Krolestwo Polskie, or Krolestwo Kongresowe, or Kongresowka, English Kingdom of Poland or Congress Kingdom: a political entity existing 1815-1915, synonymous with the Russian partition. It was created by the Congress of Vienna as a subdivision of the Duchy of Warsaw; it was united with Russia in the person of its King, the Czar. Until 1831 it enjoyed a fair amount of autonomy, but from 1832 its autonomy was limited by the Organic Statute, which imposed on the Poles a military dictatorship. After the failure of the 1863-1864 Uprising its autonomy was abolished and it became little more than a province of the Russian Empire. In 1874 it came under the rule of a Russian Governor General and was (unofficially) called the Kraj Przywislanski [Land of the Vistula).

Malopolska, English Little Poland, German Kleinpolen, a historical division of Poland encompassing its southern and southeastern parts. It became part of the Polish nation, as the lands or ziemie of Krakow and Sandomierz, in the late 10th century; as of the 16th century it comprised the southeastern lands of the Commonwealth. Malopolska became the Austrian partition, called the Kronland(crownland] of Galicia; in 1809 part of it was included in the Duchy of Warsaw, and in 1815 in the Kingdom of Poland. In 1918 Malopolska was returned to Poland, but the territories east of the current border (i. e., Ukraine) were lost to the Soviet Union after the Russo-Polish War (1919-1920) and World War 11.

Prusy, English Prussia, German Preussen, a historical term that can refer to (1) the lands on the southeastern coast of the Baltic, which came under Polish and German rule in the Middle Ages; (2) the kingdom ruled from 1701 by the German Hohenzollern dynasty, including Prussia and Brandenburg, which seized much of northern Germany and western Poland in the 18th and 19th centuries and united Germany under its leadership in 1871; and (3) the Land (state] created after the fall of the Hohenzollerns in 1918. Historically Prussia proper was divided into Ducal Prussia and Royal Prussia. Ducal Prussia, Prusy Ksiazece, was territory once ruled by the Teutonic Knights but held by them as a fief of the Polish crown from 1525 to 1657. It came under Hohenzollern rule in 1701, and subsequently was called East Prussia (Polish Prusy Wschodnie, German Ostpreussen). Royal Prussia, Prusy Krolewskie, was long held directly by the Polish crown; it came under German rule after the First Partition in 1772, when it was officially called West Prussia (Polish Prusy Zachodnie, German Westpreussen). Southern Prussia (Polish Prusy Poludniowe, German Sudpreussen) was a term used forWielkopolska (q. v.) after the Second Partition in 1793, up until 1815.

Wielkopolskal, in English Great Poland, in German Grosspolen. This is a historical term for the area of the central river basin of the Warta, the historical homeland of the Polanie tribe. In the 9th and 10th centuries it was the center of the first Polish nation, with its capital in Gniezno; its first monarchs were the Piasts. In 1772 and 1793 the region was seized by Prussia; from 1807-1815 it was included in the Grand Duchy of Warsaw; then from 1815 to 19t9 it was part of Prussia as the Grand Duchy of Poznan (Polish name Wielkie Ksiestwo Poznanskie, German name Provinz Posen, also sometimes called Poznania), with the city of Poznan (German name Posen) as its capital. In 1919 it was returned to the reborn nation of Poland. During World War 11 it was made part of the Third Reich as the so-called Warthegau (Warta district). In 1945 the whole territory was returned to Poland.

Published in the PGSA August 1999 Rodziny.