View source for Polesia

{{Short description|Natural and historical region of Central and Eastern Europe}}
{{Redirect|Polesie}}
{{expand language|langcode=uk|Полісся|langcode2=be|Палессе|langcode3=pl|Polesie|date=March 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name                    = Polesia 
| official_name           =
| native_name             = {{lang|be|Палессе}}{{•}}{{lang|uk|Полісся}}
| native_name_lang        =
| other_name              = Polesie
| settlement_type         = Natural and historical region
| image_skyline = {{multiple image
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| image1 = Река_Уборть1.jpg{{!}}Ubort River near the city of Olevsk (Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine)
| image2 = Пінскія замалёўкі. (08).jpg{{!}}Former Jesuit Collegium, Pinsk
| image3 = Гомель. Советская 3. Фото 13.JPG{{!}}Homel
}}
| image_caption = {{hlist|Left to right: [[Ubort River]] near the city of [[Olevsk]], Ukraine|[[Pinsk]]|[[Homel]]}}
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| image_map               = Polesia map - topography.jpg
| mapsize                 = 
| map_alt                 = 
| map_caption             = [[Polesian Lowland]] marked in dark green
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| subdivision_type        = Countries
| subdivision_name        = [[Belarus]], [[Poland]], and [[Ukraine]]
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| seat_type = Largest city
| seat = [[Homel]]
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}}

'''Polesia''', also called '''Polissia''', '''Polesie''', or '''Polesye''',{{efn|{{bulleted list|{{langx|be|Палессе|Palyessye}} {{IPA|be|paˈlʲɛsʲːɛ|}}|{{langx|uk|Полісся|Polissia}} {{IPA|uk|poˈl⁽ʲ⁾isʲːɐ|}}|{{langx|pl|Polesie}} {{IPA|pl|pɔˈlɛɕɛ||LL-Q809 (pol)-Olaf-Polesie.wav}}|{{langx|ru|Полесье|Polesye}}|{{langx|la|Tractus Polesiensis}}<ref>{{ill|Michał Baliński|pl}}, {{ill|Tymoteusz Lipiński|pl}}, ''Starożytna Polska: pod względem historycznym, jeograficznym i statystycznym'', Volume 3, 1846, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2wxFAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA834 p. 834]</ref>}}}} is a natural (geographic) and [[historical region]] in [[Eastern Europe]] within the [[East European Plain]], including the [[Belarus–Ukraine border|Belarus–Ukraine]] [[border region]] and part of eastern [[Poland]].<ref name="buffalo">{{cite web |url=http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/web/geography/regions/polesie/link.shtml |title=Polesie |publisher=University at Buffalo, New York. Polish Academic Information Center |access-date=2 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160907230558/http://info-poland.buffalo.edu/web/geography/regions/polesie/link.shtml |archive-date=7 September 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This region should not be confused with parts of [[Russia]] also traditionally [[#See also|called "Polesie"]].<ref name=efron>{{cite Efron|Полесье}}</ref>

== Extent ==
One of the largest forest areas on the continent, Polesia is located in the southwestern part of the [[Eastern-European Lowland]], the [[Polesian Lowland]]. On the western side, Polesia includes the crossing of the [[Bug River]] valley in [[Poland]] and the [[Pripyat River]] valley of [[Western Ukraine]].<ref name="MAB">{{cite web |url=http://westpolesie.org/ |title=Presentation of West Polesie Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (Belarus/Poland/Ukraine) |publisher=West Polesie.org |work=Nomination Form prepared in Warsaw, Kyiv and Minsk by National UNESCO-MAB Committees, and introduced to UNESCO in a May 2007 Nomination |access-date=2 May 2014 |author=Alicja Breymeyer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502051705/http://westpolesie.org/ |archive-date=2 May 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The westernmost part of the region, located in Poland and around [[Brest, Belarus]], historically also formed part of the historic region of [[Podlachia]], and is also referred to as such. The modern Polish part was not considered part of Polesia by the late 19th-century ''[[Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland]]'', which defined the region as roughly a triangle between the cities of Brest in the west, [[Mogilev]] in the northeast and [[Kyiv]] in the southeast.<ref name=sgk>{{cite book|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Słownik geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich, Tom VIII|year=1887|language=pl|location=Warszawa|page=[http://dir.icm.edu.pl/pl/Slownik_geograficzny/Tom_VIII/579 579-587]}}</ref> 

The swampy areas of central Polesia are known as the [[Pripet Marshes|Pinsk Marshes]] (after the major local city of [[Pinsk]]). Large parts of the region were contaminated after the [[Chernobyl disaster]] and the region now includes the [[Chernobyl Exclusion Zone]] and [[Polesie State Radioecological Reserve]], named after the region. This includes Ukraine north-northwest of its capital [[Kyiv]] region.

