What is "voivodeship"

n. 1 The office, position, title or rank of voivode 2 The jurisdiction of a voivode, comparable to a county or to a countship, especially in Poland

A voivodeship is the area administered by a voivode (Governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times in Poland, Wallachia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Russia and Serbia. The administrative level of area (territory) of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in western medieval states, much as the title of voivode was equivalent to that of a duke. Other roughly equivalent titles and areas in medieval Eastern Europe included ban (bojan, vojin or bayan) and banate.

In a modern context, the word normally refers to one of the provinces ( województwa) of Poland. Poland has 16 województwa.