Podlasie
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Podlasie (Latin Podlachia) is a historical region in eastern part of Poland and western Belarus. It is located between Biebrza River (north) and its natural continuation to the south — Polesie area. Its old names are Podlasko, Podlasze.
There are two opinions about the origin of the name. Some derive it from the word les, las, i.e., "forest" in Slavic languages, i.e., it is area near forest or area of forests, and in this sense Podlasie is synonymous with the adjacent Polesie. Other suggest that the terms comes from the expression "pod Lachem", i.e., "under the Poles", under the Polish rule. The latter version has a somewhat different explanation that the name originates from the times when the territory was within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Trakai province, along the borderline with the Kingdom of Poland, i.e., "pod Lachem" would mean "near" Poles.
At present the name of Podlasie is used especially for Polish part of the region, which is traditionally divided between North (north of Western Bug River) and South Podlasie. The northern part of Podlasie is included in Podlasie Voivodship.
Major towns of this area:
History
The Podlasie area was inhabited through history by various tribes of different ethnic roots. In the 9-10th centuries Podlasie was probably inhabited by Lekhitic tribes (south) and Baltic (Sudovians) tribes north. Between the 10th and the 13th centuries this area was occupied by Ruthenian tribes speaking a form of proto-Belarusian. Until the 14th century this area was part of Ruthenian states, later included into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. In 1569, after the Union of Lublin, the western part of Podlasie was ceded to Poland. Southern Podlasie belonged to Lithuania until the Third Partition of Poland (1795).
Ethnic situation
Until the 19th century Podlasie was populated by Poles and Jews (towns), Polish speaking gentry and Ruthenians - Orthodox and Uniate Catholics - speaking a dialect related to modern Belarusian language. Because for some time in the medieval period the area was part of the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia, the local Slavic Belarusian dialects acquired a Ukrainian influence, and thus are sometimes mistakenly counted as "Ukrainian". In 19th century inhabitans of Podlasie found themselves in Russian Empire. Southern Podlasie formed a part of Russian controlled Congress Kingdom. After 1831 Russian authorities forbidden Uniate confession in Northern Podlasie and Eastern Rite disappeared from this area. In 1875 Russians forbidden this rite in southern Podlasie as well and all Uniate inhabitans were forced to accept Orthodox confession. But resistance of local people was surprisingly strong. Ruthenian speakers from this area never accepted Orthodox faith. As reaction to those measures Ruthenians of Podlasie began to identificate them with Polish national movement.
In 1912 Russian authorities issued tollerance edict which made possible to change confession from Orthodox to Roman Catholic (but not to Eastern Rite). Majority of inhabitans of Southern Podlasie changed their confession from Orthodox to Roman Catholic and quickly assimilated themsevles with Poles. At present very few people continue speaking Ruthenian (Belarusian) and almost all consider themselves as Poles.
Very different situation exists in Northern Podlasie. The area west of Bialystok has been populated by Polish speaking majority for centuries. Eastern part of the area has ethnically mixed population. In Bielsk Podlaski area there is an Belarusian-speaking majority. The counties along the border with Belarus are populated by Belarusians. There is a small Tatar minority as well.