Sudovia (Lithuanian: Sūduva / Suvalkija, Polish: Suwalszczyzna), or Suvalkija (pronouncing soo-vul-kee-uh), is the name of one of ethnographic regions of Lithuania. There are also variants of the name, such as Sudova and so on. Suwalszczyzna is also used as a name of a small geographic region on the border of Poland and Lithuania, roughly corresponding with the Lithuanian ethnographic region.

Name

Because of Suwalki (Lithuanian: Suvalkai) town in that part of Poland, the region sometimes is named Suvalkija in Lithuanian: that is because the northern part of Suwalki Gubernya almost corresponded to the region of Sudovia, therefore people started to call people from the land "suvalkiečiai", litteally meaning person, living in Suvalkai town, and the whole land - Suvalkija. However now the historic name Sūduva, on which English name Sudovia is based, is preffered.

Geography

Today Sudovia is split between southern Lithuania, close to the Polish border, and a small part of northeastern Poland. Sudovia is smallest ethnographic region of Lithuania.

Demographics

People speak Sudovian dialect , which is also known as West Aukštaitian . The area of this dialect, however, does not fully corresponds to the area of Sudovia and is larger: includes some parts of Lithuania Minor, Samogitia and Aukštaitija as well.

Traditions

History

Historically the region was inhabitated by Baltic tribe Sudovians, which was of East Baltic group.

Politics

See also

• Sudovian language