When\u00c2\u00a0genealogists enter the names of the\u00c2\u00a0locations where events in\u00c2\u00a0their ancestors’ lives occurred, they are faced with the dilemma of how to enter place names so as to unambiguously identify the locations in both space and time.<\/p>\n
To accomplish this task, the genealogist must decide\u00c2\u00a0how much\u00c2\u00a0information is required to unambiguously identify a place. Is city and country enough, or must one enter other administrative subdivisions? In America, genealogists generally accept that most places can be accurately and unambiguously identified by specifying city, county, state, and country.<\/p>\n
Genealogists must also decide whether to enter the name of the place as it was known at the time of the event, or the name of the place as it is known today. Entering place names as they are known today is the easier option, but this choice suffers from the downside that, if place names change in the future, the information in the genealogical database will be outdated .\u00a0Entering place names as they were known at the time of the events described provides the advantage of historical accuracy and provides the reader with a richer understanding of the historical conditions described in the genealogy.<\/p>\n
Efforts to achieve this goal of identifying places as they were known at the times of the events described can be\u00c2\u00a0a difficult task because\u00c2\u00a0borders throughout the world have changed repeatedly\u00c2\u00a0throughout the history of civilization.<\/p>\n
Genealogists researching Polish ancestors\u00c2\u00a0may be able to\u00c2\u00a0trace their families to the time of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795). At the time it existed, the Commonwealth was officially known as\u00c2\u00a0Kr\u00f3lestwo Polskie i Wielkie Ksi\u0119stwo Litewskie<\/em>, interpreted as the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and was colloquially\u00c2\u00a0known as\u00c2\u00a0Rzeczpospolita<\/em>, meaning Commonwealth or Republic. In 1967, Pawe\u0142 Jasienica\u00c2\u00a0coined the name Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narod\u00f3w<\/em> (The Commonwealth of Both\/Two Nations) in his\u00c2\u00a0three\u00c2\u00a0volume work\u00c2\u00a0by the same name, although this name was not used at the time the Commonwealth actually existed.<\/p>\n The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was\u00c2\u00a0split into\u00c2\u00a0several different types of administrative divisions including\u00c2\u00a0provinces (singular provincia, <\/em>plural prowincje)<\/em>, voivodeships or palatinates (singular wojew\u00f3dztwo, <\/em>plural wojew\u00f3dztwa<\/em>), lands (singular ziemia, <\/em>plural ziemie<\/em>), and districts (singular\u00c2\u00a0powiat,<\/em> plural powiaty<\/em>).<\/p>\n To make matters even more complex, the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth changed somewhat over time as the Commonwealth gained or lost territory.<\/p>\n In general,\u00a0the Commonwealth after the Union of Lublin in 1569 encompassed Korona Polska<\/em> (the Polish Crown), Wielkie Ksi\u0119stwo Litewskie<\/em> (the Grand Duchy of Lithuania), and several\u00c2\u00a0fiefs and dependencies. Within the Polish Crown there existed two provinces: prowincja wielkopolska<\/em> (Province of Greater Poland) in the northwest of the Commonwealth, and prowincja ma\u0142opolska<\/em> (Province of Lesser Poland) in the south. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania is\u00c2\u00a0also referred to as prowincja litwa<\/em> (Province of Lithuania) and is located in the northeast of the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n Each province was\u00c2\u00a0divided into wojew\u00f3dztwa<\/em> (voivodeships).<\/p>\n After the Union of Lublin in 1569, prowincja wielkopolska<\/em> (Province of Greater Poland) was composed of the following wojew\u00f3dztwa<\/em>:<\/p>\n wojew\u00f3dztwo brzeskokujawskie<\/em> (Brze\u015b\u0107 Kujawski Voivodeship) After the Union of Lublin in 1569, prowincja ma\u0142opolska<\/em> (Province of Lesser Poland) was composed of the following wojew\u00f3dztwa<\/em>:<\/p>\n wojew\u00f3dztwo be\u0142skie<\/em> (Be\u0142z Voivodeship) After the Union of Lublin in 1569, Prowincja Litwa<\/em> (Province of Lithuania) was composed of the following wojew\u00f3dztwa<\/em>:<\/p>\n wojew\u00f3dztwo brzeskolitewskie<\/em> (Brest Litovsk Voivodeship) In turn, each wojew\u00f3dztwo<\/em> was divided into ziemie<\/em> (lands) and powiaty<\/em> (districts), but a detailed tabulation of these smaller divisions is beyond the scope of this article.