[citation needed] Heavily wooded Podlaskie is home to the primeval Białowieża Forest and National Park, the habitat of the European wisent bison and tarpan.

Some claim it to mean "under Polish rule", which does not seem historically sound, as the area belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1569, and the southern part of it—until 1795.

Since the beginning of the existence of the voivodeship, the most loud dispute between Łomża and Białystok has been the Via Baltica, which as an expressway, according to the original plans, was to run from Warsaw to the borders of Lithuania through Łomża-Grajewo-Suwałki.

After Łomża lost its status as a provincial city and the strengthening of Białystok's position, the project was changed, the course of the route was moved by several dozen kilometres.

The construction of the Via Baltica was complicated by the conflict over the Rospuda Valley, a protected natural area, which was to be cut by the Augustów bypass.

[5] In the Podlaskie Voivodeship Development Strategy adopted in 2000, Białystok was included in the central functional area.

On 30 January 2007, the Council of Ministers accepted the draft Operational Programme for the Development of Eastern Poland for the years 2007-2013 together with the Indicative Investment Plan for the programme, which is a list of large and key projects selected from among the applications submitted to the Ministry of Regional Development from 5 voivodeships.

Four priorities were implemented: modern economy, voivodeship growth centres, road infrastructure and technical assistance.

The highest peaks are in the north (Rowelska Top - 298 m), where the landscape is dominated by a hilly lake district.

The vast forests (Białowieża, Augustów, Knyszyń, Kurpiowska), some of which are the only ones in Europe to have retained their original character, contain a unique wealth of flora and fauna.

Podlaskie has the lowest population density of the sixteen Polish voivodeships, and its largely unspoiled nature is one of its chief assets.

The Polish part of the Białowieża Forest biosphere reserve (also a World Heritage Site) is in Podlaskie.

The voivodeship constitutes a part of the ecologically clean area known as "the Green Lungs of Poland".

Mean annual rainfall values oscillate around 550 millimetres (21.7 in), and the vegetation period lasts 200 to 210 days.

[7] Podlaskie is the coldest region of Poland, located in the very northeast of the country near the border with Belarus and Lithuania.

The region has a continental climate which is characterized by high temperatures during summer and long and frosty winters.

[8] One of the cities located in Podlaskie - Suwalki - is called as The Polish North Pole, due to it is coldest temperature average around Poland.

The municipalities adjacent to Białystok are slowly losing their agricultural character, becoming residential suburban neighborhoods.

Eastward of Podlaskie lie historic Polish lands, which are now part of Ukraine and Belarus and Lithuania.

These are listed below in descending order of population (according to official figures for 2019)[17] Towns: The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the province was around 11 billion euros in 2018, accounting for 2.2% of Polish economic output.

[18] The following are general economic indicators for Podlaskie Voivodeship:[19] According to the REGON register in the year 2002 there were around 95 thousand companies registered in the Podlaskie region (97% of them in the private sector), dealing with; Arable land constitutes around 60% of the total area of the region – most of which is ploughland (around 40%), forests, meadows and pastures.

In June 2015, the total area of land in agricultural holdings in the Podlaskie Voivodeship amounted to 1,243.3 thousand hectares.

Other crops grown by farmers include, among others, potatoes, oil seeds, forage plants (green fodder, carrots, beets, turnips or alfalfa).

The natural conditions of the region are conducive to the development of organic growing, which at present is practised by around 100 farms.

The ruins of the bunker of Captain Władysław Raginis in Góra Strękowa are preserved as a memorial to the heroic Polish defense in the Battle of Wizna.