POZNAN or POSEN, a Polish province, bounded north by the province of Pomorze, east by the provinces of Warsaw and Lodz, south and west by Germany. Area 9,243 sq.m. ; pop. (1931) 2,112,871 in 1921 83.1% were Poles, 16.5% Germans and o.t% Jews. The Jews were formerly numerous in the province, but migrated to America in the second half of the 19th century, when the peasants organized co-operative societies. The Germans, who had settled under Government support, left after the reconstitu tion of the Polish State, in large numbers, but the population is, nevertheless, larger than before the World War. The province, which contains 38 districts, has always formed a territorial unit since the dawn of history as Great Poland (Wielka Polska), the seat of the tribe which organized the Polish monarchy, and has always been one of the most enlightened, influential and patriotic parts of Poland. It is part of the central Polish plain, and consists of a low plateau intersected by the beds of the rivers Notec, Warta and Obra. These three rivers drain into the Oder, with which the Warta is also connected by the Obra canal. The east part of the province is in the basin of the Vistula, which is con nected with the Notec by the Bydgoszcz canal. The surface is dotted with small lakes and ponds, and there are many broad fens and swamps. The soil is light and sandy, but much of the land reclaimed in the marshy districts is very fertile. The greater part of the province is under tillage, but 17.3% is occupied by forests. The principal crops are rye, wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, beets and hops. The vine is cultivated in the south-west corner, and tobacco is also grown. A feature of the country is the efficient organization of agricultural co-operative societies, culminating in the great union under Father Wawrzyniak, which enabled the Polish peasants to hold their own against their German com petitors, and the fact that education has made illiteracy, so prevalent in the "Congress Kingdom," a rarity in Poznan. The marshy tracts afford excellent pasture and support large numbers of cattle, horses, sheep and goats. The mineral resources of the
province are small, but the industries, at first purely agricultural, such as distilling, brewing, sugar and tobacco, are increasing with the development of the Polish State. Locomotives are built at Poznan, while Bydgoszcz has become the centre of the timber trade for all Poland, and a timber exchange has been established there, and the first paper mills in Poland. Trade is facilitated by the network of navigable rivers, canals and railways, while the roads are the best in the country. But trade suffers from the change of markets due to the transference of Poznan from Ger many to Poland. There are (1930 several large towns :—Poznan (246,698), Bydgoszcz (117,528) and Gniezno (29,924). Other towns are Inowroclaw, Ostrow, Leszno, Krotoszyn, Rawicz and the most ancient town of Poland, Kruszwica, situated by Lake Goplo, rich in legend. (A. B. Bo.) The history of the province of Western or "Great" Poland, of which Poznan (called by the Germans Posen) is the principal city (see p. 397), falls within the scope of the article POLAND. One of the oldest towns of the province is Gniezno (German Gnesen), originally the capital of the whole country, and still the seat of the primate of Poland. The tide of German immigration into the province flowed strongly in the 13th and the following centuries. The industrious German settlers were the principal factor in the development of trade and manufacture in the towns; they also did much to improve agriculture in the country. Since the re-union of the kingdom of Poland in the 14th century, the province of Poznan shared the fate of the united country.
During the 17th century, a Swedish invasion ruined the prov ince, the commercial importance of the city began to suffer in consequence of the one-sidedly agrarian spirit of Polish legisla tion, and the strenuous efforts of the Jesuits, directed against the growth of Protestantism, introduced into the life of Poznan the un rest of religious feuds, which were prolonged till the 18th century.