Voivodeship

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This article concerns both historical and contemporary voivodeships in various countries. For more on the divisions of modern and historical Poland, see Voivodeships of Poland.

A Voivodeship, also spelled Voivodship, Voivodina or Vojvodina (Polish: województwo, Romanian: voievodat, Serbian: vojvodina (војводина), vojvodstvo (војводство) or vojvodovina (војводовина), Hungarian: vajdaság, Lithuanian: vaivadija, Latin Palatinatus in Poland), is a geographical unit of administration dating to medieval Poland, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Serbia (see Vojvodina), ruled by a voivode (wojewoda, voivod). The voivode (literal meaning: "the one who leads the warriors", equivalent to Dux Exercituum or Herzog) was originally the military commander next to the ruler.

Contemporarily, the term (or its variant spelling voivodship) is used for the województwa (provinces) of Poland, of which there are currently 16. There is also an autonomous province of Vojvodina in Serbia. The word "voivodeship" appears in some of the larger English dictionaries, such as the OED and Webster's Third New International Dictionary, although it is not in common usage. Depending on the context, historical voivodeships may also be referred to as duchies, provinces, palatinates, or administrative districts. The voivodeships of modern Poland are sometimes called provinces or regions.