Administrative division in several countries of central and eastern Europe
This article is about historical voivodeships in various countries. For more on the divisions of modern and historical Poland, see Voivodeships of Poland.
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 2022[update], Poland has 16 voivodeships.
Terminology
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 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.
Named for the word for "voivodeship" is the autonomous Serbian province of Vojvodina.
Though the word "voivodeship" (other spellings are "voievodship" and "voivodship") appears in English dictionaries such as the OED and Webster's, it is not in common general usage, and voivodeships in Poland and elsewhere are frequently referred to as "provinces".[1] Depending on context, historic voivodeships may also be referred to as "duchies", "palatinates" (the Latin word "palatinatus" was used for a voivodeship in Poland), "administrative districts" or "regions".