Upper Lusatia

Upper Lusatia (German: Oberlausitz, Upper Sorbian: Hornja Łužica, Lower Sorbian: Górna Łužyca, Czech: Horní Lužice, Polish: Górne Łużyce or Milsko) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to the north, it makes up the region of Lusatia, named after the Slavic Lusici tribe. Both Lusatias are home to the West Slavic minority group of the Sorbs.

The major part of Upper Lusatia belongs to the German state of Saxony, roughly comprising the Bautzen and Görlitz districts. The northwestern extremity around Ruhland and Tettau is incorporated into the Oberspreewald-Lausitz district of Brandenburg. The Polish part, east of the Neisse (Nysa) River, belongs to Lower Silesian Voivodeship. A small strip of land in the north around Łęknica, together with the Polish part of Lower Lusatia, is incorporated into Lubusz Voivodeship.

The historic capital of Upper Lusatia is Bautzen (Budyšin), while the largest city in the region is Görlitz/Zgorzelec, halved between Germany and Poland since 1945. The name Lusatia superior was first recorded in a 1474 deed, derived from the adjacent Lower Lusatian lands in the north, which originally were just called the March of Lusatia. The Upper Lusatian territory was previously referred to as as Milsko in contemporary chronicles, named after the local West Slavic Milceni tribe, later also called Land Budissin.