Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship in the context of Ełk

Prussia is a historical region in Central Europe on the south-eastern coast of the Baltic Sea that ranges from the Vistula delta in the west to the end of the Curonian Spit in the east and extends inland as far as Masuria, divided between Poland (Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship), Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) and Lithuania (Lithuania Minor). This region is often also referred to as Old Prussia.

Tacitus's Germania (98 AD) is the oldest known record of an eyewitness account on the territory and its inhabitants. Suiones, Sitones, Goths and other Germanic people had temporarily settled to the east and west of the Vistula River during the Migration Period, adjacent to the Aesti, who lived further to the east.

Masuria (Polish: Mazury [maˈzurɨ] ; Masurian: Mazurÿ; German: Masuren [maˈzuːʁən] ) is an ethnographic and geographic region in northern and northeastern Poland, known for its 2,000 lakes. Masuria occupies much of the Masurian Lake District. Administratively, it is part of the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship (administrative area/province). Its biggest city, often regarded as its capital, is Ełk. The region covers a territory of some 10,000 km which approximately 500,000 people inhabit.

Masuria is bordered by Warmia, Powiśle and Chełmno Land in the west, Mazovia in the south, Podlachia and Suwałki Region in the east, and Lithuania Minor in the north.

Olsztyn (UK: /ˈɒlʃtɪn/ OL-shtin, Polish: [ˈɔlʂtɨn] ) is a city on the Łyna River in northern Poland. It is the capital of the Warmian–Masurian Voivodeship, and is a city with county rights. The population of the city was estimated at 169,793 residents in 2021.

Olsztyn is the largest city in Warmia, and has been the capital of the voivodeship since 1999. In the same year, the University of Warmia and Masuria was founded from the fusion of three other local universities. The city is the seat of the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Warmia.