Voivodeship

A voivodeship (/ˈvɔɪvoʊdʃɪp/VOY-vohd-ship) or voivodate is the area administered by a voivode (governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval states, much as the title of voivode was equivalent to that of a duke. Other roughly equivalent titles and areas in medieval Eastern Europe included ban (bojan, vojin or bayan) and banate.

In a modern context, the word normally refers to one of the provinces (województwa) of Poland. As of 2026, Poland has 16 voivodeships.

A voi(e)vod(e) (literally, "leader of warriors" or "war leader", equivalent to the Latin "Dux Exercituum") was originally a military commander who stood, in a state's structure, next to the ruler. Later the word came to denote an administrative official.

Words for "voivodeship" in various languages include the Russian: воеводствоcode: rus promoted to code: ru ; Ukrainian: воєводство; the Polish: województwo; the Romanian: voievodat; the Bulgarian: voivoda (войвода); the Serbian: vojvodina (војводина), vojvodstvo (војводство) or vojvodovina (војводовина); the Hungarian: vajdaság; the Belarusian: ваяводства (vajаvodstva); the Lithuanian: vaivadija. Some of these words, or variants of them, may also be used in English.

The autonomous Serbian province of Vojvodina is named after the word "voivodeship".

على الرغم من أن كلمة "voivodeship" (وتُكتب أيضًا "voievodship" و"voivodship") تظهر في قواميس اللغة الإنجليزية مثل قاموس أكسفورد الإنجليزي وقاموس ويبستر ، إلا أنها ليست شائعة الاستخدام، وغالبًا ما يُشار إلى المقاطعات في بولندا وغيرها باسم " المحافظات ". ^{[ 1 ]} وتبعًا للسياق، قد يُشار إلى المقاطعات التاريخية أيضًا باسم "الدوقيات" أو "المقاطعات" (حيث استُخدمت الكلمة اللاتينية " palatinatus " للإشارة إلى المقاطعة في بولندا) أو "المناطق الإدارية" أو "الأقاليم".