The Sandomierzacy are a ethnographic group of the Polish nation, who reside in the historic province of

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...

, around the town of

Sandomierz Sandomierz (pronounced: ; , ) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (), situated on the Vistula River near its confluence with the San, in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy ...

. They use their own dialect, which belongs to Lesser Polish dialect of the

Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

. Like most Poles, the Sandomierzacy are

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. The Sandomierzacy proper reside along the left bank of the

Vistula The Vistula (; ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest in Europe, at in length. Its drainage basin, extending into three other countries apart from Poland, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra i ...

river, reaching Ilza and

Skaryszew Skaryszew is a town in Radom County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland, with 4435 inhabitants (2023). The town is located on the Kobylanka river, and belongs to the historic region of Lesser Poland. In the past it was an important urban center of nort ...

in the north, and Checiny in the west. They also live southeast of Sandomierz, in former Austrian Galicia. Together with the Krakowiacy, the Sandomierzacy are the oldest ethnic group of Lesser Poland. In the 19th century, when Lesser Poland was for over 100 years divided between the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, the Sandomierzacy were under the influence of

Mazovia Mazovia or Masovia ( ) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the largest city and Płock being the capital of the region . Throughout the ...

, which resulted in several changes, mostly in their traditional clothing.

Borowiacy Sandomierscy

The Borowiacy sandomierscy is a small subethnic group of Sandomierzacy, which resides along right bank of the

San river The San (; ''Sian''; ) is a river in southeastern Poland and western Ukraine. It is a tributary of the river Vistula. With a length of , the San is the 6th-longest Polish river. It has a basin area of 16,877 km2, of which 14,426 k ...

, in forested areas of Janow Lubelski.

Posaniacy

The Posaniacy is another subethnicy group of the Sandomierzacy. They inhabited the Sandomierz Forest, and in the 19th century, most of them settled in forests around

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

Sources

* Encyklopedia Polski. wyd. Wydawnictwo Ryszard Kluszczynski, Kraków 1996.

Borowiacy Sandomierscy

Posaniacy

Sources

See also