<\/p>\n With this understanding of the administrative divisions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the genealogist may specify a place name as follows:<\/p>\n name of city or village, voivodeship, province, nation, or for example:<\/p>\n Szwelice, Masovian Voivodeship, Province of Greater Poland, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or or, if one prefers to write the place name in Polish:<\/p>\n Szwelice, wojew\u00f3dztwo mazowieckie, prowincja wielkopolska, Kr\u00f3lestwo Polskie i Wielkie Ksi\u0119stwo Litewskie, or From a practical standpoint, the name of the province is redundant, since none of the voivodeships overlap or occur in more than one province. The name of the province can be omitted for brevity, without significantly diminishing the specificity of the place name.<\/p>\n If the ziemia<\/em> (land) or powiat<\/em> (district) is known, adding that information to the place name can further refine the location for the reader, but identifying the correct ziemia<\/em> or powiat<\/em> often requires the use of a more detailed map of the Commonwealth than is commonly available.<\/p>\n By providing accurate\u00c2\u00a0place names as they were known at the time of the events described, genealogists can enhance their work\u00c2\u00a0with a richer understanding of the world in which\u00c2\u00a0their ancestors lived.<\/p>\n Other articles in this series:<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2009 by Stephen J. Danko<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When genealogists enter the names of the locations where events in their ancestors’ lives occurred, they are faced with the dilemma of how to enter place names so as to unambiguously identify the locations in both space and time. Continue reading
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo che\u0142mi\u0144skie<\/em> (Che\u0142mno Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo gnie\u017anie\u0144skie<\/em> (Gniezno Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo inowroc\u0142awskie <\/em>(Inowroc\u0142aw Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo kaliskie<\/em> (Kalisz Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo \u0142\u0119czyckie<\/em> (\u0141\u0119czyca Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo malborskie<\/em> (Malbork Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo mazowieckie<\/em> (Masovian Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo p\u0142ockie<\/em> (P\u0142ock Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo pomorskie<\/em> (Pomeranian Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo pozna\u0144skie<\/em> (Pozna\u0144 Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo rawskie<\/em> (Rawa Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo sieradzkie<\/em> (Sieradz Voivodeship)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo brac\u0142awskie<\/em> (Brac\u0142aw Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo czernihowskie<\/em> (Chernihiv Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo kijowskie<\/em> (Kiev Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo krakowskie<\/em> (Krak\u00f3w Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo lubelskie<\/em> (Lublin Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo podlaskie<\/em> (Podlaskie Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo podolskie<\/em> (Podole Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo ruskie<\/em> (Ruthenian Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo sandomierskie<\/em> (Sandomierz Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo wo\u0142y\u0144skie<\/em> (Volhynian Voivodeship)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo mi\u0144skie<\/em> (Minsk Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo m\u015bcis\u0142awskie<\/em> (Mstsislaw Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo nowogr\u00f3dzkie<\/em> (Nowogr\u00f3dek Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo po\u0142ockie<\/em> (Polotsk Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo smole\u0144skie<\/em> (Smolensk Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo trockie<\/em> (Trakai Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo wile\u0144skie<\/em> (Vilnius Voivodeship)
\nwojew\u00f3dztwo witebskie<\/em> (Vitebsk Voivodeship)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nname of city or village, voivodeship, nation<\/p>\n
\nSzwelice, Masovian Voivodeship, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth<\/p>\n
\nSzwelice, wojew\u00f3dztwo mazowieckie, Kr\u00f3lestwo Polskie i Wielkie Ksi\u0119stwo Litewskie<\/p>\n