History
The history of Polish powiats goes back to the second half of the 14th century. They remained the basic unit of territorial organization in Poland, then in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, until the latter's partitioning in 1795.
In the 19th century, the powiats continued to function in the part of Poland that had been incorporated into the Russian Empire ("Congress Poland") (the Russian equivalent of uyezd or the Ukrainian - povit) and, as the Polish equivalent of the German "Kreis" in the German-governed Grand Duchy of Poznań.
After Poland regained independence in 1918, the powiats again became the usual territorial units throughout the country.
Powiats were abolished in 1975 in favour of a larger number of voivodeships, but were reintroduced on 1 January 1999. This reform also created 16 larger voivodeships.
Read more about this topic: Powiat
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