Starogard County is a unit of territorial administration and local government (
powiat) in
Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern
Poland. The name is a combination of two terms:
stari which is Slavic for
old and
gard which is
Pomeranian language stands for
town,
city,
fortified settlement. In this meaning, the term
gard (also spelled as
gôrd) is still being used in the only surviving dialect of the Pomeranian,
Kashubian language. The cocunty came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the
Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its administrative seat and largest town is
Starogard Gdanski, which lies south of the regional capital
Gdansk. The county contains three other towns:
Skarszewy, north-west of Starogard Gdanski,
Skórcz, south of Starogard Gdanski, and
Czarna Woda, south-west of Starogard Gdanski. Starogard County is part of the area traditionally inhabited by the
Kociewiacy ethnic group.