Little Poland

Little Poland (Polish: Małopolska). The historical territory of Poland in the basin of the upper and middle Vistula River, inhabited by the Vistulans. It became part of the Polish state at the end of the 10th century. The name Little Poland, distinct from the name Great Poland (western Poland), was used to refer to Cracow, Lublin, and Sandomierz voivodeships and, after the Union of Lublin in 1569 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, to the eight so-called Ruthenian voivodeships, or all the Ukrainian territory under Poland, as well. In the interwar period the Polish government used the name Little Poland for the former Austrian crown lands of Galicia and Lodomeria and the artificial name Eastern Little Poland (Małopolska Wschodnia) for the Ukrainian part of Galicia.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]