Puszcza Zielona (; {{lit, Green Wilderness) is a forest in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

which extends from the

Narew River The Narew (; ; or ) is a 499-kilometre (310 mi) river primarily in north-eastern Poland. It is a tributary of the river Vistula. The Narew is one of Europe's few braided rivers, the term relating to the twisted channels resembling braided h ...

and the border with the region of

Masuria Masuria ( ; ; ) is an ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship (ad ...

. It is bounded on the east by the Pisa River and on the west by the Orzyc River. The forest lies in a lowland and contains a wet sandy soil, but it is rich in various minerals which are mined. The Green Wilderness (Puszcza Zielona) is usually associated with the White Wilderness ( Puszcza Biała), and together the two forests are often referred to as the Kurpie Forest ( Puszcza Kurpiowska) because the two forests were populated by inhabitants who, over the centuries retained their distinct ethnic character. Due to isolation they developed a unique culture of their own, called Kurpie.

History

The forest was first ordered colonized by Duke

Janusz I of Warsaw Janusz I of Warsaw (pl: ''Janusz I warszawski''), also known as Janusz I the Old (pl: ''Janusz I Starszy'') (c. 1347/52 – 8 December 1429), was a Polish prince member of the House of Piast in the Dukes of Masovia, Masovian branch, from 1373/74 D ...

in the first half of the 14th century by peasants and petty nobles. Colonization continued on and off subsequently, and its inhabitants, because of their isolation by living deep in a forest, developed a distinct culture. Other neighboring

Poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

gave them the name of ''kurpś'', because they retained their ancient tradition of making shoes made of fibers from the

linden tree ''Tilia'' is a genus of about 30 species of trees or bushes, native throughout most of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere. The tree is known as linden for the European species, and basswood for North American species. In Great Bri ...

and sealed with lime.

Current status

Because of deliberate cutting down of forest, even though the area is not suitable for agriculture, much of the forest remains in broken patches. Villages which once housed Kurpie-style structures have now been replaced, for the most part, by more modern structures. After the

Fall of Communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

, portions of the forest are being preserved and protected as nature preserves by the

Polish government The government of Poland takes the form of a Unitary state, unitary semi-presidential republic, semi-presidential Representative democracy, representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Poland, president is the head of state and t ...

Nature preserves pertaining to Puszcza Zielona

* Rezerwat Czarnia * Rezerwat Kaniston *

Rezerwat przyrody Ciemny Kąt ''Rezerwat'' is a 2007 Polish film. It is director Łukasz Palkowski's first film. Plot The story is set in a poor neighborhood in Warsaw and concerns a pickpocket and a photographer. Reception ''Rezerwat'' does not yet have a rating from Rott ...

Rezerwat przyrody Łokieć ''Rezerwat'' is a 2007 Polish film. It is director Łukasz Palkowski's first film. Plot The story is set in a poor neighborhood in Warsaw and concerns a pickpocket and a photographer. Reception ''Rezerwat'' does not yet have a rating from Rott ...

References

Puszcza Zielona Puszcza Zielona (; {{lit, Green Wilderness) is a forest in Poland which extends from the Narew River and the border with the region of Masuria. It is bounded on the east by the Pisa River and on the west by the Orzyc (river), Orzyc River. The fores ...

Puszcza Zielona
* Puszcza Kurpiowska
Ostrołęka, ostroleka.INFO.pl
Forests of Poland Geography of Masovian Voivodeship Geography of Podlaskie Voivodeship pl:Puszcza Zielona

History

Current status

Nature preserves pertaining to Puszcza Zielona

See also

References