<gallery>
File:Палеская правінцыя (2001).svg|Polesie within Belarus
File:Regions of Ukrainian Polesia.svg|Geographic regions of Polesie (Polissia) within Ukraine
File:Podlasie Historia.png|Polesia or Podlachia in eastern Poland
</gallery>

== Name ==
The names ''Polesia/Polissia/Polesye'', etc. are constructed from the [[East Slavic languages|East Slavic]] root ''les'' 'forest', and the prefix ''[[wikt:по-|po-]]'', which in the meaning of  'on, by, along' is used to create  place names.<ref name ="mould2000">Compare {{cite book |last=Mould |first=R. F. |title= Chernobyl Record: The Definitive History of the Chernobyl Catastrophe |publisher= Institute of Physics Publishing |year= 2000 |location= Bristol, UK |isbn= 0-7503-0670-X}}</ref> Inhabitants of Polesia are called [[Polishchuk]]s.

== History ==
[[File:Polissia, 1613.jpg|thumb|left|Polesia in 1613 (detail of [[Radziwiłł map]])]]
In ancient times, the areas of today's western and west-central Polesia were inhabited by the people of the [[Milograd culture]], the [[Neuri]].<ref>David Asheri, Alan B. Lloyd, Aldo Corcella, '' A commentary on Herodotus Books I-IV '', edited by Oswyn Murray, Alfonso Moreno, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007, p. 589</ref>

In the late Middle Ages Polesia became part of the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]], following it into the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] (1569). It became part of [[Russian Empire|Russia]] in the late-18th-century [[Partitions of Poland]]. Polesia was largely part of [[Poland]] from 1921 to 1939, when the country's largest province, the [[Polesie Voivodeship]], bore that name,<ref name="buffalo"/> with the eastern part forming part of the [[Byelorussian SSR]], within which the [[Polesia Region]] was created in 1938. From 1931 to 1944, it was explicitly mentioned as constituent part of the short-lived ([[Byzantine Rite]]) [[Ukrainian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Volhynia, Polesia and Pidliashia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/wolh0.htm|title=Apostolic Exarchate of Volhynia, Polesia and Pidliashia (Ukrainian Rite)|website=GCatholic}}</ref>
[[File:Polesie 1920.jpg|thumb|Polesia in May 1920]]

Following the 1939 [[invasion of Poland]], most of the region was under [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|Soviet occupation]], with the western outskirts under German occupation until 1941, and then the entire region, including the pre-war Soviet-controlled part, was under German occupation until 1943–1944. Since the end of World War II, the region has encompassed areas in eastern Poland, southern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

== Geography ==
Polesia is a marshy region lining the [[Pripyat River]] ([[Pripyat Marshes]]) in Southern Belarus ([[Brest, Belarus|Brest]], [[Pinsk]], [[Kalinkavichy]], [[Gomel]]), Northern Ukraine (in the [[Volyn Oblast|Volyn]], [[Rivne Oblast|Rivne]], [[Zhytomyr Oblast|Zhytomyr]], [[Kyiv Oblast|Kyiv]] and [[Chernihiv Oblast]]s), and partly in Poland ([[Lublin]]). It is a flatland within the [[drainage basin]]s of the [[Western Bug]] and [[Pripyat River|Prypyat]] rivers. The two rivers are connected by the [[Dnieper-Bug Canal]], built during the reign of [[Stanislaus II of Poland]], the last king of the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]].

Notable tributaries of the Pripyat are the [[Horyn]], [[Stokhid]], [[Styr]], [[Ptsich]], and [[Yaselda River|Yaselda]] rivers. The largest towns in the Pripyat basin are [[Pinsk]], [[Stolin]], [[Davyd-Haradok]]. Huge marshes were reclaimed from the 1960s to the 1980s for [[farm]]land.{{clarify|the prose should clarify who chose to do the reclamation? under what political regime?  local Poland jurisdiction?  local Byelorussian? local Ukrainian Soveit republic? local Russian Soviet republic? or what?|date=October 2022}}

The region is subdivided into several subregions among which are:{{cn|date=June 2024}}
;Poland
* [[Western Polesia]]
;Ukraine
* {{ill|Volhynian Polissia|uk|Волинське Полісся}}
* {{ill|Little Polissia|uk|Мале Полісся}}, a.ka. Lviv Polissia
* {{ill|Zhytomyr Polissia|uk|Житомирське Полісся}}
* {{ill|Kyiv Polissia|uk|Київське Полісся}}
* {{ill|Chernihiv Polissia|uk|Чернігівське Полісся}}
* {{ill|Novhorod-Siverskyi Polissia|uk|Новгород-Сіверське Полісся}}
;Belarus
* Brest Paliessie
* Zaharodzie
* Prypiat Paliessie
* Mazyr Paliessie
* Homiel Paliessie

