Masovia (Polish: Mazowsze) is a geographical and historical region situated in central Poland with its capital in Warsaw.

History

Masovia was conquered probably by Mieszko I, duke of Polans and first historical ruler of Poland in the 10th century. During the chaos following the death of Mieszko II in 1033 and the subsequent invasion of the Czechs, it split temporarily from Poland under an independent ruler. It was then subdued by Casimir I of Poland in 1039 with help from Ruthenian units. Following fragmentation of Poland after death of Boleslaus III of Poland Masovia was governed by his son Boleslaus IV of Poland, later high-duke of Poland 1146-1173 and other Dukes of Masovia from the local branch of the Piast dynasty. Some parts of Masovia were not incorporated into the Polish kingdom united in 14th century until death of the last regional duke in 1526.

Following the partitions of Poland Masovia became part of Congress Kingdom (1815) and later the Russian Empire (1831). In 1918 Masovia was included into newly formed Second Polish Republic.

In 1997 the Masovian Voivodship was created as one of 16 administrative regions of Poland.

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Also a name of an early 8-bit character encoding, based on CP 850 with some characters replaced by Polish diacritics.