Please note that this map is based on German and Austrian census from 1916.
Germans and Austrians had no reason to deliberately exaggerate the number of Polish population.
On the other hand, the Russian census from 1897 deliberately underestimated the number of Poles.
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Regarding the city of Wilno and its ethnic Polish-Jewish character:
Ethnic Lithuanians (or rather Samogitians) were less than 1% in that city (even Russians were more numerous in Vilno).
But as even a user from Lithuania (who is a history guide) - Vilniusguide - admits here:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?p=98082930
Vilniusguide said:
Nice, so Vilnius is more Russian that Lithuanian then
May it be 2% or 0,8% or 14% in 1918 as according to Lithuanian statistics of that time, but judging only by spoken language, the capital of interwar Lithuania should be made Latvian Liepāja.
According to the 1897 census (Lithuanian language): Vilnius 2%, Kaunas 6%, Liepāja 7% and just before the war 1913 - Kaunas 15% Lithuanian and Liepāja - more than 21% Lithuanian. So it was something like the most Lithuanian city at that period of time.
So - to summ up - "the most Lithuanian" city in the world at that time - Liepaja (in Latvia) - had 7% of ethnic Lithuanian population (or 21% according to statistics made by Lithuanian nationalists, rather than original censuses - which said about 7% only).
In other words - ethnic Lithuanian-speakers (aka Samogitians) lived almost exclusively in the countryside.
And this applies both to territory of Lithuania and to other countries (like Poland and Latvia).
And why I write about ethnic Lithuanians in the 20th century "Samogitians"?
Becuase so called "Lithuanian national revival" took place mainly among Samogitians (and among some inhabitants of northern parts of Aukštaitija):
Samogitian national revival (this is how it was called in the 19th century - only later Samogitians called themselves "Lithuanians"):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_National_Revival
Majority of Lithuanians from other main historical regions of Litva - Aukštaitija (so called Lithuania Proper) and Dainava (Wileńszczyzna) - had been fully Polonized already for centuries, and not just nobility, but also townsmen and peasants.
This is why ethnic Poles (grand, grand, grand, grand... children of Polonized Lithuanians as well as numerous settlers from Poland, who settled in Litva already since the 1200s - the 13th century) were majority not only in cities, but also in the countryside in the Wilno Region.
And when it comes to other Lithuanian cities - Lithuanians were several percent of inhabitants in each of them. In all cities of the Lithuanian State - including its capital city Kaunas - Jews, Poles, Russians and Germans were dominant ethnic groups.And Wilno (Vilnius) had ethnic Polish majority, second most numerous group after Poles were Jews.
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There's no Kresy. It was Russian land all the way,
Fortunately modern inhabitants of these lands don't share this view and write books about Polish heritage of Kresy.
"155 Polish castles and palaces in Ukraine" and
"315 Polish castles and palaces in Ukraine" (2nd volume), published in Kiev in 2011:
Map showing some of most important Polish castles and palaces in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia and Estonia:
Map showing over 700 Polish 15th to 17th century (years 1400 - 1700) castles and fortifications in Southern Ukraine:
http://i591.photobucket.com/albums/ss355/schayer/zamkinaukrainienaforum2-1.jpg
Many pictures can be found on Skyscrapercity forum, in Polish sub-forum:
"Remnants of Poland in Belarus" thread:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=472239
"Remnants of Poland in Ukraine" thread:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=866876
"Remnants of Poland in Lithuania and Latvia" thread:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=865650
Here I posted some pictures as well:
http://historum.com/european-histor...territories-32.html#post1504710?postcount=320
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Eastern Galicia, Podolia and part of Volhynia were Polish already since the 1300s:
In the 1300s Polish parts of Volhynia were: Lands of Krzemieniec, Bełz, Chełm and Włodzimierz.
As for the Land of Drohiczyn (see Drohiczyn on the map below) - it was part of Poland until 1279:
And here about Polish autonomous districts in the Soviet Union:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzierzynszczyzna
