(Germ. Pommern), a province of Prussia, lying between N. Lat. 52. 58. and 54. 50., E. Long. 12. 30. and 18. 2.; bounded on the N. by the Baltic, E. and S.E. by the province of West Prussia, S. by that of Brandenburg, S.W. and W. by the grand duchies of Mecklenburg. Its length from E. to W. is upwards of 200 miles, its breadth varies from 30 to 80, and its area is 12,221 square miles. It is entirely low and flat, with a few hills in some parts. The largest river that flows through Pomerania is the Oder; but the province contains only a small portion of its course. After entering the country, it separates into two branches, the larger, towards the left, retaining the name of Oder, and the other taking that of Regilitz. The latter spreads itself out east of Stettin into the Lake of Damm; then again contracts, and, re-uniting with the Oder, expands, first into the Papenwasser, and then into the Pomeranian Haff, from which it falls into the Baltic by three mouths. East of the Oder there are a number of small rivers, flowing generally from lakes in a N.W. direction to the Baltic. The chief of these are the Rega, Persante, Wipper, Stolpe, and Leba. The largest river west of the Oder is the Peene, which flows N.E. from Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The coast of Pomerania is generally low and shallow; and the land is only protected from the overflow of the water by sand-hills or artificial dykes. Several sheets of water are formed at the mouths of the rivers, separated from the sea by narrow stripes of land. The largest of these is the Pomeranian Haff, or gulf, at the mouth of the Oder. The island of Rügen, separated by a narrow strait from the mainland, belongs to Pomerania. The principal lakes in the province are those of Vilm, Pileborg, Lübbe, Plöne, and Madine. The soil is generally good, especially along the Baltic coast and near the lakes of Plöne and Madine; in other parts it is of inferior quality. In some places there are extensive moors and bogs. Pomerania contained in 1852, 3,474,252 acres of arable land, 1,680,981 acres of pastures and meadows, 1,359,891 acres of forests, and 1,237,313 acres of waste land. Agriculture is well managed; and the produce in favourable seasons is somewhat more than the wants of the people. There were in the province in 1855, 150,241 horses, 450,637 horned cattle, 2,651,030 sheep, 182,992 swine, and 27,263 goats. Deer, hares, and other kinds of game are found in Pomerania; and fish abound in the lakes and rivers. Iron, salt, and alum are the only minerals found in the country. Manufactures are extensively carried on here; the most important establishments in 1852 were 16 paper-mills, 14 tanneries, 249 breweries, 258 distilleries, 16 iron-works, 11 glass-works, and 13 manufactories of porcelain; besides many cotton and woollen factories. There is a considerable trade in corn. Ship-building is carried on in the coast-towns. The great majority of the population belongs to the Reformed Church; but there were also in 1855, 11,577 Roman Catholics, and 11,336 Jews in the province. Education is well attended to in Pomerania, as in other parts of Prussia. The province contained in 1852, 9 gymnasia, with 124 teachers and 2018 scholars; 6 normal schools, with 124 scholars; 124 middle schools, with 482 teachers and 17,777 scholars; and 2489 elementary schools, with 2923 teachers and 497,697 scholars. There are also many benevolent establishments in the country.

The country between the Oder and the Vistula was inhabited in the earliest historical period by the German tribes of Sueves and Vandals; but these people gradually migrated southward; and about the end of the fifth and beginning of the sixth century, the Wends, a Slavonian nation, settled in the country, and gave it the name of Po More ("beside the sea"), from which the present name has been derived. The first prince of Pomerania was Mestibock, who lived about the year 960. His great-grandson Sambor died in 1107, and left four sons, who divided the country into two parts. Of these, the eastern, called Pomerecken, now West Prussia, on the extinction of its line of princes in 1296, fell to the Teutonic knights, though it was also claimed by the Polish monarchs, who more than a century afterwards obtained possession of it. The princes of the Pomeranian or elder line possessed the present province, and were in 1182 recognised as princes of the German empire (Reichsfürsten) and dukes of Pomerania. In 1295 the ducal line was divided into two, that of Stettin and that of Wolgast. Wratislaw IV., the second duke of the latter line, was elected in 1325 lord of Rügen, which he held as a vassal of the King of Denmark. The extinction of the Stettin line in 1464 led to a dispute between Wolgast and Brandenburg about the succession; but finally, in 1478, the whole of Pomerania was united under a duke of the Wolgast line. The Reformation was introduced at the diet of Trepow in 1534; John Bugenhagen, surnamed from this, his native land, Pomerania, being the chief founder of the new church. The whole line of the Pomeranian dukes became extinct in 1637, and the electoral house of Brandenburg had, according to former treaties, the next claim on the country; but in the peace of Westphalia (1648), the whole of Hither Pomerania (west of the Oder), with the island of Rügen and part of Further Pomerania, were given to Sweden, and the rest to Brandenburg. By the peace of Stockholm in 1720, the country between the Oder and the Peene was ceded to the House of Brandenburg, which had assumed the Prussian crown; but a part of Pomerania was retained by Sweden till 1814, when it was given up to Prussia in exchange for the duchy of Lauenburg. Pomerania is at present divided into the circles of Stettin, Köslin, and Stralsund; and contained in 1855 a population of 1,288,964.