The ancient Prussian tribes in the 13th century; Sudovia is eastern Prussian Sudauen on a 17th century map Sudovia or Sudauen (Latin: Sudovia, Lithuanian: Sūduva) is a historic region in the Polish-Lithuanian border. The area is named after the Baltic tribe of Sudovians (also: Jatvingians), who ruled it until 1283. Sudovia is bordered by the River Memel in the east and north.
For the Lithuanian part of Sudovia, the term Suvalkija is also used, a name with a much less long history. This area is one of four constituent parts of Lithuania (besides Samogithia, Upper Lithuania and Central Lithuania). Marijampolė is the most important city here.
The area of the Sudovians was a twist appellation between the German Order and the Lithuanian capital in the 14th century. It came to Lithuania in 1422, which, together with Poland, was the third Polish division in 1795. Sudovia joined Prussia in that year and became a component of New East Prussia. In 1807, Prussians lost Sudovia to Tilsit Peace to the new Duchy of Warsaw, but this French vassal state came to the Russian Empire in 1815: Sudovia became the northeastern corner of Congress Poland. Here in 1867 the Suwałki government was established, to which Sudovia gave its alternative name Suvalkija. The capital was the city of Suwałki, still the largest city in historical Sudovian territory.
After 1918, both Poland and Lithuania had loosened from the Russian Empire, Sudovia became a controversy between both countries. The Suwałki Convention of 8 October 1920 ultimately ruled the mutual boundary which followed the demarcation line proposed by the French General Ferdinand Foch and has since been valid (the Polish-Lithuanian conflict then spanned the Vilnius area). The Foch line separated Sudovia into a northern Lithuanian and a southern Polish part. This last section is known as Suwałkigebied (Polish: Suwalszczyzna, Lithuanian: Suvalkų kraštas). The vast majority of the Lithuanian minority in Poland lives in this region (most of the Poles in Lithuania live outside of Sudovia).
From 1941 to 1944, during the occupation of Suwałkie region by Nazi Germany, the city of Suwałki had the name Sudauen.
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