Maps in Poland, both historical and present-day, are critical to conducting genealogy research. The evolving boundaries, shifting of parish or town names, and language barriers can lead to challenges. There are numerous resources online to deal with these issues and overcome the problem of finding the right places in Poland.
The land area known today as Poland was at its height called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, at least when it comes to land area covered. It stretched across modern-day nations like Ukraine and Belarus, Latvia, Estonia, and of course Lithuania. That commonwealth survived until the late 1800s when Poland was divided into three partitions - Prussia, Austria, and Russia.[1] Poland as a nation-state returned in the 20th century after the world wars.
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Historical Context and Key FactsHistorical Context and Key Facts
Poland today is a nation centrally located in in Europe, bordered by seven countries: Germany, Czechia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia. Prominent geographic features include the Baltic Sea to the north, the Carpathian and Sudeten mountains to the south, and the Vistula River, Poland's longest river.
Since Poland in its current form was only founded in the 1900s, a key objective when you have family from Poland is to determine which of the partitions they lived in prior to that time period. This helps to find more records, as you may need to look toward Prussia, Austria, or Russia to continue your research.
- Austria Partition (Galicia) have some of the most detailed and best preserved maps
- Cadastral maps, used for tax purposes, go down to the plot number and contain building outlines
- House numbers, which can figure out families over multiple generations, are often kept in separate lists and can be used in tandem with maps
- Prussian Partition (Germany) also had good maps, which were focused on land ownership
- Cadastre maps were established mid-1800s, similar to the Austrian maps
- Land registers could be used in conjunction to maps
- Russian Partition (Congress Poland) did not implement a unified, comprehensive land cadastre across its Polish territories
- Some land records may be found but they are not as detailed
Where To Find Maps of PolandWhere To Find Maps of Poland
For modern-day maps, pursue these resources:
- Google Maps: Classic but it does the job, especially if you know the town or village. It is great to look for neighboring towns, explore territories, and satellite view is worth a toggle to get an understanding of the topography.
- Mapa.Szukacz.pl: A modern-day map optimized for Polish users. High-quality maps with administration boundaries and current place names. This can come in handy for anyone looking for a modern map.
- OpenStreetMap: A collaborative, crowdsourced map that is highly detailed and constantly updated, right down to small trails and locations. The link provided directs to Poland.
For historical maps, try these resources:
- Polona.pl: The National Library of Poland has some excellent historical maps, but you need to know the name of the county, voivedship or town you are looking for. There are also other treasures on this site so it is worth checking out regardless and snooping around.
- David Rumsey Historical Map Collection: His collection dates from the 1600s to 2000s, and these maps are extraordinarily helpful for places that are modern-day Poland.
- Old Maps Online: This is another excellent old maps repository. It gives you suggestions for different years as you browse territory, giving you options to see how boundaries changed over time.
- The Gashier Galicia Map Room (Austrian partition): This is an extraordinary resource that has numerous maps of Galicia (Austria Poland)
- Meyers Gazetteer (Prussian partition): One of the most well-known and widely used resources for genealogical research, it includes old Prussian territories like Posen that are part of Poland today, making it especially useful. Keep in mind that place names are written as they were known during the German Empire (1871-1918) and that the names are in their German form. If you are not sure of the German name, try the Polish spelling, you may get lucky, as sometimes there was no change. This site provides administrative boundaries for each place to help with further research and even has an Ecclesiastical tab to find the parishes for church records.
See alsoSee also
Explore more about Maps in PolandExplore more about Maps in Poland
- Ethnicity map of Poland by MyHeritage DNA
- Researching Ancestral Locations in Prussian Genealogy Records on Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- The Geography of Genealogy in Europe on Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Poland Collections: Newspapers, Church Books on MyHeritage
- Polish genealogy online - portals and databases on Legacy Family Tree Webinars
- Poland's Border/Territorial Changes, 17th century to 21st century (Video) by TheGeoScholar on YouTube
References
- ↑ Partitions of Poland. Encyclopedia Britannica