Landsat satellite photo of
Oder Lagoon - Wolin is the eastern of the two large islands separating the waters of the Lagoon from the Baltic Sea, the western island is
Usedom
Map of Wolin Island
(
Pomeranian Wòlin, ) is the name shared by an
island located in the
Baltic Sea located just off the
Polish coast, and a
town located on the island. It is separated from the island of
Usedom by the
Świna river, and from mainland
Pomerania by the
Dziwna river. Origins of the name are unknown, probably it is of
Slavic origin, in the old Slavic language the word "wolyn" meant a wetland, and in the course of the time, it was
Germanised.
Water from the river
Oder () flows into the
Szczecin Lagoon. From there it flows through the
Peene (to the west of Usedom),
Świna and
Dziwna into the
Bay of Pomerania, which is part of the
Baltic Sea.
- Highest point: Mount Grzywacz, 116 m above sea level
Most of the island consists of
forests and postglacial hills. Located in the middle is the
Wolin National Park. The island is a main tourist attraction of northwestern Poland, and it is crossed by several specially marked tourist trails, such as 73-kilometer long trail from Miedzyzdroje to Dziwnowek. There is a main, electrified rail line, which connects
Szczecin and Swinoujscie, also across the island goes an international road
E65, which crosses Europe from north to south.
Places on Wolin
(German names are in parentheses)
- Kodrąb (Codram, 1937-45 Kodram)
- Międzywodzie (Heidebrink)
- Mokrzyca Mała (Klein Mokratz)
- Mokrzyca Wielka (Groß Mokratz)
Distances
History
An mediæval document of ca. 850, called
Bavarian Geographer after its anonymous creator, mentions the Slavic tribe of
Volinians who then had 70 strongholds (
Uelunzani civitates LXX). The town of Wolin was first mentioned in the tenth century. Archaeologists believe that in the
Early Middle Ages there was a great trade emporium, spreading along the shore for four kilometers and rivaling in importance
Birka and
Hedeby.
Archaeological finds on the island are not very rich but they dot an area of 20 hectares, making it the second largest Baltic marketplace of the
Viking Age after Hedeby. Some scholars speculated that Wolin may have been the basis for the semi-legendary settlements
Jomsborg and
Vineta. This is dubious, as "no trace has been found there of its artificial harbour for 360 warships, or of a citadel, unless the nearby hill of Silberberg is accepted as the site of such; but there were Norsemen there around the year 1000, and the archaeological finds reveal a mixed population of Vikings and Slavs".
Around 972 the island became controlled by
Poland, under prince
Mieszko I, however, it has not been established if Wolin became part of Poland, or if it was a fief. Polish influences were not firm and they ended around 1007. In the following years Wolyn became famous for its pirates, who would plunder ships cruising the Baltic. As a reprisal, in 1043 it was attacked by the
Danish king
Magnus the Good.
In early XII century the island as part of the Pomeranian duchy was captured by the Polish king
Boleslaw III Wrymouth, also at that time the inhabitants of Wolyn accepted Christianity, and in 1140 pope
Innocent II created a diocese there, with capital in the town of Wolyn. In 1181 the dukes of Pomerania decided to accepted the German emperor as their liege lord instead of the Polish king. Since then Pomerania was part of the so called
Holy Roman Empire and the Pomeranians were Germanized. In 1535 Wolyn accepted Protestantism
Lutheranism. In 1630 the island was captured by
Sweden. In the meantime Pomerania became part of the Prussian (at that time Brandenburgian) kingdom. Wolyn followed in 1679. Since the German political unification in 1870 it was part of Germany. After the annexation of Pomerania by Poland in 1945 the (German) population was expelled and replaced with Poles who were expelled from
territories in eastern Poland ceded to the
Soviet Union. Then the German place names were translated or reconstructed after their original Slavic connotation in a modern Polish version. This is the reason that all of the places on this island as in Pomerania also have former German names.
