- Wolin
:"For the Polish town, see
Wolin (town) ."
[
thumb|300px|Landsat_satellite_photo_of_Oder Lagoon - Wolin is the eastern of the two large islands separating the waters of the Lagoon from the Baltic Sea, the western island isUsedom ] Wolin ( _de. Wollin) is the name shared by anisland located in theBaltic Sea located just off the Polish coast, and a town located on the island. It is separated from the island ofUsedom by theŚwina river, and from mainlandPomerania by theDziwna river. Origins of the name are unknown, probably it is ofSlavic origin, in the old Slavic language the word "wolyn" meant a wetland, and in the course of the time, it was germanised.Water from the river
Oder ( _pl. Odra) flows into theSzczecin Lagoon . From there it flows through thePeene (to the west of Usedom),Świna andDziwna into theBay of Pomerania , which is part of theBaltic Sea .*Area: 265 km²
*Highest point: Mount Grzywacz, 115 m above sea levelMost of the island consists of
forest s and postglacial hills. Located in the middle is theWolin National Park . The island is a main tourist attraction of northwestern Poland, and it is crossed by several specially marked tourist trails, such as 73-kilometer long trail from Miedzyzdroje to Dziwnowek. There is a main, electrified rail line, which connectsSzczecin and Swinoujscie, also across the island goes an international road E65, which crosses Europe from north to south.Places on Wolin
(German names are in parentheses)
* Chorzelin
* Dargobądz (Dargebanz)
* Darzowice (Darsewitz)
* Domyslow (Dannenberg)
* Dziwnów (Berg Dievenow)
* Jarzębowo (Jarmbow)
* Kodrąb (Codram, 1937-45 Kodram)
* Ładzin (Rehberg)
* Lubin (Lüben)
* Łunowo (Haferhorst)
* Łuskowo (Lüskow)
* Międzywodzie (Heidebrink)
*Międzyzdroje (Misdroy)
* Mokrzyca Mała (Klein Mokratz)
* Mokrzyca Wielka (Groß Mokratz)
* Ognica (Werder)
* Przytór (Pritter)
* Rabiąż (Fernosfelde)
* Świętoujść (Swantuss)
*Świnoujście (Swinemünde)
* Warnowo (Warnow)
* Wapnica (Kalkofen)
* Wicko (Vietzig)
*Wisełka (Neuendorf)
* Wolin (Wollin)Distances
*
Szczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport ~ 60 km
*Szczecin ~ 90 km
*Police ~ 110 km
*Berlin ~ 220 km
*Rostock ~ 240 km
*Copenhagen ~ 250 km
*Malmö ~ 250 km
*Warsaw ~ 650 kmHistory
An mediæval document of ca.
850 , called "Bavarian Geographer " after its anonymous creator, mentions the Slavic tribe ofVolinians who then had 70 strongholds ("Uelunzani civitates LXX"). The town of Wolin was first mentioned in the10th century . Archaeologists believe that in theEarly Middle Ages there was a great trade emporium, spreading along the shore for four kilometers and rivaling in importanceBirka andHedeby .Archaeological finds on the island are not very rich but they dot an area of 20 hectares, making it the second largest Baltic marketplace of the
Viking Age after Hedeby. Some scholars speculated that Wolin may have been the basis for the semi-legendary settlementsJomsborg andVineta . This is dubious, as "no trace has been found there of its artificial harbour for 360 warships, or of a citadel, unless the nearby hill of Silberberg is accepted as the site of such; but there were Norsemen there around the year 1000, and the archaeological finds reveal a mixed population of Vikings and Slavs". [Gwyn Jones. "A History of the Vikings". Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-280134-1. Page 127.]Around
972 the island became controlled byPoland , under princeMieszko I , however, it has not been established if Wolin became part of Poland, or if it was a fief. Polish influences were not firm and they ended around1007 . In the following years Wolyn became famous for its pirates, who would plunder ships cruising the Baltic. As a reprisal, in1043 it was attacked by the Danish king Magnus the Good.In early XII century the island as part of the Pomeranian duchy was captured by the Polish king
Boleslaw III Wrymouth , also at that time the inhabitants of Wolyn accepted Christianity, and in1140 popeInnocent II created a diocese there, with capital in the town of Wolyn. In 1181 the dukes of Pomerania decided to accepted the German emperor as their liege lord instead of the Polish king. Since then Pomerania was part of the so calledHoly Roman Empire and the Pomeranians were Germanized. In1535 Wolyn accepted ProtestantismLutheranism . In1630 the island was captured bySweden . In the meantime Pomerania became part of the Prussian (at that time Brandenburgian) kingdom. Wolyn followed in 1679. Since the German political unification in 1870 it was part of Germany. After the annexation of Pomerania by Poland in 1945 the (German) population was expelled and replaced with Poles who were expelled from territories in eastern Poland ceded to theSoviet Union . Then the German place names were translated or reconstructed after their original Slavic connotation in a modern Polish version. This is the reason that all of the places on this island as in Pomerania also have former German names.References
External links
* [http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grafika:Wolin_mapa.pngMap of Wolin]
* [http://www.insel-usedom-wollin.de/inselusedomwollin/inselusedomwollinorte.html Places on Wolin and Usedom]
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