__NOTOC__ Nowy Sącz County ( pl, powiat nowosądecki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (

powiat A ''powiat'' (pronounced ; Polish plural: ''powiaty'') is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture ( LAU-1, formerly NUTS-4) in other countries. The term "''powia ...

) in

Lesser Poland Voivodeship Lesser Poland Voivodeship or Lesser Poland Province (in pl, województwo małopolskie ), also known as Małopolska, is a voivodeship (province), in southern Poland. It has an area of , and a population of 3,404,863 (2019). It was created on 1 ...

, southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, on the Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the

Polish local government reforms The administrative division of Poland since 1999 has been based on three levels of subdivision. The territory of Poland is divided into ''voivodeships'' (provinces); these are further divided into ''powiats'' (counties or districts), and these i ...

passed in 1998. Its administrative seat is the city of

Nowy Sącz Nowy Sącz (; hu, Újszandec; yi, Tzanz, צאַנז; sk, Nový Sonč; german: Neu-Sandez) is a city in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship of southern Poland. It is the district capital of Nowy Sącz County as a separate administrative unit. It has ...

, although the city is not part of the county (it constitutes a separate city county). The county contains five towns:

Krynica-Zdrój Krynica-Zdrój (until 31 December 2001 Krynica, rue, Крениця, uk, Криниця) is a town in Nowy Sącz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. It is inhabited by over eleven thousand people. It is the biggest spa town in ...

, south-east of Nowy Sącz, Stary Sącz, south-west of Nowy Sącz,

Grybów Grybów ( uk, Грибів, ''Hrybiv''; german: Grünberg, ''Grynberk''; yi, גריבאוו, ''Gribuv''),Prof. Maria Malec. ''Słownik nazw geograficznych Polski.'' 2003. WN PWN. 2007. .Prof. Stanisław Rospond. ''Słownik Etymologiczny Miast i ...

, east of Nowy Sącz,

Piwniczna-Zdrój Piwniczna-Zdrój (until 1999 Piwniczna, uk, Північна, ''Pivnichna'') is a town in Nowy Sącz County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, near the border with Slovakia. Piwniczna-Zdrój is the name of both the town and its administrative d ...

, south of Nowy Sącz, and

Muszyna Muszyna is a town in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. Population: 4,989 (2006). It is a railroad junction, located near border with Slovakia, with trains going into three directions - towards Nowy Sącz, Krynica-Zdrój and southwards, ...

, south-east of Nowy Sącz. The county covers an area of . As of 2006 its total population is 197,718, out of which the population of Krynica-Zdrój is 11,243, that of Stary Sącz is 8,987, that of Grybów is 6,025, that of Piwniczna-Zdrój is 5,717, that of Muszyna is 4,980, and the rural population is 160,766.

Neighbouring counties

Apart from the city of

, Nowy Sącz County is also bordered by

Nowy Targ County Nowy Targ County ( pl, powiat nowotarski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish ...

and Limanowa County to the west,

Brzesko County __NOTOC__ Brzesko County ( pl, powiat brzeski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government r ...

and

Tarnów County __NOTOC__ Tarnów County ( pl, powiat tarnowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government ...

to the north, and

Gorlice County __NOTOC__ Gorlice County ( pl, powiat gorlicki) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, southern Poland, on the Slovak border. It was created on 1 January 1999 as a result of the Polish l ...

to the east. It also borders

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

to the south.

Administrative division

The county is subdivided into 16

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

s (one urban, four urban-rural and 11 rural). These are listed in the following table, in descending order of population.

Nowy Sacz County in the Past

The history of Nowy Sacz County dates back to late 13th century, when King

Wenceslaus II of Bohemia Wenceslaus II Přemyslid ( cs, Václav II.; pl, Wacław II Czeski; 27 SeptemberK. Charvátová, ''Václav II. Král český a polský'', Prague 2007, p. 18. 1271 – 21 June 1305) was King of Bohemia (1278–1305), Duke of Cracow (1291–1 ...

granted

Magdeburg rights Magdeburg rights (german: Magdeburger Recht; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within ...

to Nowy Sacz. The new town quickly became most important administrative center of the region, and the seat of a local

castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...

and starosta. The county was probably established during the reign of King

Kazimierz Wielki Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He ...

, who encouraged settlement in this sparsely populated region of his domain. Until the

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...

, Nowy Sacz County belonged to Kraków Voivodeship. Its total area was 3900 sq. kilometers, with 12 towns (as for 1667), including

Wojnicz Wojnicz () is an ancient historic town in Tarnów County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship. In the early medieval period of the Polish state, it became one of the most important centres in the province of Lesser Poland, as part of the system of Dunajec ri ...

, Czchow,

Nowy Targ Nowy Targ (Officially: ''Royal Free city of Nowy Targ'', Yiddish: ''Naymark'', Goral Dialect: ''Miasto'') is a town in southern Poland, in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. It is located in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin at the foot of the Gorce Mounta ...

Zakliczyn Zakliczyn is a town in Tarnów County, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland, with a population of 1,558 (2006). Zakliczyn lies on the right bank of the Dunajec river, surrounded by wooded hills above sea level. Zakliczyn has a town hall, locate ...

and Grybow. After the first partition of Poland (1772), Nowy Sacz County became part of Austrian Galicia, in which it remained until 1918 (for more information, see Subdivisions of Galicia). In the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...

, Nowy Sacz County was part of

Kraków Voivodeship (1919–39) Kraków Voivodeship may also refer to: *Kraków Voivodeship (14th century – 1795) * Kraków Voivodeship (1816–1837) *Kraków Voivodeship (1919–1939) *Kraków Voivodeship (1945–1975) *Kraków Voivodeship (1975–1998) The Kraków Voivodeshi ...

; after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the county remained part of Krakow Voivodeship until 1975, when all counties were disbanded (see Administrative division of the Polish People's Republic).

References

Polish official population figures 2006

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nowy Sacz County Land counties of Lesser Poland Voivodeship