diff --git a/django/db/backends/postgresql/base.py b/django/db/backends/postgresql/base.py
index 5681311a65b..5352e9bff68 100644
--- a/django/db/backends/postgresql/base.py
+++ b/django/db/backends/postgresql/base.py
@@ -102,6 +102,12 @@ class DatabaseWrapper(BaseDatabaseWrapper):
     def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
         super(DatabaseWrapper, self).__init__(*args, **kwargs)
 
+        import warnings
+        warnings.warn(
+            'The ``postgres`` backend has been deprecated. Use ``postgres_psycopg2`` instead.',
+            PendingDeprecationWarning
+        )
+
         self.features = DatabaseFeatures()
         self.ops = DatabaseOperations(self)
         self.client = DatabaseClient(self)
diff --git a/docs/internals/deprecation.txt b/docs/internals/deprecation.txt
index a56b522278f..2bfa54fb937 100644
--- a/docs/internals/deprecation.txt
+++ b/docs/internals/deprecation.txt
@@ -91,6 +91,9 @@ their deprecation, as per the :ref:`Django deprecation policy
           ``django.contrib.auth.context_processors.auth``.  This has been
           deprecated since the 1.2 release.
 
+        * The ``postgresql`` database backend has been deprecated in favor of
+          the ``postgresql_psycopg2`` backend.
+
     * 2.0
         * ``django.views.defaults.shortcut()``. This function has been moved
           to ``django.contrib.contenttypes.views.shortcut()`` as part of the
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.2.txt b/docs/releases/1.2.txt
index 7dccffaa890..b952ec1f6c7 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.2.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.2.txt
@@ -305,6 +305,18 @@ created using ``decorator_from_middleware``.
 Features deprecated in 1.2
 ==========================
 
+``postgresql`` database backend
+-------------------------------
+
+The ``psycopg1`` library has not been updated since October 2005. As a
+result, the ``postgresql`` database backend, which depends on this
+library, has been deprecated.
+
+If you are currently using the ``postgresql`` backend, you should
+migrate to using the ``postgresql_psycopg2`` backend. To update your
+code, install the ``psycopg2`` library and change the
+``DATABASE_ENGINE`` setting to read ``postgresql_psycopg2``.
+
 CSRF response-rewriting middleware
 ----------------------------------