The Podlachian or Podlasie Voivodeship (Polish: województwo podlaskie) is a voivodeship (province) in northeastern Poland.
It was created January 1, 1999, out of the former Białystok and Łomża Voivodeships and half of the former Suwałki Voivodeship, pursuant to the 1998 Local Government Reorganization Act. The province's name recalls the region's traditional name, Podlachia (Podlasie), and the Podlachian Voivodeship under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569-1795).

History

For more details on this topic, see Podlachian Voivodeship (1513-1795). Podlachian Voivodeship (1513 – 1795)
Podlachian Voivodeship was one of the voivodeships of Congress Poland. Created from the Siedlce Department, in 1837 it was transformed into Podlachian Governorate.

Podlachian Voivodeship 1816 – 1837
According to the Polish National Official Business Register, REGON, 95,000 companies were registered in the Podlachia region in 2002.

Economy
Arable land constitutes around 60% of the total area of the region – most of which is ploughland (around 40%), forests, meadows and pastures. Over 120 thousand farms are registered, roughly half of which are small farms between 1–5 ha and medium-sized farms of 5–10 ha. The smaller farms prefer intensive production (gardening, orcharding), whereas the larger ones engage in cattle and crop production. The cattle-raising farms are mainly oriented at milk production.
The natural conditions of the region are conducive to the development of ecologic production, which at present is realised by around 100 farms. Over 600 farms in the region run agrotourist businesses.

Geography
Podlachia has the lowest population density of the sixteen Polish voivodeships, and its largely unspoilt nature is one of its chief assets. Around 30% of the area of the voivodeship is under legal protection. The Polish part of the Białowieża Forest Biosphere Reserve is in Podlachia. There are four national parks (Wigry, Biebrza, Bialowieża, and Narew), 3 landscape parks (Suwałki, Łomża – Narew Valley, and Knyszyn Forest), 88 nature reserves, and 15 protected landscape areas. The voivodeship constitutes a part of the ecologically clean area of "the Green Lungs of Poland".

Natural assets
The voivodeship has 35 cities and towns, among them 3 cities which are city counties. The list below orders them by population and also gives the area (GUS data from December 31, 2005):

Białystok – 291.823 (102 km²)
Suwałki – 69.268 (65,50 km²)
Łomża – 63.819 (32,71 km²)
Augustów – 29.971 (80,93 km²)
Bielsk Podlaski – 26.893 (26,88 km²)
Zambrów – 22.782 (19,02 km²)
Grajewo – 22.718 (18,93 km²)
Hajnówka – 22.159 (21,29 km²)
Sokółka – 18.945 (18,61 km²)
Łapy – 16.611 (11,90 km²)
Siemiatycze – 15.178 (36,25 km²)
Kolno – 10.772 (25,08 km²)
Mońki – 10.461 (7,66 km²)
Czarna Białostocka – 9.611 (14,28 km²)
Wysokie Mazowieckie – 9.279 (15,24 km²)
Wasilków – 8.872 (28,15 km²)
Dąbrowa Białostocka – 6.165 (22,64 km²)
Sejny – 5.971 (4,49 km²)
Choroszcz – 5.424 (16,79 km²)
Ciechanowiec – 4.923 (26,01 km²)
Supraśl – 4.554 (5,68 km²)
Brańsk – 3.800 (32,43 km²)
Szczuczyn – 3.576 (13,23 km²)
Knyszyn – 2.851 (23,68 km²)
Lipsk – 2.500 (4,97 km²)
Stawiski – 2.455 (13,28 km²)
Zabłudów – 2.396 (14,30 km²)
Suchowola – 2.255 (25,95 km²)
Drohiczyn – 2.092 (15,68 km²)
Nowogród – 2.014 (20,55 km²)
Jedwabne – 1.908 (11,47 km²)
Tykocin – 1.906 (28,96 km²)
Goniądz – 1.903 (4,28 km²)
Rajgród – 1.677 (35,18 km²)
Kleszczele – 1.438 (46,71 km²)
Suraż – 980 (33,86 km²) Cities and towns
The Podlachian Voivodeship is divided into 17 counties (powiat), three of them urban, and comprised of 118 gminas (13 urban, 23 urban-rural and 82 rural).

Podlachian Voivodeship counties

Dąbrowski : 7,177
Kozłowski : 5,560
Zalewski : 5,165