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Silesia ( or ; ; ; ; Silesian: Ślůnsk; ) is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in present-day Poland, with parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest cities are Wrocław, its historical capital, and Katowice in Poland, and Ostrava in the Czech Republic. Its main river is the Oder (Polish: Odra). Silesia's borders and national affiliation have changed radically over time, both when it was a hereditary possession of noble houses and after the rise of modern nation-states. The first known states to hold power there were those of Greater Moravia and Bohemia. In the 10th century Silesia was incorporated into the early Polish state, but it later broke into independent duchies, coming under increasing German influence. It came under the rule of the Crown of Bohemia, which passed to Austria in 1526. Most of Silesia was conquered by Prussia in 1742, later becoming part of the German Empire. The easternmost part of this region became part of Poland after World War I, but the bulk of it was transferred to Poland after World War II. Meanwhile the remaining Austrian parts of Silesia mostly became part of Czechoslovakia after World War I, and are now in the Czech Republic. Most inhabitants of Silesia today speak the national languages of their respective countries (Polish, Czech, German), although there is a recognized Silesian language, considered by some to be a dialect of Polish, with about 60,000 declared speakers in Upper Silesia. There also exists a Silesian German or Lower Silesian language (or group of German dialects), though this is almost extinct. History
Silesia has been inhabited from time immemorial by people of multiple ethnic groups. Germanic tribes were first recorded within Silesia in the 1st century. Slavic White Croats arrived in this territory around the 6th century establishing White Croatia. The first known states in Silesia were the Czech proto-states of Greater Moravia and Bohemia. In the 10th century, Polish ruler Mieszko I incorporated Silesia into the Polish state. In the Middle Ages, Silesia was divided among many independent duchies ruled by various Silesian dukes of the Piast dynasty. During this time, cultural and ethnic German influence increased due to immigrants from the German-speaking components of the Holy Roman Empire. Between the years 1289–1292 Bohemian king Wenceslaus II became suzerain of some Upper Silesian duchies. Silesia subsequently became a possession of the Bohemian crown under the Holy Roman Empire in the 14th century, and passed with that crown to the Habsburg Monarchy of Austria in 1526. The Duchy of Crossen was inherited by Margraviate of Brandenburg in 1476 and, with the renunciation by King Ferdinand I and estates of Bohemia in 1538, it became an integral part of Brandenburg. In 1742, most of Silesia was seized by King Frederick the Great of Prussia in the War of the Austrian Succession and subsequently made the Prussian Province of Silesia. Consequently Silesia became part of the German Empire when it was proclaimed in 1871. After World War I, Upper Silesia was contested by Germany and the newly-independent Second Polish Republic. The League of Nations organized a plebiscite to decide the issue in 1921, whose results (disputed by Poland) showed that the majority of the population wished to remain part of Germany. Following the third Silesian Uprising (1921), however, the easternmost portion of Upper Silesia (including Katowice), with a majority ethnic Polish population, was finally awarded to Poland, where it formed the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship. The Prussian Province of Silesia within Germany was divided into the Provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia. Meanwhile Austrian Silesia, the small portion of Silesia retained by Austria after the Silesian Wars, was mostly awarded to the new Czechoslovakia (becoming known as Czech Silesia), although most of Cieszyn and territory to the east of it went to Poland (see Zaolzie). In 1945, at the end of World War II, all of Silesia was occupied by the Soviet Union, and under the post-war border changes most of it became part of Poland. As a result the vast majority of the native ethnic German population was expelled by force and replaced by Polish settlers, most of whom had themselves been expropriated and expelled from the eastern parts of Poland (Kresy) that had been annexed by the Soviet Union. The administrative division of Silesia within Poland has changed several times since 1945. Since 1999 it has been divided between Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Opole Voivodeship, Silesian Voivodeship and Lubusz Voivodeship. Czech Silesia is now part of the Czech Republic, forming the Moravian-Silesian Region and the northern part of Olomouc Region. Germany retains the Silesian-Lusatian region (Niederschlesien-Oberlausitz or Schlesische Oberlausitz) west of the Neisse, which is part of the federal-state of Saxony. Research Tips
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