). As the ...

Origin of Polesie lakes and parabolic dunesSave Polesia - E40 waterway would destroy biodiversity hotspots and key protected areas, says new reportPolesia , Wilderness without borders: Protecting one of Europe's largest natural landscapes - Frankfurt Zoological Society
{{coord missing, Ukraine Historical regions in Belarus Historical regions in Poland Historical regions in Russia Historical regions in Ukraine Belarus–Ukraine border