Historical Mazovia existed from the Middle Ages until the partitions of Poland. It was made up of three voivodeships with the capitals in Warsaw, Płock and Rawa. The main city of the region was Płock.[1] At the time, Płock was the capital of Poland. Later, however, Płock lost its importance to Warsaw. Warsaw then became the capital of Poland. From 1138, Mazovia was led by a branch of the Piast dynasty. When the last ruler of the independent Duchy of Mazovia died, it became fully part of the Polish Crown in 1526. The Mazovian Governorate was made in 1816. It had land in the south part of the region along with Łęczyca Land and south-eastern Kuyavia. The Mazovian Governorate lasted until 1844. The old ethnic group of Mazovia are the Masurians. They settled in Masuria in southern Prussia in the Late Middle Ages. There they converted to Protestantism in the Reformation era.
Historical lands of Mazovia
The Mazovian Voivodeship was created in 1999. The borders of this voivodeship are not the same as the region of Mazovia. This is because the borders do not have the Mazovian cities of Łomża and Łowicz, but do have the Lesser Polish cities of Radom and Siedlce.
Main cities and towns
The following table lists the cities in Mazovia with a population greater than 20,000 (2015):
