West Pomeranian Voivodeship

Poland is divided into 16 voivodeships (provinces).
West Pomeranian Voivodeship or West Pomerania Province (in Polish, województwo zachodniopomorskie [vɔjɛˈvut͡stfɔ zaˈxɔdɲɔ pɔˈmɔrskʲɛ]), is a voivodeship in northwestern Poland. It borders on Pomeranian Voivodeship to the east, Greater Poland Voivodeship to the southeast, Lubusz Voivodeship to the south, the German federal-states of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and Brandenburg to the west, and the Baltic Sea to the north. Its capital and largest city is Szczecin.

It was established on January 1, 1999, out of the former Szczecin and Koszalin Voivodeships and parts of other neighboring voivodeships, pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998. It is named for the historical region of Pomerania (Polish: Pomorze). In spite of the name ("West Pomeranian"), the voivoideship does not include the most westerly parts of historical Pomerania, which lie in Germany's Vorpommern (see Western Pomerania).