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Podkarpackie Voivodeship

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Podkarpackie Voivodeship

Podkarpackie Voivodeship (Polish pronunciation: [pɔt.karˈpat͡s.kjɛ]; lit.'Subcarpathian') is a voivodeship, or province, in the southeastern corner of Poland. Its administrative capital and largest city is Rzeszów. It is governed by the Subcarpathian Regional Assembly and the voivodeship marshal.

The name derives from the region's location near the Carpathian Mountains, and the voivodeship comprises areas of two historic regions of Central Europe—Lesser Poland (western and northwestern counties) and Cherven Cities/Red Ruthenia.

It is bordered by Lesser Poland Voivodeship to the west, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship to the north-west, Lublin Voivodeship to the north, Ukraine (Lviv Oblast and Zakarpattia Oblast) to the east and Slovakia (Prešov Region) to the south. It covers an area of 17,844 square kilometres (6,890 sq mi), and has a population of 2,627,462 (as at 2019). The voivodeship is mostly hilly or mountainous (see Bieszczady, Beskidy); its northwestern corner is flat. It is one of the most wooded Polish voivodeships (35.9% of total area), within its borders is the entirety of Bieszczady National Park, and parts of Magura National Park.

In the Early Middle Ages, the territory was inhabited by the Vistulans and Lendians, old Polish tribes. It formed part of Poland since its first historic ruler Mieszko I, however, later on, at various times, portions of the region fell under the Kievan Rus', the Golden Horde, and the Kingdom of Hungary, before Poland regained full control in the 14th century. Following the Partitions of Poland the entire region was annexed by Austria and included within the newly established Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria. The oldest cities in the province, with over 1,000 years of history, are Przemyśl and Sanok. Rzeszów, Łańcut and Tarnobrzeg, with their castles and palaces, were important residential cities of the powerful Polish magnate families of Lubomirski, Potocki and Tarnowski.

During the interwar period (1918–1939), territory of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship was part of the Lwów Voivodeship and belonged to "Poland B", the less-developed, more rural parts of Poland. To boost the local economy, the government of the Second Polish Republic began in the mid-1930s a massive program of industrialization, known as the Central Industrial Region. The program created several major armament factories, including PZL Mielec, PZL Rzeszów, Huta Stalowa Wola, and factories in other Subcarpathian towns such as Dębica, Nowa Dęba, Sanok, Tarnobrzeg and Nowa Sarzyna.

Following the joint German-Soviet invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, most of the current province was occupied by Nazi Germany with the eastern outskirts occupied by the Soviet Union, and the city of Przemyśl divided between the occupiers until 1941, and then the entire region occupied by Germany until 1944.

Following the Soviet annexation of the regional capital of Lwów, Rzeszów was chosen as the new regional capital and the Rzeszów Voivodeship was founded.

The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Rzeszów, Przemyśl, Krosno and (partially) Tarnów and Tarnobrzeg Voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local-government reforms adopted in 1998.

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