The history of territory south of the Baltic Sea, which in the year AD 1040 was

first named Pomerania, and is now area in modern-day Germany and Poland, dates b
ack more than 10,000 years. The name Pomerania comes from Slavic po more, which
means Land at the Sea.[1]
Settlement in the area started by the end of the Vistula Glacial Stage, about 13
,000 years ago.[2] Archeological traces have been found of various cultures duri
ng the Stone and Bronze Age, of Veneti and Germanic peoples during the Iron Age
and, in the Middle Ages, Slavic tribes and Vikings.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Startin
g in the 10th century, Piast Poland on several occasions acquired parts of the r
egion from the southeast, while the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark augmented thei
r territory from the west and north.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
In the High Middle Ages, the area became Christian and was ruled by local dukes
of the House of Pomerania and the Samborides, at various times vassals of Denmar
k, the Holy Roman Empire and Poland.[16][17][18] From the late 12th century, the
Griffin Duchy of Pomerania stayed with the Holy Roman Empire and the Principali
ty of Rugia with Denmark, while Denmark, Brandenburg, Poland and the Teutonic Kn
ights struggled for control in Samboride Pomerelia.[18][19][20] The Teutonic Kni
ghts succeeded in annexing Pomerelia to their monastic state in the early 14th c
entury. Meanwhile the Ostsiedlung started to turn Pomerania into a German-settle
d area; the remaining Wends, who became known as Slovincians and Kashubians, con
tinued to settle within the rural East.[21][22] In 1325 the line of the princes
of Rugia (Rgen) died out, and the principality was inherited by House of Pomerani
a,[23] themselves involved in the Brandenburg-Pomeranian conflict about superior
ity in their often internally divided duchy. In 1466, with the Teutonic Order's
defeat, Pomerelia became subject to the Polish Crown as a part of Royal Prussia.
[24] While the Duchy of Pomerania adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1534,[25
][26][27] Kashubia remained with the Roman Catholic Church. The Thirty Years' an
d subsequent wars severely ravaged and depopulated most of Pomerania.[28] With t
he extinction of the Griffin house during the same period, the Duchy of Pomerani
a was divided between the Swedish Empire and Brandenburg-Prussia in 1648.
Prussia gained the southern parts of Swedish Pomerania in 1720.[29] It gained th
e remainder of Swedish Pomerania in 1815, when French occupation during the Napo
leonic Wars was lifted.[30] The former Brandenburg-Prussian Pomerania and the fo
rmer Swedish parts were reorganized into the Prussian Province of Pomerania,[31]
while Pomerelia in the partitions of Poland was made part of the Province of We
st Prussia. With Prussia, both provinces joined the newly constituted German Emp
ire in 1871. Following the empire's defeat in World War I, Pomerelia became part
of the Second Polish Republic (Polish Corridor) and the Free City of Danzig was
created. Germany's Province of Pomerania was expanded in 1938 to include northe
rn parts of the former Province of PosenWest Prussia, and in 1939 the annexed Pol
ish territories became the part of Nazi Germany known as Reichsgau Danzig-West P
russia. The Nazis deported the Pomeranian Jews to a reservation near Lublin[32][
33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] and mass-murdered Jews, Poles and Kashubians
in Pomerania, planning to eventually exterminate Jews and Poles and Germanise t
he Kashubians.
After Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II, the GermanPolish border was shifted
west to the OderNeisse line and all of Pomerania was placed under Soviet military
control.[42][43] The area west of the line became part of East Germany, the oth
er areas part of the People's Republic of Poland. The German population of the a
reas east of the line was expelled, and the area was resettled primarily with Po
les (some themselves expellees from former eastern Poland) and some Ukrainians (
resettled under Operation Vistula) and Jews.[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52]
Most of Western Pomerania (Vorpommern) today forms the eastern part of the stat
e of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Federal Republic of Germany, while the Polish par
t of the region is divided between West Pomeranian Voivodeship and Pomeranian Vo
ivodeship, with their capitals in Szczecin and Gdansk, respectively. During the
late 1980s, the Solidarnosc and Die Wende movements overthrew the Communist regi
mes implemented during the post-war era .[citation needed] Since then, Pomerania
has been democratically governed.