Grodno Region, also known asGrodno Oblast[b] orHrodna Voblasts,[c] is a region of Belarus. Its administrative centre and its namesake,Grodno, is the largest city in the whole region. As of 2024, it has a population of 992,556.[3]
This region comprised the westernmost "borderlands" of the earlyEast Slavs (possibly the tribal unionDregoviches) on the lands of theBalts in the 6th–9th centuries CE. The city ofGrodno is first mentioned in thePrimary Chronicle under the year 1127 as Goroden. It was located at the crossing of numerous trading routes, possibly originating as far as the late 10th century. It also became the capital of a poorly attested but separate principality.[7] In the 12th–14th centuries, it formed part of the area sometimes known asBlack Ruthenia, which was fully incorporated into theGrand Duchy of Lithuania in the 13th century.[8] The BalticYotvingians who inhabited the Grodno region became increasinglyLithuanized, especially during the formation of the State ofLithuania in the 13th century. As a result, Grodno and its surroundings were included inEthnographic Lithuania for long thereafter. (e.g. in the 19th century the Lithuanian-inhabited areas were still nearby the present-day suburbs of Grodno city).[9]
The strong economic development of the area continued during the reign of KingCasimir's son — DukeAlexander Jagiellon of Lithuania (r. 1492–1506) — who founded the first solid bridge over theNeman River, as well as the monasteries of theOrder of Saint Augustine and of the PolishOrder of Friars Minor. Later,Bona Sforza, Queen-Consort of Poland and Grand Duchess-Consort of Lithuania (r. 1518–1548), established her royal residence in Grodno. According to medieval surveys, Grodno had 35 streets and 700 houses in 1558.
At the beginning of the 17th century, Grodno, one of the most developed and important cities in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was traditionally recognized as the third capital of the commonwealth. Deterioration of the province's status began with theLivonian War between 1558 and 1583, which pitted the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and theSwedish Empire in a lengthy and exhausting military conflict against theTsardom of Russia. Between 1765 and 1780, the province regained some of its previous status whenAntoni Tyzenhaus, the Treasurer of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and administrator of Polish royal estates, governed the capital and the province. Tyzenhaus fostered around 50 new commercial endeavors in the region with the building of manufactures, mills and workshops.
As part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and due to subsequentPartitions of Poland, the whole of the Grodno region was annexed by theRussian Empire by the end of 1795. The city of Grodno then became a seat for theGrodno Governorate.
DuringWorld War I, the governorate was occupied by theGerman Empire. German troops entered Grodno city on 3 September 1915, plundering theLibrary of Dominicans Order. During the German occupation, Polish citizens were persecuted and had restricted civil rights. Towards the end of the war, theBelarusian People's Republic (BNR) declared its independence fromSoviet Russia in March 1918 inMinsk. Grodno was the site of the last stand of theBNR's Council (Rada). Soon, the council was forced to flee as Soviet troops invaded the region and the city in 1919 in a prelude to thePolish–Soviet War.
Under the terms of thePeace Treaty of Riga, the region and the city returned to theSecond Polish Republic which claimed rights to this territory as a successor to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and as a victorious side of thePolish–Soviet War. By 1939, Grodno city had 60,000 inhabitants, with Poles andJews accounting for 60% and 37% of the population, respectively. During Polish rule, Grodno was the center ofGrodno County inBiałystok Voivodeship, but some parts of present Grodno region were in the voivodeships ofNowogródek andWilno.
In November 1941, the occupation forces established theGrodno Ghetto for Jewish citizens of Grodno and the rest of the region. In 1942, after a year of severe persecution and planned starvation of ghetto inhabitants, 10,000 Jews from Grodno were deported to the German concentration camp ofAuschwitz-Birkenau to be killed. The following year, in 1943, 17,000 of the surviving ghetto inhabitants were also deported toAuschwitz-Birkenau, as well as to theTreblinka extermination camp and theBiałystok Ghetto.
As of 13 March 1943, German troops reported the completion of the extermination and declared Grodno cityjudenfrei (free of Jews). However, around 50 Jews had survived, some hidden by non-Jewish families. Polish and Soviet underground forces acted in the region. Villages likeDziarečyn, which originally had large Jewish populations, were greatly reduced.
As a result ofJoseph Stalin's policy of expansion to the west, it was decided (during theYalta Conference) that the Polish eastern border would be set roughly along theCurzon Line. Based on this decision, the left-bank part of Grodno town would be kept within the borders of Poland. It is not clear how the original Curzon Line near Grodno was moved by around 20 km to the west. When the so-called "mistake" (today regarded rather as sabotage within British ministry structures) became obvious to negotiators, Stalin refused to correct the mistaken line. Despite multiple and desperate appeals from Polish citizens of Grodno, the whole Grodno region, including theSapotskin Triangle (ethnically Polish till today), was incorporated to theSoviet Belarus and many Poles emigrated or were expelled.[13]
In 1944, the Belastok Region was dissolved and the Grodno region was established.
The main tourist attractions in the region are numerous old architectural constructions such as castles inMir,Lida, andNovogrudok. A part of theBiałowieża Forest is situated here, but the tourist excursions start from theBrest region part of the National Park.Zhyrovichy Monastery is also a destination for religious travellers.
The province covers an area of 25,100 km2 and has a population of 1,065,100, giving a population density of 42/km2.[16] About 63.5% live in cities and towns, while 36.5% live in rural areas. Females account for 53% of the region's population and men 47%. There are about 310,000 children under 19, and about 240,000 people aged 60 or over as of 2025.
Nowadays, Belarusians account for 62.3% of the population. The region is a home to significant minority populations.
Population (1930)
Poles (60.5%)
Jews (37.5%)
Belarusians (0.5%)
Russians (0.5%)
Ukrainians (0.2%)
Lithuanians (0.2%)
Tatars (0.2%)
other nationalities (0.2%)
Population (2002)
Belarusians (62.3%)
Poles (24.8%)
Russians (10%)
Ukrainians (1.8%)
Jews (0.4%)
Tatars (0.2%)
Lithuanians (0.2%)
other nationalities (0.4%)
Whereas Belarus as a whole is primarilyRussian Orthodox, Grodno region has two major religions,Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox. There are 449 religious communities and 18 denominations, 2 Russian Orthodoxeparchial districts, 1 Orthodoxnun sorority, 2 Catholicmonk brotherhoods, 1 Catholic nun sorority, 2 Orthodox and 4 Catholicmonasteries, 165 Orthodox and 169 Catholic churches. The Catholic minority[citation needed] is made up mostly[citation needed] of Poles, although the identifier "Pole" has also been historically applied to CatholicBelarusians.
In 2016, Grodno region produced 10.9% of the industrial output of Belarus.[18] The biggest company was a nitrogen fertilizer producer,Grodno Azot (16% of regional industrial output).[19] In 2017, the biggest taxpayer of the region wasGrodno tobacco factory.[20]
The average salary (before income tax) in the region in 2017 was 700BYN, lower than the average salary in Belarus (820 BYN). The highest salary in the region was recorded inGrodno (810 BYN).[21]
Unemployment rate in 2017 was estimated at 4.4%, but only 0.8% of the population of employable age was registered as unemployed.[22]
^Rewieńska, Wanda (1938).Miasta i miasteczka magdeburskie w woj. wileńskim i nowogródzkim (in Polish). Lida. pp. 11–12.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Agresja sowiecka na Polskę i okupacja wschodnich terenów Rzeczypospolitej 1939–1941 (in Polish). Białystok-Warszawa:IPN. 2019. p. 9.ISBN978-83-8098-706-7.
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