Kociewie

For the former Austrian enclave with this name, see Gottschee.

Kociewie is an ethnocultural region in the eastern part of Tuchola Forest, in northern Poland, Pomerania, that is inhabited by the Kociewians. Its cultural capital is Starogard Gdański, the biggest town is Tczew, while other major towns include Świecie, and Pelplin. The region has about 250,000 inhabitants. It has well-developed industry and agriculture. Administratively, it is divided between the Pomeranian and Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeships.

Kociewie
Ethnocultural region
Starogard Gdański Świecie Gniew Castle Pelplin Cathedral Road bridge over the Vistula in Tczew
Flag Coat of arms
Country	Poland
Traditional capital	Starogard Gdański
Largest cities	Tczew, Starogard Gdański, Świecie
Demonym	Kociewians
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Highway

Kociewie is bordered by the Chełmno Land in the south, Powiśle in the east, Kashubia and Żuławy Wiślane in the north, and other parts of historic Pomerania in the west.

History

Prehistory

The earliest inhabitants of what is now Kociewie are believed to have been from the Upper Paleolithic period. Evidence of the Linear Pottery culture has been unearthed in the region, and a Neolithic settlement discovered at Barłożno.^[1] Archeological evidence from Tczew County indicates that the Kociewian lands were inhabited by people from the prehistoric Funnelbeaker culture. Later Iron Age settlements and cemeteries have also been uncovered in the same area.^[2]

Early history

Castle of Knights Hospitaller in Skarszewy, former court in which Józef Wybicki, the author of the lyrics of the Polish national anthem, studied law

The territory became part of the emerging Polish state in the 10th century during the rule of Mieszko I. Within the Kingdom of Poland and Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth it formed part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship with the capital located in Skarszewy in Kociewie, and county seats located in Nowe, Skarszewy, Starogard, Świecie and Tczew. In the 16th and 17th centuries, there were instances of Scottish immigrants living in Gniew, Starogard and Tczew.^[3] In the second half of the 17th century, prior to becoming King of Poland, John III Sobieski served as the starost of Gniew and built the Marysieńka Palace for his wife, Queen Marie Casimire, there. John III Sobieski, as starost, often visited Piaseczno, a local Catholic pilgrimage destination, and as king he ordered the construction of a new, greater vault in the local church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, and visited Piaseczno shortly before his death in 1696.^[4] In 1762–1765, Józef Wybicki, the author of the lyrics of the Polish national anthem, studied law at the court in Skarszewy.^[5] Following the First Partition of Poland in 1772, the region was annexed by Prussia.

19th century

The first known mention of the region in the historical record dates to 10 February 1807 when the name Gociewie was used in correspondence between Jan Henryk Dąbrowski and one of his Lieutenant colonels’ during the Greater Poland Uprising.^[6] Although, it is likely that the name Kociewie had been in use since the late Middle Ages.^[7]

A map incorporating Florian Ceynowa’s ethnographic classifications

In the mid-19 century the linguist Florian Ceynowa described the inhabitants of Kociewie; he named the people around Gniew and Pelplin as the Fetrów and Kociewiem respectively, distinguished by their melodic accents, who farmed pigs and horses. To their north were the Pola of the fields around Starogard Gdański.^[8]

In 1906–1907, Polish children in Kociewie joined the children school strikes against Germanisation that spread throughout the Prussian Partition of Poland.^[9] Following World War I, Poland regained independence and control of Kociewie.

World War II

Former Nazi German transit camp for Poles expelled from the region, now Vistula River Museum in Tczew

Following the Nazi German invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939, Kociewie was declared part of the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia on 8 October 1939, with its judicial institutions being incorporated into the German system of regional, national, and Higher National courts the following year.^[10] Under German occupation, the Polish population was subjected to various crimes, such as mass arrests, imprisonment, slave labor, expulsions, kidnapping of children, deportations to concentration camps and genocide, including the Intelligenzaktion. Major sites of massacres of Poles in the region included Szpęgawsk, Mniszek, Skarszewy and Grupa.^[11] The occupiers also murdered the patients of the psychiatric hospitals in Kocborowo (district of Starogard) and Świecie.

Geography

Cities and towns

	City	Population	Voivodeship	Additional information
1.	Tczew	59,111	Pomeranian	Former royal town of Poland.
2.	Starogard Gdański	47,272	Pomeranian	Traditional capital of Kociewie. Former royal town of Poland.
3.	Świecie	25,614	Kuyavian–Pomeranian	Former stewardship of Duke Grzymisław. Former royal town of Poland.
4.	Pelplin	8320	Pomeranian	Site of the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption. Seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pelplin.
5.	Skarszewy	6468	Pomeranian	Known as the Pearl of Pomerania, it was the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship from 1613. Former royal town of Poland.
6.	Gniew	6870	Pomeranian	Former royal town of Poland. Capital of the independent Republic of Gniew in 1919-1920.[12]
7.	Nowe	6252	Kuyavian–Pomeranian	Founded by Sobieslaw I. Former royal town of Poland.
8.	Skórcz	3512	Pomeranian	Located in Starogard County.
9.	Czarna Woda	2735	Pomeranian	Located in Starogard County.

Genetics

In a 2013 study, Y-DNA haplogroups among the Polish population indigenous to Kociewie (n=158) were reported as follows:

56.3% R1a, 17.7% R1b, 8.2% I1, 7.6% I2, 3.8% E1b1b, 1.9% N1, 1.9% J and 2% of other haplogroups.^[13]

See also: Greater Poland and Kashubians § Genetics

Culture

Medieval town walls with the Narożna Tower, part of the Museum of Kociewie Land in Starogard Gdański

The region is rich in historic architecture of various styles, including Gothic, Baroque and Art Nouveau. Most notable Gothic landmarks are the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Pelplin and Gniew Castle. John III Sobieski often resided in Gniew as a local starost before he became King of Poland.

Main museums of the region include:

• Vistula River Museum in Tczew, located in a pre-war agricultural machine factory where during World War II, a transit camp for Poles expelled from the region was established and operated by Nazi Germany.^[14]
• The Shipwreck Conservation Centre, a branch of the National Maritime Museum in Gdańsk, is located in Tczew.
• Diocesan Museum in Pelplin, which contains one of the finest collections of medieval art in Poland, and the country's sole copy of the Gutenberg Bible.
• Museum of Kociewie Land (Muzeum Ziemi Kociewskiej) in Starogard Gdański with archaeological, ethnographic and historical collections, located in two medieval defensive towers.^[15]

More unique museums include:

• Museum of the History of the Polish Peasant Movement (Muzeum Historii Polskiego Ruchu Ludowego) in Piaseczno, one of three such museums in Poland.^[16]
• Museum of Firefighting (Muzeum Pożarnictwa) in Świecie.^[17]

See also

• Kuyavia