Cieszyn County

Cieszyn County (Polish: powiat cieszyński) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Czech and Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998.

The county's administrative seat and largest town is Cieszyn, which lies on the Czech border 62 kilometres (39 mi) south-west of the regional capital Katowice. The county also contains four other towns: Ustroń, 14 km (9 mi) east of Cieszyn, Skoczów, 15 km (9 mi) north-east of Cieszyn, Wisła, 20 km (12 mi) south-east of Cieszyn, and Strumień, 23 km (14 mi) north-east of Cieszyn.

The county covers an area of 730.2 square kilometres (281.9 sq mi). As of 2006 its total population is 171,029, out of which the population of Cieszyn is 36,014, that of Ustroń is 15,420, that of Skoczów is 14,641, that of Wisła is 11,453, that of Strumień is 3,397, and the rural population is 90,104.

History

Cieszyn Silesia

Cieszyn Silesia or Těšín Silesia or Teschen Silesia (Polish: Śląsk Cieszyński , Czech: Těšínské Slezsko or Těšínsko , German: Teschener Schlesien or Olsagebiet) is a historical region in south-eastern Silesia, centered on the towns of Cieszyn and Český Těšín and bisected by the Olza River. Since 1920 it has been divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic. It covers an area of about 2,280 square kilometres (880 sq mi) and has about 810,000 inhabitants, of which 1,002 square kilometres (387 sq mi) (44%) is in Poland, while 1,280 square kilometres (494 sq mi) (56%) is in the Czech Republic.

The historical boundaries of the region are roughly the same as those of the former independent Duchy of Teschen/Cieszyn. Currently, over half of Cieszyn Silesia forms one of the euroregions, the Cieszyn Silesia Euroregion, with the rest of it belonging to Euroregion Beskydy.

Administrative division

From an administrative point of view, the Polish part of Cieszyn Silesia lies within the Silesian Voivodeship and comprises Cieszyn County, the western part of Bielsko County, and the western part of the town of Bielsko-Biała.