West Pomeranian voivodeship - Województwo zachodniopomorskie

West Pomeranian voivodeship
location
West Pomeranian Voivodeship (EE, E NN, N) .png
Flag
POL West Pomeranian Voivodeship COA.svg
Main information
Capital citySzczecin
Surface22 892,5
Population1 701 030 (2018)
Time zoneUTC 01:00↗

West Pomeranian voivodeship - is located in the north-west part Polish at the Baltic sea. It borders with Germany and three other provinces: Pomeranian, Lubuskie Voivodeship and Greater Poland. The area of ​​the West Pomeranian Voivodeship is 22 892 km², and the number of inhabitants is approx. 1.71 million. It is divided into 18 poviats and 3 cities with poviat rights.

The capital of the voivodeship is Szczecin.

Characteristic

Geography

The West Pomeranian Voivodeship is located in north-western Poland, on the Baltic Sea. According to data from 1 January 2014, the area of ​​the voivodeship is 22 892.48 km². This area includes the internal sea waters of the Polish part of the Szczecinski Lagoon and the reservoirs around the Dziwna and Świna straits, which are parts of the Baltic Sea. The northern border of the voivodeship is a designated coastline on the Pomeranian Bay and the rest of the Baltic Sea - this border is 185 km long.

Historical West Pomerania covers the greater part of the voivodeship. The southern parts used to belong to Greater Poland and New Marchia, formerly the Lubuskie region. The territories of the voivodship then belonged to the Pomeranian Province. In 1946, most of the present area was the Szczecin Province, which in 1950 was divided into smaller provinces. Szczecin and voivodeship Koszalin.

Flora and fauna

Vegetation

The flora of the voivodeship began to recover after the Scandinavian ice sheet retreated in the form of a treeless tundra with shrubs. With the end of the Pleistocene, the climate warmed up, creating conditions for the development of trees, especially mossy birch, and steppe vegetation. The Holocene began with the preboreal period, in which dense pine-birch forests appeared, gradually supplemented by elm, alder and ash. Hazel supplemented the species composition of forests in the warm and humid boreal period. Over time, linden and oaks appeared. The intensive development of oak forests as well as alders and riparian forests occurred in the Atlantic period. In the drier subboreal period, beech spread, and at the same time the share of elm and linden declined. The contemporary character of the forest landscapes of the Lakeland was significantly influenced by the cooling and dampness of the climate in the sub-Atlantic period, as well as the intensive development of settlement, and with it the progressive large-scale deforestation. It is also the result of species migration and their adaptation to changing climatic conditions. Some of the plant species found in the West Pomeranian Lake District come from the glacial period - they are glacial relics. The most favorable conditions for the development of these plants are created by peat bogs, including marshes and swamp forests, where they have survived, e.g. Berger's fork tooth, peat sedge, string sedge, alpine woolly, northern chamedafne, black crowberry, small-berry cranberry, moss and sedge communities of acid low peat bogs, among others with pollen-leaved starfish, blue pollination, low birch and peat lakes, where fine water lily and related coneflower have been preserved.

The animal world

The fauna of the West Pomeranian Lake District is of an influxic nature, associated with the migration and settlement of species in the period after the ice sheet has receded. These are mainly representatives typical of the Central European Plain, supplemented with Western European, Atlantic and Eastern European species, there are also a few species characteristic of southern and northern Europe. The region in which the lake district is located, like most of the lowland part of Poland, is referred to as transitional in zoogeography. The confirmation of the transitional nature of the macroregion is, inter alia, observations of the red nightingale arriving in Poland from the west and the gray nightingale arriving from the east. In addition, the animal world is complemented by alien species, the spread of which has various effects. The presence of, among others, stripe cancer, the expansion of which is the main reason for the disappearance of noble cancer in the waters of northern Poland. Interestingly, in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, you can meet an extinct steppe bustard, whose individuals periodically come here to hunt.

Climate

The climate of the voivodeship is characterized by great diversity and variability. It results from the clash of the maritime climate with the land climate in this area and the influence of local factors on the formation of weather phenomena. The northern and western parts of the voivodeship have typical features of a maritime climate. As you move away from the sea and towards the east, features of a continental climate gradually become visible. A characteristic feature of the climate is the increase in precipitation in the regions of the highest elevations of the Lake District. The average annual rainfall is at the level of 650–800 mm. There is a high variability of climate (microclimate) within individual areas, conditioned by environmental features such as location (near the sea, lakes, large rivers), topography, area coverage (forests, meadows, buildings), topography (ice-marginal valleys, hills).

History

Drive

The Westpomeranian Region borders on the Baltic Sea to the north and Germany to the west. This gives you additional opportunities to spend time by the water or on a trip abroad. The main communication routes of the continent intersect here. In addition, the location of the voivodeship perfectly influences the development of ferry transport (ferries depart from Świnoujście, Kołobrzeg and Łeba).

There is 1 passenger airport in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Szczecin-Goleniów Airport (IATA code: SZZ) is located 46 km north-east of the center of Szczecin, near the S6 expressway. From here you can fly to Warsaw, Krakow, London, Liverpool, Dublin, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Bergen and Athens. The airport has convenient rail connections to Szczecin (including Szczecin Główny and Szczecin Dąbie), Goleniów, Gryfice and Kołobrzeg.

Public rail transport in the voivodeship is served by POLREGIO, Przewozy Regionalne and several smaller carriers. Rail and road transport are well organized, except in sparsely populated regions.

Counties

Poviats in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship

The following poviats are located in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship:

Cities with poviat rights

Counties

Interesting places

Transport

There is a large number of carriers in the Zachodniopomorskie voivodship that make it possible to reach almost every region of it. Due to the infrastructure of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, road transport is the main means of transport.

Accommodation

Trip

Gastronomy

Worth seeing

This website uses content from the website: [1] published on Wikitravel; authors: w editing history; Copyright: under license CC-BY-SA 1.0