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Polesie: Lowlands streching east by northeast of Lublin along the course of the Prypeć (Pripyat) River and its tributaries to the Dnieper (Dnepr) River. It is characterized by its many marshes. During the interwar period, the region formed a Polish province, currently most of the region lies in Belarus with a small western segment in Poland (wherein lies the Polesie National Park) and southern ones in the Ukraine.. A land of swamps, marshes and peat-bogs where the ground waters are just below the surface forming many shallow lakes, frequently isolating moraine landforms and stabilized dunes, many unreachable except when the marshes are frozen in winter, or by boat at high water. The largest such region in Europe. Once part of the Grand Dutchy of Lithuania, Polesie was largely part of Poland in the 1921-39 period when the country's largest provinces bore that name. An area both historically and currently economically depressed, at one time the home of highly patriotic Polish gentry surrounded by local peasantry. WWII has resulted in virtual elimination of the Polish population from areas incorporated into the then Soviet Republics of Belarus and Ukraine.

For notes on other regions check out Annotated Listing of Poland's Regions

*Nowogrodek, viewed by some as part of Polesie, lies north of Polesie proper. Prior to the partitions of 1772-1795 it was considered to be part of Biala Rus and in the 1921-1939 period it was the capital of the Nowogrodek province.