POMORZE or POMERANIA (i.e., "along the sea"), a province of Poland, bounded on the north by the Baltic, on the east by East Prussia, on the south by the provinces of Warsaw and Poznan, on the west by Germany. Area, 6,327 sq.m. ; pop. (1931), 1,086,144. The greater part is occupied by the low Baltic plateau. Pomorze, which has been, in modern times, very incorrectly called West Prussia and the "Polish corridor," consists of two quite distinct units. West of the Vistula is Eastern Pomerania, which was colonized by Poland when West Pomerania became a German colony, was seized by the Teutonic Order in 1309, re covered by Poland in 1466 and held till when it was seized by Prussia. East of the Vistula is the territory of Chelmno or Kulm, a Polish border province ceded to the Teutonic Order in the 13th century and recovered in 1466. Both these territories remained mainly Polish despite the colonizing efforts of the Prussian Government in the 19th century. Danzig, which had a German majority, was made into a Free State by the Treaty of Versailles; mixed areas decided their future by a plebiscite, and the remaining territory was reunited to the other parts of Poland, to which it is essential as the only outlet of Poland on the sea.
The Prussian rule of over 140 years has left a German minority, forming '8.5% of the population, while the Poles form 8 % (1921).
Pomorze is mainly an agricultural country, its industries de pending on agriculture. Together with Poznan, it was formerly one of the chief sources of foodstuffs for Germany. The peasant is highly educated and well organized, the agricultural co-operative societies having been a great economic and national asset. For estry is well organized in the great Tuchola forest. Distilling. brewing and sugar refining are important industries. The prov ince is famous for stock-breeding, having a greater number of sheep per acre than any other part of Poland. The fisheries are extensive, but not well organized. The province is well served by railways, but suffers from being cut off from its former capital, Danzig. A constantly growing traffic by rail and river descends to Danzig, and new ports to cope with it are in course of develop ment at Tczew and Gdynia. The chief towns are Torun (pop.
54,280 in 1931), Grudzianz (pop. 50,405) in the east; Chojnice, Puck, Tuchola, Starograd and wiecie in the west.