The land is mostly flat, drained by two major watershed systems; the Netze (Polish: Notec) in the north and the Warthe (Polish: Warta) in the center. Ice Age glaciers left moraine deposits and the land is speckled with hundreds of "finger lakes", streams flowing in and out on their way to one of the two rivers.

Agriculture was the primary industry, as one would expect for the 1800s. The three-field-system was used to grow a variety of crops, primarily rye, sugar beets, potatoes, other grains, and some tobacco and hops. Significant parcels of wooded land provided building materials and firewood. Small numbers of livestock existed, including geese, but a fair amount of sheep were herded.

When this area came under Prussian control, the feudal system was still in force, and the last vestiges of it held out until the end of the 1800s. This resulted in (primarily) Polish serfs living and working side by side with free (predominantly German) land owners and renters. Typically, an estate would have its manor and farm buildings, and a village nearby for the Polish laborers. Near that village, there might be a German settlement. And in the woods, there would be a forester's dwelling. The estate owners, usually of the nobility, owned the local grist mill, and often other types of mills or perhaps a distillery. In many places, windmills dotted the landscape, reminding one of the earliest settlers, the Dutch, who began the process of turning unproductive river marshes into fields. This process was finished by the German settlers who were used to reclaim unproductive lands (not only marshland) for the host estate owners.

Table of contents

1 Changing hands 2 Ethnic conflict 3 Statistics 4 Divisions 5 The Presidents (German: Oberpräsidenten) of Province of Posen 6 See also 7 External links 8 Culture and History

Changing hands

Initially, it was called "South Prussia". Prussia (and later Germany) retained control until the end of World War I, with the exception of the period of time when Napoleon changed the landscape of Europe (1806-1815). The Grand Duche de Varsovie (Grand Duchy of Warsaw), was created following the Prussian defeat at the Treaty of Tilsit Polish people were the main ally of Napoleon in Central Europe, participated in the Great Poland Uprising of 1806 and supplied troops for his campaigns.

After the fall of Napoleon in 1815 according to the Vienna peace congress, Great Poland returned to Prussia, and became the Grand Duchy of Posen (1815-1846), an autonomous province under Hohenzollern rule with the rights of "free development of Polish nation, culture and language", and outside the German Confederation. At this time the city of Posen was the administrative center and the site of the "prince Anton Radziwill of Posen". The province was renamed in 1846 to Province of Posen.

With the unification of Germany, the province of Posen became part of the German Empire (1871-1918) and the city of Posen was officially named an imperial residence city.

Most of it passed to Poland with the WW I Treaty of Versailles after Great Poland Uprising 1918 and become Poznan Voivodship. The part remaining in Germany formed Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen with Schneidemühl as capitol, until 1938, when it was divided between Silesia, Pomerania and Brandenburg.

Ethnic conflict

During the first half of the 1800s, the German population grew due to state sponsored colonisation. In the second half, the Polish population grew gradually due to the Ostflucht and many Russia-Poles going westwards into Prussia/Germany. The clash peaked during the Kulturkampf, when many Catholics Germans in Posen joined with ethnic Poles in opposition to the Protestant Prussian government. The flight of ethnic Poles into Prussia/Germany became so great, that trains coming from the east for some time were not allowed to stop in the affected areas, to alleviate the massive influx of Poles moving west.

Statistics

• District Posen 17,503 km2
• District Bromberg 11,448 km2

• 1816: 820 176
• 1868: 1 537 300 (Bromberg 550,9, Posen 986,4)
• 1871: 1 583 843
  • Religion: 1871
    • Catholics 1 009 885
    • Protestants 511 429
    • Jews 61 982
    • others 547
• 1875: 1 606 084
• 1880: 1 703 397
• 1900: 1 887 275
• 1905: 1 986 267
• 1910: 2 099 831 (Bromberg 763,9, Posen 1335,9)

{| border=1 cellspacing=1 bgcolor="#F4F4DB" |Kreis ("County") |Polish spelling |1905 Pop |Ethnic Polish |German¹ |Jewish² |Origin |- |Posen district (southern) |- |City of Posen |Poznan~ | |55% |45% | | |- |- |Adelnau |Odolano~w | |90% |10% | |Ostrowo |- |Birnbaum |Miedzycho~d | |51% |49% | | |- |Bomst |Babimost | |49% |51% | | |- |- |Fraustadt |Wschowa | |27% |73% | | |- |Gostyn | Gostyn | |87% |13% | |Kröben |- |Grätz | Grodzisk | |82% |18% | |Buk |- |Jarotschin | Jarocin | |83% |17% | |Pleschen |- |Kempen | Ke~pno | |84% |16% | |Schildberg |- |Koschmin | Koz~min | |83% |17% | |Krotoschin |- |Kosten | Kos~cian | |89% |11% | | |- |Krotoschin | Krotoszyn | |70% |30% | | |- |Lissa | Leszno | |36% |64% | |Fraustadt |- |Meseritz | Mie~dzyrzecz | |20% |80% | | |- |Neutomischel | Nowy Tomys~l | |51% |49% | |Buk |- |Obornik | Oborniki | |61% |39% | | |- |Ostrowo | Ostro~w | |80% |20% | | |- |Pleschen | Pleszew | |85% |15% | | |- |Posen Ost | Poznan~, Wsch. | |72% |28% | |Posen |- |Posen West | Poznan~, Zach. | |87% |13% | |Posen |- |Rawitsch | Rawicz | |55% |45% | |Kröben |- |Samter | Szamotul~y | |73% |27% | | |- |Schildberg | Ostrzeszo~w | |90% |10% | | |- |Schmiegel | S~migiel | |82% |18% | |Kosten |- |Schrimm | S~rem | |82% |18% | | |- |Schroda | S~roda | |88% |12% | | |- |Schwerin | Skwierzyna | |5% |95% | |Birnbaum |- |Wreschen | Wrzes~nia | |84% |16% | | |- |Bromberg district (northern) |- |City of Bromberg | Bydgoszcz | |16% |84% | | |- |Bromberg | Bydgoszcz | |38% |62% | | |- |Czarnikau | Czarniko~w | |27% |73% | | |- |Filehne | Wielen~ | |28% |72% | |Czarnikau |- |Gnesen | Gniezno | |67% |33% | | |- |Hohensalza | Inowrocl~aw | |64% |36% | | |- |Kolmar | Chodziez~ | |18% |82% | | |- |Mogilno | Mogilno | |76% |24% | | |- |- |Schubin | Szubin | |56% |44% | | |- |Strelno | Strzelno | |82% |18% | | |- |Wirsitz | Wyrzysk | |47% |53% | | |- |Witkowo | Witkowo | |83% |17% | | |- |Wongrowitz | Wa~growiec | |77% |23% | | |- |Znin | Znin | |77% |23% | | |} ¹ includes bilingual speakers
² only religious jews, without regard of their native language

The Presidents (German: Oberpräsidenten) of Province of Posen

See also

• Greater Poland (geo-political division of Poland)
• South Prussia (1793-1806)
• Duchy of Warsaw (1806-1815)
• Grand Duchy of Poznan (1815-1848)
• Reichsgau Posen (1939)
• Reichsgau Wartheland (1940-1945)
• Poland
• Kingdom of Prussia
• Germany

External links