page_title: Mazovia
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Mazovia / Geography
caption_attribution_description: English: Historical division of Mazovia (13th-18th century) Esperanto: Historia divido de Mazovio (XIII-XVIII Jarcento) Polski: historyczny podział Mazowsza (XIII-XVIII wiek)
context_page_description: Mazovia or Masovia is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Lodz and Bialystok, with Warsaw being the unofficial capital and largest city. Throughout the centuries, Mazovia developed a separate sub-culture featuring diverse folk songs, architecture, dress and traditions different from those of other Poles.
  Historical Mazovia existed from the Middle Ages until the partitions of Poland and consisted of three voivodeships with the capitals in Warsaw, Płock and Rawa. The main city of the region was Płock; however, in Early Modern Times Płock lost its importance to Warsaw, which became the capital of Poland. From 1138, Mazovia was governed by a separate branch of the Piast dynasty and when the last ruler of the independent Duchy of Mazovia died, it was fully incorporated to the Polish Crown in 1526. During the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth over 20% of Mazovian population was categorized as petty nobility. Between 1816 and 1844, the Mazovian Governorate was established, which encompassed the south of the region along with Łęczyca Land and south-eastern Kuyavia.
context_section_description: Mazovia has a landscape without hills (in contrast to Lesser Poland) and without lakes (in contrast to Greater Poland). It is spread over the Mazovian Lowland, on both sides of the Vistula river and its confluence with Narew and Bug. Forests (mainly coniferous) cover one-fifth of the region, with the large Kampinos Forest, Puszcza Biała and Puszcza Zielona.
  In the north Mazovia borders on the Masurian subregion of former Prussia, in the east on Podlachia, in the south on Lesser Poland and in the west on Greater Poland (subregions of Łęczyca Land, Kujawy and Dobrzyń Land). The area of Mazovia is 33,500 km². It has population of 5 million (3 million of them inhabit the metropolis of Warsaw).
caption: Historical lands of Mazovia
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