Polesie
Polesie is one of the largest European swampy areas, located in the South-Western part of the Eastern-European Lowland, mainly within the territories of Belarus, Ukraine and partly also within Poland and Russia. The swamp areas of Polesie are known as Pripyat Marshes (after the Pripyat River) or Pinsk Marshes (after the major local city).
The name Polesie is loosely translated as "Woodland". Polesie is the Polish spelling; Belarusian: Палесьсе, Paleśsie; Ukrainian: Полісся, Polissia; Russian: Полесье, Pelesye; formerly also Polesia in Latin.
An inhabitant is called Palašuk in Belarusian, Polishchuk in the local Ukrainian dialect, Poleszuk in Polish, Poleshchuk in Russian.
Geography
Polesie is a marshy region lining the Pripyat River in Southern Belarus (Brest, Pinsk, Kalinkavichy, Homel), Northern Ukraine (in the Volyns'ka, Rivnens'ka, Zhytomyrs'ka, Kyivs'ka, and Chernihivs'ka oblasts), and partly in Poland (Lublin) and Russia (Bryansk). It is a Flatland within the watersheds of the Western Bug and Prypyat rivers. The two rivers are connected by the Dnieper-Bug Canal, built during the reign of Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.Notable tributaries of the Pripyat are the Horyn (Goryn), Stokhod (Stokhod, Stokhid), Styr, Ptyč, Jasielda (Jasolda) rivers. The largest towns in the Pripyat basin are Pinsk, Stolin, Davyd-Haradok. Huge marshes were reclaimed in the 1960s to '80s for Farmlands. The reclamation is believed to have harmed the environment along the course of the Prypyat river.
This region suffered severely from the Chernobyl accident. Huge areas were polluted by Radioactive elements and are considered unsuitable for living.