According to the late 19th-century ''Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland'' Polesie was divided into Northern Polesia, itself divided into Upper Polesia or Pinsk Polesia and Lower Polesia or Mazyr Polesia, and Southern Polesia, itself divided into Volhynian Polesia (overlapping northern [[Volhynia]]) and Drevlian Polesia.<ref name=sgk/>

===Chernobyl disaster===
This region suffered severely from the [[Chernobyl disaster]]. Huge areas were polluted by [[radioactive]] elements. The most polluted part includes the [[Chernobyl Exclusion Zone]] and the adjacent [[Polesie State Radioecological Reserve]]. Some other areas in the region are considered unsuitable for living as well.<ref name="ICRINzonesmap">{{cite web |title=Zoning of radioactively contaminated territory of Ukraine according to actual regulations |publisher=ICRIN |year=2004 |url=http://www.chernobyl.info/Default.aspx?tabid=130&map=58_en |access-date=25 April 2012 |archive-date=18 February 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130218024359/http://www.chernobyl.info/Default.aspx?tabid=130&map=58_en |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Tourism ==
The Polish part of the region includes the [[Polesie National Park]] (''Poleski Park Narodowy''), established 1990, which covers an area of {{convert|97.6|km2|sqmi}}. This and a wider area adjoining it (up to the Ukrainian border) make up the [[UNESCO]]-designated West Polesie [[Biosphere Reserve]], which borders a similar reserve (the [[Shatsky Lakes|Shatsk Biosphere Reserve]]) on the Ukrainian side. There is also a [[protected area]] called Prybuzhskaie-Paliessie in the Belarusian part of the region.

The wooden architecture structures in the region were added to the [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage]] Tentative List on 30 January 2004 in the Cultural category.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/1901/ |title=Worship wooden architecture (17th -18th centuries) in Polesye - UNESCO World Heritage Centre |publisher=Whc.unesco.org |date=2004-01-30 |access-date=2013-01-13}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Museum of Ukrainian home icons]]
* [[Radomysl Castle]]
* [[Swamps of Belarus]]
* [[Western Polesie]]
*{{ill|Polesian Saddle|be|Палеская седлавіна}}, large tectonic structure in southwestern Belarus 
There are areas in Russia traditionally called Polesie ({{langx|ru|Полесье}}) as well. However there the origin of the term is different: historically it referred to transitional areas from woodless fields to densely wooded territory.<ref name=efron/>
* {{ill|Oryol-Kaluga Polesie|ru|Орловско-Калужское полесье}} straddling the border of [[Oryol Oblast|Oryol]] and [[Kaluga Oblast]]s
**[[Orlovskoye Polesye National Park]]
*[[Bryansk-Zhizdra Polesie]] (Брянско-Жиздринское Полесье)  is a forest area with about 1% swamps within the slightly elevated [[outwash plain]] in the south-west of [[Kaluga Oblast]] between rivers {{ill|Resseta|ru|Рессета}} and [[Vytebet]].<ref>[https://www.rbcu.ru/kotr/kzh004.php Брянско-Жиздринское Полесье ]</ref><ref>[https://ecology.gpntb.ru/ecolibworld/project/regions_russia/center/Kaluga/ ecology.gpntb.ru > Экология в библиотечном мире > Центральный федеральный округ > Калужская область]</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* Пазинич В., Походження Поліських озер та параболічних дюн (Ukrainian)/Пазинич В.Г., Происхождение Полесских озер и параболических дюн (Russian)
* Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropaforschung, Heft 3/2019: ''Polesia: Modernity in the Marshlands. Interventions and Transformations at the European Periphery from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century'' Online: [https://www.zfo-online.de/index.php/zfo/issue/view/351 Bd. 68 Nr. 3 (2019): Polesia: Modernity in the Marshlands. Interventions and Transformations at the European Periphery from the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century | Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung]
*{{SgKP|VIII|579|Polesie  (pp. 579-587)}}

== External links ==
{{commons category|Polesia}}
* [http://www.radozamok.com.ua/en/ The Official Site of Radomysl Castle] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814134402/http://www.radozamok.com.ua/en/ |date=14 August 2020 }}
* [http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CP%5CO%5CPolisia.htm Polisia] at the [[Encyclopedia of Ukraine]]
*[https://www.academia.edu/3535261/Origin_of_Polesie_lakes_and_parabolic_dunes Origin of Polesie lakes and parabolic dunes]
*[https://savepolesia.org/e40-would-destroy-biodiversity-hotspots Save Polesia - E40 waterway would destroy biodiversity hotspots and key protected areas, says new report]
*[https://fzs.org/en/projects/ukraine/polesia/ Polesia | Wilderness without borders: Protecting one of Europe's largest natural landscapes - Frankfurt Zoological Society]


{{Ukrainian historical regions}}
{{Authority control}}
{{coord missing|Ukraine}}

[[Category:Historical regions in Belarus]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Poland]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Russia]]
[[Category:Historical regions in Ukraine]]
[[Category:Belarus–Ukraine border]]