Lublin Voivodeship (also "Lublin Province" — Polish: województwo lubelskie) is a voivodeship, or province, in eastern Poland. It was created January 1, 1999, out of the former Lublin (2), Chełm, Zamość, Biała Podlaska and partly Tarnobrzeg and Siedlce voivodeships, pursuant to the 1998 Local Government Reorganization Act. The province's name recalls its largest city and the region's traditional name, Lublin.
The Polish historic region that encompasses Lublin and approximates Lublin Voivodeship in its pre–Partitions-of-Poland boundaries, is known as Lubelszczyzna.
Lublin Province borders on Podlachian, Masovian, Świętokrzyskie and Subcarpathian Voivodeships, and on Ukraine and Belarus to the east. The province's population as of 2002 was 2,199,100. Its area is 25,114 km².
The region was, prior to World War II, one of the world's leading centers of Judaism. Before the middle of the 16th century, there were few Jews in the area, concentrated in Lublin, Kazimierz Dolny, and perhaps Chełm; but the founding of new private towns led to a large movement of Jews into the region to develop trade and services. Since these new towns competed with the existing towns for business, there followed a low-intensity but long lasting feeling of resentment, with failed attempts to limit the Jewish immigration. The Jews tended to settle mostly in the cities and towns, with only individual families setting up businesses in the rural regions; this urban/rural division became another factor feeding resentment of the newly arrived economic competitors. By the middle of the 18th century, Jews were a significant part of the population in Kraśnik, Lubartów and Łęczna. By the 20th century, Jews represented greater than 70% of the population in eleven towns, and close to 100% of the population of Laszczów and Izbica. From this region came both religious figures such as Mordechai Josef Leiner of Izbica, Chaim Israel Morgenstern of Puławy, and Motele Rokeach of Biugoraj, as well as famous secular authors Israel Joshua and Isaac Bashevis Singer. The "Old Town" of the city of Lublin contained a famous yeshiva, Jewish hospital, synagogue, cemetery, and kahal, as well as the Grodzka Gate (known as the Jewish Gate).
Before the war, there were 300,000 Jews living in the region, which became the site of the Majdanek and Belzec concentration camps as well as several labor camps (Trawniki, Poniatowa, Budzyn, Puławy, Zamość, Biała Podlaska, and the Lublin work camps Lindenstraße 7 (Lipowa Street), Flugplatz, and Sportplatz) which produced military supplies for the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. This was once one of the biggest forced labor centers in occupied Europe, with approximately 45,000 Jewish prisoners. After the war, the few surviving Jews largely left the area; today there is some restoration of the areas of Jewish historical interest, and a surge of tourism by Jews seeking to view their families' historical roots.

Administrative division

Biała Podlaska city powiat
Chełm city powiat
Lublin city powiat
Zamość city powiat City powiats

Biała Podlaska County, powiat bialski, Biała Podlaska
Biłgoraj County, powiat biłgorajski, Biłgoraj
Chełm County, powiat chełmski, Chełm
Hrubieszów County, powiat hrubieszowski, Hrubieszów
Janów Lubelski County, powiat janowski, Janów Lubelski
Krasnystaw County, powiat krasnostawski, Krasnystaw
Kraśnik County, powiat kraśnicki, Kraśnik
Lubartów County, powiat lubartowski, Lubartów
Lublin County, powiat lubelski, Lublin
Łęczna County, powiat łęczyński, Łęczna
Łuków County, powiat łukowski, Łuków
Opole Lubelskie County, powiat opolski, Opole Lubelskie
Parczew County, powiat parczewski, Parczew
Puławy County, powiat puławski, Puławy
Radzyń Podlaski County, powiat radzyński, Radzyń Podlaski
Ryki County, powiat rycki, Ryki
Świdnik County, powiat świdnicki, Świdnik
Tomaszów Lubelski County, powiat tomaszowski, Tomaszów Lubelski
Włodawa County, powiat włodawski, Włodawa
Zamość County, powiat zamojski, Zamość Land powiats
The voivodeship has 41 cities and towns, among them 4 cities which are city counties. The list below orders them by population and also gives the area (data from December 31, 2005):

Lublin – 358.967 (147,50 km²)
Chełm – 72.595 (35,26 km²)
Zamość – 66.802 (30,48 km²)
Biała Podlaska – 59.047 (49,41 km²)
Puławy – 51.515 (50,61 km²)
Świdnik – 40.041 (20,35 km²)
Kraśnik – 36.170 (25,28 km²)
Łuków – 30.612 (35,75 km²)
Biłgoraj – 27.208 (20,85 km²)
Lubartów – 23.017 (13,92 km²)
Łęczna – 21.767 (18,98 km²)
Tomaszów Lubelski – 20.170 (13,33 km²)
Krasnystaw - 19.531 (42,07 km²)
Hrubieszów - 18.633 (32,79 km²)
Dęblin - 18.150 (38,51 km²)
Międzyrzec Podlaski - 17.193 (19,75 km²)
Radzyń Podlaski - 16.135 (19,29 km²)
Włodawa - 15.724 (18,67 km²)
Janów Lubelski - 11.947 (15,42 km²)
Parczew - 10.286 (8,05 km²)
Poniatowa - 9.983 (15,20 km²)
Ryki - 9.730 (27,38 km²)
Opole Lubelskie - 8.842 (14,83 km²)
Bełżyce - 7.090 (23,46 km²)
Terespol - 5.981 (10,20 km²)
Szczebrzeszyn - 5.305 (29,04 km²)
Bychawa - 5.304 (6,68 km²)
Rejowiec Fabryczny - 4.537 (14,36 km²)
Nałęczów - 4.266 (13,84 km²)
Kazimierz Dolny - 3.584 (30,42 km²)
Kock - 3.497 (16,79 km²)
Tarnogród - 3.372 (10,86 km²)
Zwierzyniec - 3.339 (4,84 km²)
Krasnobród - 3.027 (6,99 km²)
Stoczek Łukowski - 2.718 (9,13 km²)
Annopol - 2.681 (7,75 km²)
Piaski - 2.642 (8,44 km²)
Józefów - 2.453 (5,28 km²)
Tyszowce - 2.263 (18,52 km²)
Ostrów Lubelski - 2.253 (29,68 km²)
Frampol - 1.427 (4,67 km²) Cities and towns

Wójcik : 12,937
Mazurek : 9,644
Mazur : 8,019 Most popular surnames in the region

Previous Lublin voivodeships
Lublin Voivodeship 15th century – 1795 (Latin: Palatinatus Lublinensis; Polish: Województwo Lubelskie) was an administrative region of the Kingdom of Poland created in 1474 out of parts of Sandomierz Voivodeship and lasting till the Partitions of Poland in 1795. It was part of Lesser Poland Voivodeship.
Voivodeship Governor (Wojewoda) seat:
Administrative division:
Main Lublin Voivodes:
Neighboring Voivodeships:

Lublin
Lublin County (Powiat Lubelski), Lublin
Urzędów County (Powiat Urzędowski), Urzędów
Łuków County (Powiat Łukowski), Łuków
Jan Feliks "Szram" Tarnowski (before 1494)
Piotr Firlej, 1537-1545
Jan Tarlo (1527-1587) (from 1574)
Marek Sobieski (from 1597)
Aleksander Piotr Tarło (1631-1649)
Marcin Zamoyski (from 1682)
Jan Tarlo (1684-1750) (from 1719)
Tomasz Antoni Zamoyski (from 1744)
Antoni Lubomirski (from 1778)
Masovian Voivodeship
Brześć Litewski Voivodeship
Chełm Land
Bełz Voivodeship
Ruthenian Voivodeship
Sandomierz Voivodeship Lublin Voivodeship 1816 – 1837

For more details on this topic, see Lublin Voivodeship (1919-1939). Lublin Voivodeship 1945 – 1975
Lublin Voivodeship 1975–1998 (Polish: województwo lubelskie) was an administrative region of Poland, 1975–1998, superseded by the current Lublin Voivodeship.