The gazetteer Slownik Geograficzny; The geographical dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland and other Slavic countries (Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego i innych krajów słowiańskich) was published in Warsaw in 14 volumes, with additional 2 volumes of amendments, between 1880 and 1902. The idea was conceived by Filip Sulimierski and the editor-in-chief was Bronislaw Chlebowski (from volume 6 on assisted by Jozef Krzywicki). The publication of the first 10 volumes was financed by Wladyslaw Walewski and the rest of the set - by the famous "Dr. Mianowski's Fund". The authors of individual entries included many of the most renowned Polish scholars of the period.

The entries in the Slownik cover all regions, towns, villages and other settlements, mountains, rivers and lakes of  Poland, both present and past. Coverage includes all localities in the former Polish provinces of Russia, most localities in the former Austrian province of Galicia (now divided between Poland and the Ukraine), Belorussian provinces of the Russian Empire (now in the Republic of Belarus), and also contains significant localities in other Slavic and eastern European nations; Russia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania. While the information is a bit less comprehensive, localities from the provinces of Poznan, West Prussia, East Prussia, Silesia, and Pomerania are also covered.

Every entry contains (to a varying degree of detail) all available information including detailed description of a given place in the late 19th c., including: geographic and administrative (both political and church - for all denominations) placement, demographic, social, religious and other statistics; schools, industry, communication, agriculture, trade; historical survey - foundation, important events; names of successive owners; names of inhabitants; and a bibliography with all relevant books and articles.

 

Slownik Geograficzny Online - This site is in Polish and you will require Lizardtech's DjVu plug-in to view the pages   (click Dodatek for the plugin and Tekst slownika for the index)