Mazovia

**Mazovia** or **Masovia** () is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It goes across the North European Plain. It is between Łódź and Białystok. Warsaw is the unofficial capital city. Warsaw is also the largest city in the region. Throughout the centuries, Mazovia made a different culture than other Polish cultures.

Historical Mazovia existed from the Middle Ages until the partitions of Poland. It was made up of three voivodeships with the capitals in Warsaw, Płock and Rawa. The main city of the region was Płock. At the time, Płock was the capital of Poland. Later, however, Płock lost its importance to Warsaw. Warsaw then became the capital of Poland. From 1138, Mazovia was led by a branch of the Piast dynasty. When the last ruler of the independent Duchy of Mazovia died, it became fully part of the Polish Crown in 1526. The Mazovian Governorate was made in 1816. It had land in the south part of the region along with Łęczyca Land and south-eastern Kuyavia. The Mazovian Governorate lasted until 1844. The old ethnic group of Mazovia are the Masurians. They settled in Masuria in southern Prussia in the Late Middle Ages. There they converted to Protestantism in the Reformation era.

The Mazovian Voivodeship was created in 1999. The borders of this voivodeship are not the same as the region of Mazovia. This is because the borders do not have the Mazovian cities of Łomża and Łowicz, but do have the Lesser Polish cities of Radom and Siedlce.

## Main cities and towns

The following table lists the cities in Mazovia with a population greater than 20,000 (2015):
|style="width:1%;"||style="width:9%;"|City|style="width:6%;"|Population (2015)|style="width:14%;"|Voivodeship in 1750|style="width:14%;"|Voivodeship in 2016|style="width:20%;"|Additional information|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1.|align="left"|Warsaw|1 724 404|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Capital of Poland, former royal city of Poland.</small>|||||
|2.|align="left"|Płock|122 815|Płock Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Historical capital of Masovia, former capital of Poland, former royal city of Poland.</small>|||||
|3.|align="left"|Łomża|62 711|Masovian Voivodeship|Podlaskie Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former royal city of Poland.</small>|||||
|4.|align="left"|Pruszków|59 570|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|5.|align="left"|Legionowo|54 231|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|6.|align="left"|Ostrołęka|52 917|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former royal city of Poland.</small>|||||
|7.|align="left"|Skierniewice|48 634|Rawa Voivodeship|Łódź Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former private bishop town of Poland.</small>|||||
|8.|align="left"|Otwock|45 044|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|9.|align="left"|Piaseczno|44 869|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former royal city of Poland, part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|10.|align="left"|Ciechanów|44 797|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former royal city of Poland.</small>|||||
|11.|align="left"|Żyrardów|41 096|Rawa Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|||||||
|12.|align="left"|Mińsk Mazowiecki|39 880|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|13.|align="left"|Wołomin|37 505|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|14.|align="left"|Sochaczew|37 480|Rawa Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former royal city of Poland.</small>|||||
|15.|align="left"|Ząbki|31 884|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|16.|align="left"|Mława|30 880|Płock Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former royal city of Poland.</small>|||||
|17.|align="left"|Grodzisk Mazowiecki|29 907|Rawa Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former private town of the Mokronoski family, part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|18.|align="left"|Łowicz|29 420|Rawa Voivodeship|Łódź Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Temporary _de facto_ capital of Poland in years 1572–1573, former private bishop town.</small>|||||
|19.|align="left"|Marki|29 032|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|20.|align="left"|Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki|28 287|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former private town, part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|21.|align="left"|Wyszków|27 222|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former private bishop town of Poland.</small>|||||
|22.|align="left"|Piastów|22 826|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||
|23.|align="left"|Ostrów Mazowiecka|22 796|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former royal city of Poland.</small>|||||
|24.|align="left"|Płońsk|22 494|Płock Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former royal city of Poland.</small>|||||
|25.|align="left"|Zambrów|22 451|Masovian Voivodeship|Podlaskie Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Former royal city of Poland.</small>|||||
|26.|align="left"|Grajewo|22 246|Masovian Voivodeship|Podlaskie Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Northernmost and easternmost town of Mazovia. It borders the regions of Podlachia and Masuria.</small>|||||
|27.|align="left"|Kobyłka|20 855|Masovian Voivodeship|Masovian Voivodeship|align="left"|<small>Part of the Warsaw metropolitan area.</small>|||||

## Other websites

- Summer in Mazowsze

## Infobox (settlement)

- **native name**: _Mazowsze_
- **native name lang**: pl
- **settlement type**: Historical region
- **image map**: Mazowieckie płockie rawskie.png
- **mapsize**: 275px
- **map caption**: Three historical Mazovian voivodeships in comparison with contemporary Polish voivodeships
- **image shield**:
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **timezone**: Central European Time, CET
- **utc offset**: +1
- **timezone dst**: Central European Summer Time, CEST
- **utc offset dst**: +2