Silesia (in English, pronounced
/sa?'l????/,
Czech Slezsko;
German Schlesien (help·info);
Latin Silesia;
Polish Slask;
Silesian Slunsk) is a historical region of
Central Europe located in contemporary
Poland, the
Czech Republic and
Germany. It is rich in mineral and natural resources and home to large amounts of industry. The largest cities are
Wroclaw,
Katowice, and
Ostrava.
Geographically, the area is very accessible but terminates within several mountain ranges making it historically a border region when incorporated amongst larger nation-states. It is primarily located in a swath flanking along both banks of the upper and middle Oder River, but extends to the upper Vistula River, and into and along the Sudetes, and arms of the Carpathian (both the Silesian Beskids, Silesian-Moravian Beskids) mountain ranges.
As a region, "national" ownership and borders have changed radically over the past millennium both as a heredity possession of noble houses or after the rise of modern nation-states — but, at present, most of the area is now within the borders of Poland where it is administered by the following sub-divisions Silesian Voivodeship, Opole Voivodeship, Lower Silesian Voivodeship and Lubusz Voivodeship. Additional parts of the region are now in the Czech Republic (Czech Silesia) and Germany (Silesian-Lusatian Region or Silesian Lusatia Ger Niederschlesien-Oberlausitz/Schlesische Oberlausitz).
Silesia has been inhabited from time immemorial by people of multiple ethnic groups. Germanic tribes were first recorded within Silesia in the 1st century. Slavic peoples arrived in this territory around the 6th century. The first known states in Silesia were those of Greater Moravia and Bohemia. In the 10th century, Mieszko I incorporated Silesia into the Polish state.
