Printer Friendly
Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary
3,918,428,098 visitors served.
forum Join the Word of the Day Mailing List For webmasters
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

Pomerania
(redirected from Pommerania)

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Wikipedia 0.03 sec.
Pomerania (pŏm'ərā`nēə), region of N central Europe, extending along the Baltic Sea from a line W of Stralsund, Germany, to the Vistula River in Poland. From 1919 to 1939, Pomerania was divided among Germany, Poland, and the Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk). The German part constituted the Prussian province of Pomerania (Ger. Pommern; 14,830 sq mi/38,410 sq km), with Stettin (Szczecin Szczecin , Ger. Stettin, city (1994 est. pop. 414,900), capital of Zachodniopomorskie prov., NW Poland, historical capital of the Prussian province of Pomerania, on the Oder near its influx into the Zalew Szczeciński (Ger. Stettiner Haff).
..... Click the link for more information.
) as its capital. The Polish part formed the province of Pomerelia (Ger. Pommerellen, Pol. Pomorze; 6,335 sq mi/16,408 sq km), with Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz , Ger. Bromberg, city (1994 est. pop. 384,000), capital (with Toruń) of Kujawsko-Pomorskie prov., N central Poland, on the Brda River, a tributary of the Vistula.
..... Click the link for more information.
 as its capital. After the Potsdam Conference Potsdam Conference, meeting (July 17–Aug. 2, 1945) of the principal Allies in World War II (the United States, the USSR, and Great Britain) to clarify and implement agreements previously reached at the Yalta Conference.
..... Click the link for more information.
 in 1945, all (c.2,800 sq mi/7,250 sq km) of former Prussian Pomerania W of the Oder (but excluding Stettin) was incorporated into the Soviet-occupied German state of Mecklenburg (see Mecklenburg–West Pomerania Mecklenburg–West Pomerania , state (1994 pop. 1,890,000), 9,201 sq mi (23,838 sq km), NE Germany, bordering on the Baltic Sea. Schwerin is the capital.
..... Click the link for more information.
); the remaining and much larger part was transferred to Polish administration.

A part of the North European plain, Pomerania is a primarily agricultural lowland, with generally poor, often sandy or marshy soil. It is dotted with numerous lakes and forests and is drained by many rivers, including the Oder, Ina, and Rega. Cereals, sugar beets, and potatoes are the main crops; livestock raising and forestry are important occupations. Industrial products include ships, metal products, refined sugar, and paper. Along the Baltic coast are numerous seaside resorts and fishing villages.

History

By the 10th cent. A.D., when its recorded history began, Pomerania was inhabited by Slavic tribes. It was conquered by Boleslaus I (992–1025) of Poland but became an independent duchy early in the 11th cent. Poland regained control in the 12th cent. and introduced Christianity. The country was split into two principalities. Pomerelia, as E Pomerania came to be known, became independent in 1227, was annexed to Poland in 1294, and was taken in 1308–9 by the Teutonic Knights Teutonic Knights or Teutonic Order , German military religious order founded (1190–91) during the siege of Acre in the Third Crusade. It was originally known as the Order of the Knights of the Hospital of St.
..... Click the link for more information.
, who incorporated it into their domain in East Prussia. The histories of Pomerania and Pomerelia after 1308 must be traced separately.

Pomerelia, including Danzig, was formally restored by the Teutonic Knights to Poland at the Treaty of Torun of 1466. Although frequently overrun in the wars of the following three centuries, it remained an integral part of Poland until the first Polish partition (1772), when it passed to Prussia and was constituted into the province of West Prussia West Prussia, Ger. Westpreussen, former province of Prussia, 9,867 sq mi (25,556 sq km), NE Germany, extending S from the Baltic Sea, between Pomerania on the west and East Prussia on the east. Danzig was the capital.
..... Click the link for more information.
. In 1919 part of West Prussia was given to Poland (see Polish Corridor Polish Corridor, strip of German territory awarded to newly independent Poland by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The strip, 20 to 70 mi (32–112 km) wide, gave Poland access to the Baltic Sea.
..... Click the link for more information.
). After the outbreak (1939) of World War II, Germany reannexed the independent state of Danzig and the Pomeranian region of Poland. These areas were returned to Poland in 1945.

Pomerania continued as a duchy of the Holy Roman Empire until the death (1637) of Bogislav XIV, when the region was granted to the elector of Brandenburg. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) gave Hither Pomerania (Vorpommern)—i.e., the western part, with Stettin, Stralsund, and the island of Rügen—to Sweden, while Farther Pomerania (Hinterpommern)—i.e., the eastern part, with Stargard—went to the electorate of Brandenburg (after 1701, the kingdom of Prussia). In 1720, as a result of the Northern War Northern War, 1700–1721, general European conflict, fought in N and E Europe at the same time that the War of the Spanish Succession was fought in the west and the south.
..... Click the link for more information.
, Sweden lost about half of its part of Pomerania (including Stettin but not Stralsund) to Prussia. In the rest of Swedish Pomerania, the kings of Sweden remained princes of the Holy Roman Empire until the dissolution of the empire in 1806.

