Szczecin (my home town) - is the capital city of West Pomeranian
Voivodeship in Poland. It is the country's seventh-largest city and
the largest seaport in Poland on the Baltic Sea. In 2007 its
population was 407,811.
Szczecin is located on the Oder River, south of the Lagoon of
Szczecin and the Bay of Pomerania. The city is situated along the
southwestern shore of Dabie Lake, on both sides of Oder and on
several large islands between western and eastern branch of the
river. Szczecin borders with town of Police, seat of the Police
County, situated at an estuary of the Oder River.
The city evolved from an early medieval Pomeranian stronghold,
which in 1243 was merged with two adjacent German settlements,
creating the present-day Old Town. At the site of the former
stronghold, a castle was built as a residence of the Griffin dukes,
who ruled the Duchy of Pomerania until 1637. In addition to the
castle, the Brick Gothic churches were built in the medieval era.
These landmarks still dominate the skyline and can be assessed via
the European Route of Brick Gothic. Three important treaties were
concluded in the town, the Treaty of Stettin (1570) ending the
Northern Seven Years' War, the Treaty of Stettin (1630) settling
the conditions of Swedish occupation of the Duchy of Pomerania
during the Thirty Years' War, and the Treaty of Stettin (1653)
settling the border between Brandenburg-Prussian and Swedish
Pomerania after the war.
Stettin remained with Sweden until the Treaty of Stockholm
(1720), when it was integrated into the Brandenburg-Prussian part
of Pomerania. From 1815 to 1945, the city was the capital of both
the reorganized Prussian Province of Pomerania and of its central
government region. Stettin became the largest and most industrial
city of the province, and the surrounding towns and villages were
subsequently amalgamated. After the Second World War, the city was
annexed by Poland, and its inhabitants fled or were forcibly
expelled. Subsequently, the devastated town was rebuilt by Polish
settlers.
