It is difficult to specify the exact date of Bia³ystok’s foundation. Archeological findings prove that people were settling here in the Stone Age already. Graves of ancient settlers have been found in numerous sites in the city. One of the legends holds that the settlement was founded by Lithuanian Duke Gedymin. The duke was hunting in the Bielsk Forest when he decided to rest in the place where today’s Bia³ystok is situated. Enraptured with the sight of snow covered slopes, he shouted: “Oh! What beautiful white slopes! Let us build a village here, and call it White Slope (White meaning Bia³y in Polish, Slope meaning Stok, hence Bia³ystok)”. There is a grain of truth in every legend and this legend is no exception. Presumably, in Gedymin’s times the land belonged to Lithuania. According to the specialists in the field of environment formation, it is also true that the stream of Bia³y Stok (White Slope) meanderedin between hills and the stream’s bottom was sandy or gravelly. Therefore, in contrast to otherstreams in this region which, flowed through marsh and peat, the stream’s bottom wasprobably white.Historians assume that the settlement of Bia³ystok was founded in 14th c. or the beginning of11th c. at the latest. There is a document from 1426, in which a notice reads that LithuanianDuke Vytautas granted the Bielszczany Stok village to Maciej from Tykocin.In the middle of 15th c. the land where Bia³ystok is situated was under the rule of SamogitianBoyar Jakub Tabutowicz. Presumably, he built the first manor here around which a village,and consequently a city, was formed. After Tabutowicz’s death his grandson Miko³ajRaczkowicz , who was a secretary of the Polish king Alexander Jagiellon, became the ownerof the settlement. Raczkowicz greatly contributed to the development of the region. After hisdeath Bia³ystok was handed over to the Wiesio³owscy family. The widow of Miko³ajRaczkiewicz bequeathed the goods to Piotr Wiesio³owski – her second husband. He, as well,turned out to be a good ruller. He made the city his residence, funded the construction of abaroque church - today’s chapel situated next to the Fara cathedral. After the death ofKrzysztof, the last ancestor of the Wiesio³owscy family, Bia³ystok was annexed to Tykocindistrict and became the property of the Republic of Poland. In 1659, the district together withBia³ystok was given by the King to Stefan Czarniecki for his service during the war with theSwedes. Czarniecki’s daughter – Alexandra – was dowered with Tykocin district when shemarried Jan Klemens Branicki.However, it wasn’t until the ruling of grand Crown hetman Jan Branicki, the great-grandsonof Stefan Czarniecki’s daughter, when Bia³ystok really flourished. Owing to Branicki’s effortsBia³ystok was granted town privileges in 1749. The hetman developed trade, craft, foundedmunicipal institutions, built the Town Hall, the post office, hospitals, inns and theaters. Healso largely redecorated the palace and surrounded it with a garden. Branicki Palace becamean important cultural center.24th October, 1795 Russia, Prussia and Austria signed a treaty on the basis of which theymade an annexation of Poland’s land. Bia³ystok was annexed to Prussia. In 1802 it wasbought by Prussians from the Potockis, the Branickis’ inheritors. In 1807, as a result of theTreaties of Tilsit, the Bia³ystok Circuit became a part of the Russian Empire. Russiansabolished administrative independence of the Circuit and annexed its land into HrodnaProvince.After the November Uprising was put down, Russian government levied high customs dutieson goods exported from Kingdom of Poland to Russia. Factory owners from £ódz, whowanted to evade customs duties, began to build textile factories in Bia³ystok region. Villagessituated around Bia³ystok began to turn into industrial towns. In 1860 there were 73 textilefactories in the city and its whereabouts. 50 years later the district was accommodating 201factories 126 of which were situated in Bia³ystok. The blooming city was devouring the landaround it. First, the city outskirts, then nearby villages with factories therein. The number ofcity inhabitants grew considerably in that period. Russians, Jews and Germans lived thereapart from Poles.After World War I broke out, the warfare was taking place far away from Bia³ystok. 20thApril, 1915 the city was bombarded by the Germans. Having realized that the Germans wereapproaching, the Russians retreated destroying everything behind them. Among other thingsthey blew out the water tower and the viaduct. New occupants formed Militar VerwaltungBia³ystok – Grodno. It was only in 1919 that they left Bia³ystok and the city became a part ofan independent Poland. In 1920 Podlaskie Voivodship was formed. Bia³ystok was a seat of allauthorities and institutions at the voivod level, as well as judicial courts, national banks andeconomic organizations. The industry developed. 28th July, 1920 the Red Army entered thecity, but the occupation did not last long.During the interwar period the city was rebuilt and modernized. More than 100,000 peoplewere living in the city at that time.15th September, 1939, during World War II, Bia³ystok was taken by the Germans. Under theMolotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Germans handed over the city to the Russians. Bia³ystok wasannexed to the Belarusian People’s Republic. Repressions followed and many of the cityinhabitants were taken to the Russian inland. 27th June, 1941 once again the city was taken bythe Germans. At the turn of July and August 1941 the Nazis created a ghetto for Jewishpeople. In February 1943 the ghetto’s liquidation began. It was finally liquidated in August1941. About 30 thousand Bia³ystok’s Jews were taken to death camps.The Polish were also repressed to a large extent. The underground resistance – Union forArmed Struggle, later called the Home Army – was active in Poland.26 July, 1944 the Red Army liberators entered Bia³ystok. Once again the city was annexed tothe USSR. Eventually, it stayed within Polish national borders.During World War II 90 percent of Bia³ystok was destroyed and its 60 thousand inhabitantswere killed. First attempts at rebuilding the city took place in 1944 already. At the beginningof the ‘50s the communist “House of the Party”, the judicial court and the prosecutor’s officewere erected. The city limits were expanded. New schools and universities were built. Newhousing neighborhoods and arteries were created as well as new branches of industry began todevelop.Today’s Bia³ystok is the biggest city in Northeastern Poland. Its population equals ca.300,000. It is the capital of Podlaskie Voivodship.
