Where is Silesia? Which country borders Silesia? What are the Geographical Features?

0
Advertisement

Which countries does Silesia belong to? Where exactly is Silesia? Our page with general information about Silesia.

Silesia

Source : pixabay.com

Silesia (Polish: Śląsk; Czech: Slezsko; German: Schlesien; Silesian German dialect: Schläsing) is a historic region of Central Europe that today is almost entirely in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. The regional coat of arms is a black eagle on a gold field. It is the name of a region in Eastern Europe. Silesia is now divided into three parts.

  1. Former Prussian Silesia: It is the most densely populated part. These lands, which used to belong to Germany, II. It was captured by the Russians in World War II. It was given to Poland by the Treaty of Potsdam. Its capital is Oppeln; Its area is 22,864 square kilometers.
  2. Austrian Silesia: This region, which is a part of Moravia, has a surface area of ​​2,750 km2. It was first given to Czechoslovakia by the Treaty of Versailles. II. After World War II it remained entirely in Czechoslovakia. Its headquarters is in Opava (Old Troppau). Today it is in the territory of the Czech Republic.
  3. Polish Silesia: This area, which was formerly Poland’s, was taken by the Germans and was given back to Poland in 1921. But II. In World War II, it passed back to the Germans. After the war, Poland took Prussian Silesia from the Germans along with this part of Silesia. Important cities are Wroclav.

Etymology

Multilingual names of Silesia probably share etymologies—Latin, Silesian; Polish, Śląsk; _ Old Polish: Ślążsk[o]; Silesian: Ślůnsk; in German, Schlesien; _ Silesian German: Schläsing; in Czech, Slezsko; _ in Slovak , Sliezsko ; _ Kashubian in Sląsk ; _ Upper Sorbian: Šleska; Lower Sorbian: Šlazyńska)—. All the names are related to the name of a river (now Ślęza) and a mountain (Ślęża mountain) located in southern Silesia. The mountain was considered a place of worship.

Ślęża is one of the pre-Indo-European topographic names found in the region. According to some Polish scholars, the name ‘Ślęża’ [ˈɕlɛ̃ʐa] or ‘Ślęż’ [ˈɕlɛ̃ʐ] is directly related to the Old Slavonic words ‘ślęg’ [ˈɕlɛ̃ɡ] or ‘śląg’ [ˈɕlɔ̃ɡ], meaning fog, wet, or damp. . There is disagreement with an origin hypothesis that the name Śląsk [ˈɕlɔ̃sk] is derived from the name of the Silingos tribe, an etymology preferred by some German authors.

Silesia

Source : pixabay.com

Geography of the historic district

Most of Silesia is relatively flat, although its southern edge is generally mountainous. Although it extends eastward to the upper Vistula River basin, it is mainly found in a strip running along both banks in the upper and middle (Odra) reaches of the Oder (Odra) River. The region also includes many branches of the Oder, including the Bóbr (and its tributary Kwisa), Barycz, and Nysa Kłodzka. The Sudeten Mountains run along most of the southern tip of the region, but they reach the Silesian Beskydy at its southeastern tip.

Advertisement

Historically, Silesia was bordered to the west by the Kwisa and Bóbr rivers, while the region to the west of Kwisa was Upper Lusatia (formerly Milsko). However, since part of Upper Lusatia was incorporated into the province of Silesia in the German Görlitz in 1815, the Niederschlesischer Oberlausitzkreis and adjacent territories are considered part of historic Silesia. These counties together with parts of the Polish Lower Silesian Voivodeship and Lubusz Voivodeship form the geographical region of Lower Silesia.

Silesia experienced a similar conceptual expansion in its extreme east. Historically, it stretched all the way to the Brynica River, which separated it from Zagłębie Dąbrowskie in the Lesser Poland region. However, for many Poles today, Silesia (Śląsk) is understood to encompass the entire area around Katowice, including Zagłębie. This interpretation has official sanction for the use of the name Silesia (województwo śląskie) for the province covering this region. In fact, the Polish word Śląsk (when used unqualified) now usually refers only to this area (also called Górny Śląsk or Upper Silesia).

Like the Katowice region, historic Upper Silesia included the Opole region (Opole Voivodeship) and Czech Silesia. Czech Silesia consists of part of the Moravian-Silesian Region and the Jeseník Region in the Olomouc Region.

Leave A Reply