Farther Pomerania

Farther Pomerania, Hinder Pomerania, Rear Pomerania or Eastern Pomerania (German: Hinterpommern, Ostpommern), is the part of Pomerania which comprised the eastern part of the Duchy and later Province of Pomerania. It stretched roughly from the Oder River in the West to Pomerelia in the East. Since 1945, Farther Pomerania has been part of Poland; the bulk of former Farther Pomerania is within the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, while its easternmost parts are within the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The Polish term Pomorze Zachodnie ("Western Pomerania") is colloquially used in contemporary Poland as a synonym for the West Pomeranian Voivodship whose borders do not match the historical ones; in Polish historical usage, it applied to all areas west of Pomerelia (i.e. to the entire narrow Pomerania).

Farther Pomerania in 1800 ("Hinterpommern", yellow).
Map of Farther Pomerania of 1801, on the r. h. s. the Lauenburg and Bütow Lands (identified as Lordship of Lauenburg and Lordship of Buto, respectively, western border marked in red).

Farther Pomerania emerged as a subdivision of the Duchy of Pomerania in the partition of 1532, then known as Pomerania-Stettin and already including the historical regions Principality of Cammin, County of Naugard, Land of Słupsk-Sławno, and with ties to the Lauenburg and Bütow Land. After the Brandenburg-Swedish partition of Pomerania, Farther Pomerania became the Brandenburg-Prussian Province of Pomerania (1653–1815). After the reorganization of the Prussian Province of Pomerania in 1815, Farther Pomerania was administered as Regierungsbezirk Köslin (Koszalin). In 1938, northern part of the dissolved Grenzmark Posen-West Prussia was merged in.

After Germany's defeat in World War II, the region became part of Poland. The German population was completely expelled and replaced with Polish citizens, many of whom were expellees themselves as well.

Before 1999, the Szczecin Voivodeship (1945–1998) and its spin-offs Koszalin Voivodeship (1950–1998) and Słupsk Voivodeship (1975–1998) roughly resembled the area of former Farther Pomerania. The Szczecin and Koszalin Voivodeships were merged in 1999 and now constitute the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, while Słupsk Voivodeship was merged into the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Origin and use of the term
Further information: Western Pomerania (disambiguation) and Eastern Pomerania (disambiguation)

Terminology

The German prefix Hinter- (cf. hinterland) denotes a location more distant from the speaker, and is the equivalent of "Hinder"/"Rear"/"Farther" in English and Posterior/Ulterior/Trans- in Latin (with the corresponding antonyms in German, English and Latin being Vor-, "Fore"/"Front"/"Hither" and Anterior/Citerior/Cis-, respectively).

The toponym Pomerania comes from Slavic po more, which means Land at the Sea.[1] Initially, Farther Pomerania referred to the areas beyond (i.e. lying east of) Pomerania-Wolgast, and the name eventually became adopted for areas east of Stettin by the 16th century. When the 1648 Peace of Westphalia and the Treaty of Stettin (1653) divided the Duchy of Pomerania into its Western, Swedish and Eastern Brandenburgian parts, Farther Pomerania was used for the latter - in opposition to Swedish Hither Pomerania (Vorpommern) including Stettin (Szczecin), Wollin (Wolin) and a strip of land east of the Oder River, ultimately limited to include two suburbs of Szczecin, namely the towns of Gollnow (Goleniów) and Damm/Alt-Damm/Altdamm (Dąbie). To the East, Farther Pomerania stretches to the border with Pomerelia, considered by the Polish historiography to be located on the river Łeba.

In the post-1945 era, Farther Pomerania was affected by the Polish-German border shift. Before, it happened to be the Eastern part of German Pomerania (Pommern, consisting of Hither and Farther Pomerania), yet thereafter it became the Western part of Polish Pomerania (Pomorze, consisting of Pomerania and Pomerelia). As Polish Pomorze has also been in use for Pomerelia, while Hither and Farther Pomerania are jointly referred to as West Pomerania (Pomorze Zachodnie) in Poland, located predominantly in today's West Pomeranian Voivodeship, including Szczecin (Stettin) and Wolin (Wollin). However, this term is not being adopted by the Germans, as only Hither Pomerania is considered to be Western Pomerania, so Farther Pomerania is still in use.

Cities and towns
Main article: List of towns in Farther Pomerania

There are four cities in Farther Pomerania, namely:

Major and/or historically meaningful towns of Farther Pomerania include:

In addition, the following towns are located in the historical Lauenburg and Bütow Land, thus being treated as part of Pomerelia by the Polish historiography, and as part of Farther Pomerania by the German historiography:

Historical languages and dialects

History (timeline)
Main article: History of Pomerania
The former Duchy of Pomerania (center) partitioned between the Swedish Empire and Brandenburg after the Treaty of Stettin (1653). Swedish Pomerania (West Pomerania) is indicated in blue, Brandenburgian Farther Pomerania (East Pomerania) is shown in orange.

See also

References
  1. Der Name Pommern (po more) ist slawischer Herkunft und bedeutet so viel wie „Land am Meer“. Archived 2020-08-19 at the Wayback Machine (Pommersches Landesmuseum, German)
  2. Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.105, ISBN 3-88680-272-8
  3. Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p.186, ISBN 3-88680-272-8
  4. Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, pp.205–220, ISBN 3-88680-272-8
  5. Gerhard Krause, Horst Robert Balz, Gerhard Müller, Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Walter de Gruyter, 1997, p.40ff, ISBN 3-11-015435-8
  6. Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p. 233, ISBN 3-88680-272-8
  7. Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, p. 366, ISBN 3-88680-272-8

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