Rzeszów Województwo

an administrative unit in southeastern Poland, bordering on Czechoslovakia and the USSR. Most of the województwo lies between the Vistula and San rivers, in the Sandomierz basin and foothills of the Carpathians. On the extreme south, it also includes the Bieszczady Mountains, which reach an altitude of 1,348 m. Area, 18,600 sq km. Population, 1,762,600(1970; 26.3 percent urban). The city of Rzeszów is its administrative center.

In 1967 there were 146,000 persons employed in industry, compared with 34,000 in 1948. The machine-building industry, employing 57,000 and centered in Rzeszów, Mielec, Nowa Dęba, and Sanok, is especially well developed. Other important industries are metallurgy (Stalowa Wola), chemicals (superphosphate at Tarnobrzeg, tires, plastics), oil refining, glassmaking (Krosno), woodworking, and food processing. Rzeszów Województwo is also the main region in Poland for the extraction of natural gas (Przemysl, Lubaczow) and petroleum (Jaslo, Krosno). There is a large, new sulfur mine at Tarnobrzeg. Forests cover 32.3 percent of the województwo and farmland, 46.2 percent. Lumbering is well developed, with an output of over 1 million cu m. The chief crops are wheat (in the foothills), rye (in the north), oats (in the mountains), and potatoes. There is also some fruit growing. Livestock is raised for both meat and dairy products; in 1967, livestock numbered 769,000 cattle (including 514,000 cows), 542,000 pigs, 86,000 sheep, and 186,000 horses.