The territorial scope of the catalogue

This catalogue covers - in accordance with the historical atlas of Poland - "The historical region of Mazowsze"^[1] in the form it assumed in the second half of the 16th century, and retained until the partition of Poland in the 18th century. During this three hundred year period, the administrative and ownership systems, the settlement network, transport and trade routes were established, creating the basis for the region's development. Although the settlers did not participate in this development from the beginning, starting from the middle of the 18th century the number villages founded by the Dutch was considerable, and had an impact on the regional economy associated with development of the wastelands and barrens. The last settlements were still being founded in the 19th century, but the majority of settlers were of German origin.

Analysis of the cartographic sources demonstrates that many of the settlements from the total number of villages were founded in the 18th century. Particularly the maps from the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries facilitated a thorough depiction of the region in several chronological sections.

^[1] Atlas historyczny Polski, Mazowsze w II poł. XVI w., red. W. Pałucki, Warszawa 1973.