Wolin

This article is about the island. For the town on Wolin island, see Wolin (town).

"Wollin" redirects here. For the town in Germany, see Wollin, Brandenburg.

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

Aerial photography, May 1937

Wolin (Pomeranian Wòlin, German: Wollin) is the name both of an island in the Baltic Sea, just off the Polish coast, and a town on that island. It is separated from the island of Usedom by the Świna river, and from mainland Pomerania by the Dziwna river. The origins of the name are unknown, although it is likely of Slavic origin. In the old Slavic language the word "wolyn" meant a wetland, and over time, it was Germanised.

Water from the river Oder (Polish: Odra) flows into the Szczecin Lagoon and from there through the Peene west of Usedom, Świna and Dziwna into the Bay of Pomerania in the Baltic Sea.

• Area: 265 km²
• Highest point: Mount Grzywacz, 116 m above sea level

Most of the island consists of forests and postglacial hills. 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 Międzyzdroje to Dziwnówek. There is a main, electrified rail line, which connects Szczecin and Świnoujście, also across the island goes an international road E65 (national road 3 / S3 expressway), which crosses Europe from north to south.

Places on Wolin

• Chorzelin
• Dargobądz
• Darzowice
• Domysłów
• Dziwnów
• Jarzębowo
• Kodrąb
• Kołczewo
• Ładzin
• Łunowo
• Łuskowo
• Międzywodzie
• Międzyzdroje
• Mokrzyca Mała
• Mokrzyca Wielka
• Ognica
• Przytór
• Rabiąż
• Świętoujść
• Świnoujście
• Warnowo
• Wapnica
• Wicko
• Wisełka
• Wolin

Distances

• Szczecin-Goleniów "Solidarność" Airport ~ 60 km
• Szczecin ~ 90 km
• Police ~ 110 km
• Berlin ~ 220 km
• Rostock ~ 240 km
• Copenhagen ~ 250 km
• Malmö ~ 250 km
• Warsaw ~ 650 km

History

One of four Svetovid wood figures from IX-X century used to home worship found in Wolin

A mediæval document of ca. 850, called Bavarian Geographer after its anonymous creator, mentions the Slavic tribe of Wolinians who then had 70 strongholds (Uelunzani civitates LXX). The town of Wolin was first mentioned in the 10th 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 Scandinavians 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 Wolin 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 12th century the island as part of the Pomeranian duchy was captured by the Polish king Boleslaw III Wrymouth. Shortly after the inhabitants of Wolin accepted Christianity, and in 1140 pope Innocent II created a diocese there, with capital in the town of Wolin. In 1181 the dukes of Pomerania decided to accept the Holy Roman emperor as their liege lord instead of the Polish king. In 1535 Wolin accepted Protestantism Lutheranism. In 1630 the island was captured by Sweden. Later Pomerania became part of the Prussian (at that time Brandenburgian) kingdom. Wolin followed in 1679. Since the German political unification in 1871 it was part of Germany. After the transfer of Western Pomerania to Poland in 1945 the (German) population was expelled and replaced with Poles who had been expelled from territories in eastern Poland ceded to the Soviet Union.

Viking festival

Annually, the island is home to Europe's biggest Germanic-Slavic Viking festival.

External links

• Map of Wolin