In the
Polish language, the term is not
capitalized (ziemia chełmińska,
Chelmno Land; not Ziemia Chełmińska). All ziemias are named after main urban centers (or
gords) of a given area: ziemia krakowska (after
Kraków), or ziemia lubelska (after
Lublin). In some cases, the suffix "-szczyzna" is added to the name of a ziemia: ziemia lubelska is also called Lubelszczyzna, while ziemia opolska (named after
Opole) - Opolszczyzna.
The term ziemia appeared for the first time in
medieval Poland (12th-13th centuries), after the
fragmentation of Poland. It referred to a former
princedom or
duchy, which was unified with the
Polish Kingdom, and lost its political sovereignty, but retained its
hierarchy of
officials and
bureaucracy. From around the 14th century some of the former princedoms, now ziemias, were assigned to officials known as
voivodes and became primary units of administration known as
voivodeships (provinces). Therefore, the
Duchy of Sandomierz was turned into the Land of Sandomierz, which in the early 14th century became
Sandomierz Voivodeship.
However, in some cases ziemias were not transformed into voivodeships. They were subordinated to a voivodeship and a certain voivode, but nevertheless retained some distinct privileges and properties, such as often having their own
sejmik (regional parliament), and were still referred to as a ziemia, not a voivodeship. Some voivodeships, such as
Ruthenian Voivodeship or
Masovian Voivodeship, consisted of several ziemias, each divided into counties (
powiat). Over subsequent centuries, ziemias became increasingly integrated into their voivodeships and lost most of their autonomy.
Today they are not units of administration, and in modern Poland are only generic geographical terms referring to certain parts of Poland. Currently, the term ziemia may apply to any area, historic or not, which is located around a main town or city. In Ukraine the term was intended to be introduced by
Mykhailo Hrushevskyi in Ukraine as part of the administrative reform in 1918 which was interrupted by the
Pavlo Skoropadskyi coup in April of that year. Currently
oblasts of Ukraine are alternatively known through adding -shchyna to the administrative center's name such as
Zhytomyrshchyna for
Zhytomyr Oblast.
List of ziemias in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth