Provinz Posen

Provinz Posen was a province (1846-1918) of the Prussian state governed by the royal over-president on the area of Greater Poland. After the fall of Napoleon I in 1815 according to the Vienna peace congress, Poznan again fell to Prussia, and was made the capital of Grand Duchy of Posen (1815-1846), an autonomous province under Hohenzollerns with the rights of 'free development of Polish nation, culture and language', and outside the German Confederation. At this time Posen was the site of the royal governor duke Antoni Radziwill. The province was renamed in 1846 to Province of Posen. With the unification of Germany by the Prussian kings Poznań was part of the German Empire (1871-1918) and was the officially named imperial residence city. At this time a big imperial castle was built just outside the city centre. Most of it passed to Poland after Great Poland Uprising 1918 and become Poznan Voivodship. The part remaining in Germany formed Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen.

Area: 28,970.4 km²

Population

• 1816: 820 176
• 1871: 1 583 843
  • Religion: 1871
    • Catholics 1 009 885
    • Protestants 511 429
    • Jews 61 982
    • others 547
• 1875: 1 606 084
• 1880: 1 703 397
• 1900: 1 887 275
• 1905: 1 986 267
• 1910: 2 099 831

Population of cities gradually Polonised due to Ostflucht