Zwoleń County

Zwoleń County (Polish: powiat zwoleński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Masovian Voivodeship, east-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and only town is Zwoleń, which lies 104 kilometres (65 mi) south-east of Warsaw.

The county covers an area of 571.24 square kilometres (220.6 sq mi). As of 2006 its total population is 37,183, out of which the population of Zwoleń is 8,176 and the rural population is 29,007.

Neighbouring counties

Zwoleń County is bordered by Kozienice County to the north, Puławy County to the east, Opole Lubelskie County to the south-east, Lipsko County to the south and Radom County to the west.

Administrative division

The county is subdivided into five gminas (one urban-rural and four rural). These are listed in the following table, in descending order of population.

References

Zwoleń

Zwoleń [ˈzvɔlɛɲ] (Yiddish: זוואלין‎ Zvolin) is a town in Poland, in Masovian Voivodeship, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of Radom. It is the capital of Zwoleń County. Population is 8,048 (2009). Zwoleń belongs to Sandomierz Land of the historic province of Lesser Poland, and is located on the Zwoleńka river. The town has a sports club Zwolenianka, founded in 1923.

The history of the town dates back to the early 15th century, when Zwoleń was founded on a privillege issued by King Władysław Jagiełło. In the 16th century, it already was a center of local trade, located along the road from Lublin to Radom and Greater Poland. In 1566–1575, Jan Kochanowski worked at a local Roman Catholic parish. At that time, the town belonged to Sandomierz Voivodeship.

During the Swedish invasion of Poland (see Deluge, 1655 - 1660), Zwoleń was destroyed to such a degree, that it never recovered. In late 18th century, during Partitions of Poland, Zwoleń was annexed by the Austrian Empire. Since 1807, it was part of Duchy of Warsaw, which in 1815 became Congress Poland, a protectorate of the Russian Empire. After January Uprising, Russian authorities deprived Zwoleń of its town rights, as a punishment for residents' support of the rebels. The village of Zwoleń stagnated for years, and did not regain its town rights until 1925. In 1921 Zwoleń had 8,544 residents, of which 3,787 were Jews.