Kołobrzeg
During the Early Middle Ages, the Pomeranian tribes established a settlement at the site of modern-day Budzistowo. Thietmar of Merseburg first mentioned the site as Salsa Cholbergiensis. Around the year 1000, when the city was part of Poland, it became the seat of the Diocese of Kołobrzeg, one of five oldest Polish dioceses. During the High Middle Ages, the town was expanded with an additional settlement inhabited by German settlers a few kilometers north of the stronghold and chartered with Lübeck law, which settlement eventually superseded the original Pomeranian settlement. The city later joined the Hanseatic League. Within the Duchy of Pomerania the town was the urban center of the secular reign of the prince-bishops of Cammin and their residence throughout the High and Late Middle Ages. When it was part of Brandenburgian Pomerania during the Early Modern Age, it withstood Polish and Napoleon's troops in the siege of Kolberg. From 1815, it was part of the Prussian province of Pomerania.
In the late 19th century Kolberg became a popular spa town at the Baltic Sea. In 1945, Polish and Soviet troops captured the town, while the remaining German population which had not fled the advancing Red Army was expelled in accordance to the Potsdam Agreement. Kołobrzeg, now part of post-war Poland and devastated in the preceding Battle of Kolberg, was rebuilt, but lost its status as the regional center to the nearby city of Koszalin.
"Kołobrzeg" means "by the shore" in Polish; "koło" translates as "by" and "brzeg" means "coast" or "shore". Kòłobrzeg has a similar etymology. The original name of Cholberg was taken by Polish and Kashubian linguists in the 19th and 20th centuries to reconstruct the name. After German settlement, the original name of Cholberg evolved into Kolberg.
Map - Kołobrzeg
Map
Country - Poland
Flag of Poland |
Poland has a temperate transitional climate and its territory traverses the Central European Plain, extending from Baltic Sea in the north to Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains in the south. The longest Polish river is the Vistula, and Poland's highest point is Mount Rysy, situated in the Tatra mountain range of the Carpathians. The country is bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west. It also shares maritime boundaries with Denmark and Sweden.
Currency / Language
ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
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PLN | Polish złoty | zÅ‚ | 2 |
ISO | Language |
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PL | Polish language |