Polesia

Polesia ( weißruss. Палессе / Paleśsie, Ukr Полісся / Polissia, russ Полесье / Polesje, poln Polesie, lit. Polese, German and Pole Rhodesia ) is a historical region in Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Poland.

Geography

There is a strip of low land between the river basins of the Bug and Pripyat. Not to be confused Polesia with the similar-sounding Podlasie. The main cities are Brest and Pinsk, most important rivers are the Pripyat ( weißruss. Prypjaz ) and the Horyn.

Geographically, the area is a sprawling, wooded river valley; are dominant south of the Pripyat the huge Prypjatsümpfe. There are mainly timber industry. With about 90,000 km ² which Prypjatsümpfe are the largest wetland in Europe. During the snow melt of the Pripyat River and its tributaries transform the valley into a wilderness of lakes, swamps and forest islands.

History

Since the early Middle Ages Polesia was part of Kievan Rus. After the Mongol invasion in 1241, the area fell under the influence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and was in the course of the Lublin Union of 1569 part of Poland - Lithuania. After the Third Partition of Poland in 1795 Polesia belonged to the Russian Empire.

Between 1920 and 1939 the area was part of the west Horyn came back to Poland, the eastern Soviet Union. It was a province Polesia built in Poland with its capital Brest. In the 1930s, the Polish government had to drain a large part of the marshes.