King of Poland Sigismund gave a privilege to Ioannes Sapieha [pl] to form a government of Podlaskie Voivodeship on 29 August 1513.

[3] It originally consisted of the following former Trakai lands: Drohiczyn, Mielnik, Bielsk, and Brest Litovsk.

Zygmunt Gloger gives the following description of Podlasie Voivodeship:"Historic Podlasie stretched from north to south for some 30 miles, and was located between Mazovia and Rus principalities of Brześć and Grodno (...) It was a sparsely populated province, covered by dense forests, with four major rivers: the Biebrza, the Narew, the Bug and the Krzna.

Poles did not return here until the late 13th century, despite the fact that the province was already controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (...) King Sigismund I the Old created Podlasie Voivodeship, which was part of Lithuania, but in 1569 was transferred to Poland, after the Union of Lublin (...) After the third partition of Poland, most of the voivodeship was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia.

The Voivodeship consisted of the following ziemias: The emblem of the region is connected by two arms of Polish and Lithuanian – the Polish Piast Eagle without a crown on a red field, and the Pogoń, depicting a Lithuanian knight.