Cieszyn Silesia
Cieszyn Silesia, Těšín Silesia or Teschen Silesia (Polish: Śląsk Cieszyński [ˈɕlɔ̃sk tɕɛˈʂɨj̃skʲi] ; Czech: Těšínské Slezsko [ˈcɛʃiːnskɛː ˈslɛsko] or Těšínsko [ˈcɛʃiːnsko] ; 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.
"Těšínsko" redirects here. For other uses, see Těšínsko (disambiguation).
Cieszyn Silesia
Těšín Silesia
2,280 km2 (880 sq mi)
810,000
360/km2 (920/sq mi)
The historical boundaries of the region are roughly the same as those of the former independent Duchy of 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.[1][2]
Administrative division[edit]
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.
The Czech part lies within the Moravian-Silesian Region and comprises the Karviná District, the eastern part of the Frýdek-Místek District, and the eastern parts of the Ostrava-City District and of the city of Ostrava itself.
The region is separated from the rest of Silesia (and Upper Silesia in particular) by the Vistula River (the part beginning in Strumień) and from the region of Lesser Poland by the Biała River and Barania Góra mountain, the highest peak of the Polish part of the region at 1,220 metres (4,000 ft). The highest peak of the region is Lysá hora (1,323 m (4,341 ft)) in the Czech part. The region also borders Slovakia, along the Polom mountain range and Jablunkov Pass at Mosty u Jablunkova, and Moravia across the rivers Ostravice and Oder. Geomorphologically, the area of Cieszyn Silesia is located in the Western Carpathians and extends into the mesoregions:
Major towns of the Polish part of the region include Cieszyn, Bielsko (western part of Bielsko-Biała), Czechowice-Dziedzice, Skoczów, Strumień, Ustroń and Wisła. The Czech part of the region includes the eastern part of Ostrava (called Slezská Ostrava), Bohumín, Český Těšín, Frýdek (the eastern part of Frýdek-Místek), Havířov, Karviná, Orlová and Třinec.
Historically Duchy of Teschen and therefore Cieszyn Silesia formed a part of Upper Silesia. After Silesian Wars in the 18th century it was separated from the rest of Silesia, which began the process of forming its own specificity, to the extent that some contemporary authors claim that Cieszyn Silesia and Upper Silesia are separate regions.[11]