The provinces - a voivodship was originally described as a dominion ruled by a duke and is under existing circumstances the denomination of the sixteen regions of Poland, the “Województwa” (singular: the Województwo), from which a Woiwode the highest governour is.
The term woiwode (also: wojewode) goes back to the Slavonic term “voj-voda”, literally “army commander”. The title is considered to be at the same level as a duke.
The old kingdom of Poland had voivodships, but also the sovereigns from Moldavia and Wallachia were “voivods”. The name of the region Vojvodina in the north of Serbia, means nothing else than voivodship.
There are 16 voivodships or provinces in Poland. All these voivodships were founded on January 1, 1999, pursuant to the local government reorganisation act.