Napoleon I Napoleon I , 1769–1821, emperor of the French, b. Ajaccio, Corsica, known as "the Little Corporal." Early Life


The son of Carlo and Letizia Bonaparte (or Buonaparte; see under Bonaparte, family), young Napoleon was sent (1779) to French
..... Click the link for more information.
 overran Swedish Pomerania in the War of the Third Coalition but restored it on making peace with Sweden in 1809. In the Treaty of Kiel (1814), Sweden exchanged Pomerania with Denmark in return for Norway, but at the Congress of Vienna (1815) Denmark ceded its share of Pomerania to Prussia, receiving the duchy of Lauenburg in return. Thus, from 1815 to 1919, all Pomerania and all Pomerelia were in Prussian hands.

Pomerania had by then been thoroughly Germanized; Pomerelia, like the rest of Prussian Poland, was subjected to intense Germanization. After the transfer in 1945 of the larger part of Pomerania to Polish administration, the German-speaking population was largely expelled. The most important cities in the region—Danzig, Stralsund, Stettin, Stargard, Toruń, Chetmno, and Marienburg (Malbork)—were, for a long time, flourishing members of the Hanseatic League Hanseatic League , mercantile league of medieval German towns. It was amorphous in character; its origin cannot be dated exactly. Originally a Hansa was a company of merchants trading with foreign lands.
..... Click the link for more information.
; by the 17th cent., however, they had lost the virtual independence they had enjoyed during the greatness of the League.


Pomerania

Historical region, northeastern Europe, on the Baltic Sea between the Oder and Vistula rivers. Occupied by Slavs and other peoples, it was ruled by Polish princes in the 10th century. German immigration into western and central Pomerania began in the late 12th century, and Polish dukes ruled this area under the suzerainty of the Holy Roman Empire until the 17th century. Eastern Pomerania was held by the Knights of the Teutonic Order from 1308 until it was reconquered by Poland in 1454. The elector of Brandenburg acquired the duchies in 1637. Prussia united western and central Pomerania in 1815 as the province of Pommern. Most of the area is now in Poland; its westernmost section is in eastern Germany.


Pomerania
a region of N central Europe, extending along the S coast of the Baltic Sea from Stralsund to the Vistula River: now chiefly in Poland, with a small area in NE Germany

Pomerania 

a medieval duchy located on the Baltic Sea. It was later, until 1945, a Prussian province situated chiefly within western Pomerania.


Pomerania 

(in Polish, Pomorze), the name Polish sources use to designate the northern part of the Polish People’s Republic, extending along the Baltic Sea. Pomerania is divided into western and eastern parts.

In the late tenth century this area, mainly populated by a group of Western Slavic tribes called Pomeranians, was incorporated into the early-feudal Polish state. Under pressure from feudal lords from Denmark, Saxony, and Brandenburg, Western Pomerania became a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire in 1181; Prince Boguslaw I received the title of duke in 1170. The territory underwent germanization, with Western Pomerania becoming known as the duchy of Pomerania (in German, Pommern). The local Slavic dynasty of princes remained in power until 1637. The 1648 Treaty of Westphalia transferred Western Pomerania and part of Eastern Pomerania to Sweden, with the remainder of the eastern territory going to the state of Brandenburg-Prussia. Brandenburg-Prussia gained control of all of Pomerania in 1679, 1720, and 1815. The region became the greater part of the Prussian province of Pomerania, which had Stettin as its administrative center.

Eastern Pomerania was conquered in 1308–09 by the Teutonic Knights but was retaken by Poland in the Thirteen Years’ War (1454–66). It was annexed by Prussia at the end of the 18th century. The Peace Treaty of Versailles (1919) returned most of Eastern Pomerania to Poland, except for Gdańsk (Danzig) and the surrounding area.

The Potsdam Conference of 1945, which restored to Poland its western territories, established the Polish-German border along the Oder and Neisse rivers.

Pomerania is administratively divided into Szczecin, Kosza-lin, and Gdańsk wojewó dztwos. The section of the former Prussian province of Pomerania west of the Oder was incorporated into the German Democratic Republic and forms the eastern part of the districts of Neubrandenburg and Rostock.

REFERENCE

Historia Pomona, 2nd ed., vol. 1. Edited by G. Labuda. Poznan, 1972.


Want to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit the webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
Feedback
Mentioned in?  References in periodicals archive?   Encyclopedia browser?   Full browser?
No references found
 
When he however died at the age of 17, she carried the project through for her nephew Bogislav of Pommerania, renamed him Erik (after Sweden's national saint) and saw him crowned in Kalmar 1397 as joint king of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway.
He recommended that Ukraine and Lithuania should be delivered to Poland while Germany would absorb the Polish corridor, Danzig, Upper Silesia, Pommerania and Poznan.
Protein is sourced largely from breeders in the North German states of Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-West Pommerania.
 
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Terms of Use | Privacy policy | Feedback | Advertise with Us | Copyright © 2012 Farlex, Inc.
Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.