Pomeranian Adventure Tour -- Gda

Pomeranian Adventure Tour -- Gdansk (Danzig)

Gdansk is the sixth largest city in Poland and is Poland's principal seaport and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Gdansk was a member of the Hanseatic League, an important seaport since medieval times, and subsequently a principal ship building center. The city is famous as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement under the leadership of Lech Walesa. It played a major role in bringing an end to Communist rule in the Eastern Bloc. Today Gdansk remains an important industrial center, together with the nearby port of Gdynia. The city's name is thought to mean "town located on the Gdania river."

According to archaeologists, the Gdansk stronghold was built in the 980s by Mieszko I of Poland. In 1997, the year 997 was celebrated by Poland as the date of the foundation of the city. Gdansk soon became the main center of a Polish splinter duchy known as Pomerelia ruled by the Dukes of Pomerania. Polish governors of Pomerelia gradually gained more and more power and evolved into semi-independent dukes, who ruled the duchy until 1294.

By 1308, the city became a flourishing trading city with some 10,000 inhabitants when it was occupied and demolished by the Teutonic Knights. This led to a series of wars between the Knights and Poland, ending with the Peace of Kalisz in 1343 when the Knights acknowledged that they would hold Pomerania as an alm from the Polish King. The result of the peace was the foundation of the municipality in 1343 and the development of increased export of grain from Poland via the Vistula river trading route. While under the control of the Knights, the city and its trade prospered and German migration increased.

In 1457, Gdansk received the privileges of an autonomous city with self-government, granted by King Casimir IV the Jagiellonian under the sovereignty of Poland. The Hanseatic city prospered. The 16th and 17th centuries were a Golden Age for trade and culture of the city. Beside the German majority, there were a variety of minorities that made up the population -- Poles, Jews, and Dutch were the largest minorities. During the Protestant Reformation, the German inhabitants adopted Lutheranism.

The city suffered a slow economic decline due to the wars in the 18th century, when it was taken by the Russians in 1734. Danzig was annexed by Prussia in 1793, and remained a part of Prussia, then Germany in 1871, until 1919. As a result of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, Danzig became a free city under the protection of the League of Nations. The city was governed by its predominantly German residents, but its external affairs were under Polish control.

After Hitler attacked Poland, the city was annexed by Nazi Germany and incorporated into the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. Later in the war, with the advance of the Soviet army, many Germans tried to flee Danzig via the ports, and some of the ships were sunk by the Soviets. In the process, tens of thousands of refugees were killed. After the war, Poles came to the city from throughout Poland, especially from the regions of eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union.

The Old City in Gdansk was rebuilt during the 1950s and 1960s, and the city once again became one of the most beautiful in the world. Due to its port and three major shipyards, Gdansk again became a major shipping and industrial center. Today high tech business sectors such as electronics, telecommunications, IT engineering, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals are on the rise. Amber processing for the local economy is also important.

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