Ziemia

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Ziemia (literally 'earth' or 'land' in Polish language, Latin: terra) is a historical unit of administration in Poland. This term is often translated as 'land' into English language. Note that in Polish language this term is not capitalized (thus 'ziemia chełmińska, not Ziemia Chełmińska).

In the prehistoric Poland, this term referred to a territory controlled by a given tribe. The term apparead in medieval Poland (12th-13th centuries), after the fragmentation of Poland. Ziemia referred to a former princedom or duchy, which was reunifed with the Polish Kingdom and lost its political sovereignty but retained its officials hierarchy and bureaucracy. From around 14th centuries some of the former princedoms, now 'ziemia's, were assigned to the official known as the voivode and became the primary unit of administration known as voivodeships. However some 'ziemia's were not transformed into a voivodeships. In most cases they were subordinated to a voivodeship and a certain voivode, but retained some privileges and properties of a voivodeship, like they often had their own sejmik (regional parliament) and were referred to as 'ziemia', not 'voivodeship'.

Over the next centuries 'ziemia's became increasingly integrated into the voivodeships and lost more and more of their autonomy. Today they are not units of administration, and in modern Poland they are only a generic geographical term referring to certain parts of Poland.