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Poznań - History

Poznań - History: Encyclopedia II - Poznań - History

Main article: History of Poznań, see also: History of Poland Mieszko I , the first known duke of the Polans, built one of his castles in Poznań. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul is the oldest Polish cathedral, built in Poznań during the latter half of the 10th century. The city would become the capital of Greater Poland. Mieszko I's son, Boleslaus the Brave, was crowned king in 1025 and the Kingdom of Poland was formed. Greater Poland is often became the 'cradle of the Polish state', and both Mieszko I and Bo ...

Poznań: Encyclopedia II - Poznań - History

Poznań - History

Main article: History of Poznań, see also: History of Poland

Mieszko I , the first known duke of the Polans, built one of his castles in Poznań. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul is the oldest Polish cathedral, built in Poznań during the latter half of the 10th century. The city would become the capital of Greater Poland. Mieszko I's son, Boleslaus the Brave, was crowned king in 1025 and the Kingdom of Poland was formed. Greater Poland is often became the 'cradle of the Polish state', and both Mieszko I and Boleslaus I are burried in Poznań. Lubrański Academy, the second Polish university (not a "full" university, in fact, as science students had to go to Kraków) was established in 1519.

Poznań was the capital of the Greater Poland area when it came under the control of Prussia in 1793 and had its administrative area renamed to South Prussia. During the Greater Poland Uprising of 1806, local Polish resistance fighters rebelled, thereby assisting the efforts of Napoleon while simultaneously driving out the occupying Prussian forces. The city became part of the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 and was capital of the Poznań department. Napoleon's defeat led to the Congress of Vienna, where the boundaries of Europe were redrawn by the victors. Greater Poland was returned to Prussia and became the capital of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Poznań. From the time of the Revolutions in the mid 1800s, it was an official Prussian province and became part of the German Empire after the unification of German states in 1871.

Shorty after Germany's defeat in World War I, the Great Poland Uprising (1918-1919) occurred, leading to the creation of the Second Polish Republic, where Poznań became the capital of Poznań Voivodship. During World War II, Poland suffered under Nazi occupation and the Polish population was severely repressed. Since the war's end, Poznań has become the capital of the surrounding area through administrative district boundary changes in 1957, 1975, and 1999. Poznań currently administrates Greater Poland Voivodship, one of 16 provinces in the country. The Poznan riots of 1956 played a significant role in liberalising the post war communist regime [1].

Poznań - Historical population

Detailed demographic tables: Historical population of Poznan Historical population summary:

1600 : about 20,000 inhabitants
1732 : 4000 inhabitants
1793 : 15,000 inhabitants before
1918 : 156,091 inhabitants (from government data)
1939 : 274,155 inhabitants
1946 : 268,000 inhabitants
2000 : 572,900 inhabitants
May 2002: 578,900 inhabitants

2020 population Forecast:

Poznań City 584,500 (small increase)
Poznań County 305,500 (significant increase)
Poznań Metro Area 890,000

Poznań - Famous people

(in alphabetical order)

Stanisław Barańczak, poem writer
Józef Brzeziński
Hipolit Cegielski (1815-1868)
Dezydery Chłapowski (1788-1848)
August Cieszkowski (1814-1894)
Antoni Czubiński, historian
Franciszek Dobrowolski (1830-1896)
Tytus Działyński (1796-1861)
Małgorzata Dydek, basketball player
Ewaryst Estkowski (1820-1856)
Paul von Hindenburg
Maksymilian Jackowski (1815-1905)
Stefan Jurga professor and rector of Poznan University
Ernst Hartwig Kantorowicz 1895-1963, historian
Krzysztof Komeda, Jazz musician
Antoni Kraszewski (1797-1870)
Antoni Krzyżanowski
Gerard Labuda, (born 1916), historian
Karol Libelt (1807-1875)
Włodzimierz Łęcki, politician and writer
Andrzej Maleszka, theatre and movie director,
Karol Marcinkowski (1800-1848)
Władysław Markiewicz, historian
Teofil Matecki (1810-1886)
Maciej Mielżyński
Małgorzata Musierowicz, popular author of books for children and youths
Andrzej Niegolewski (1787-1857)
Władysław Niegolewski (1814-1880)
Władysław Oleszczyński (1809-1866)
Kazimierz Piwarski, (1903-1968), historian
Lilli Palmer (1914–1986), German-American actress
Janusz Pałubicki, politician
Gustaw Potworowski (1800-1860)
Edward Raczyński (1786-1845)
Cyryl Ratajski (1875-1942), president of Poznań 1922-34
Antoni Radziwiłł
Michał Sczaniecki, historian
Mateusz Sibilski, conductor
Walery Stefański (1815-1877)
Józef Struś (1510 - 1568), scientist, mayor of Poznań
Stefan Stuligrosz, conductor
Roman Szymański (1840-1908)
Lech Trzeciakowski, historian
Teofil Walicki
Zygmunt Wojciechowski, (1900-1955), historian, founder of Western Institute (Instutut Zachodni)
Leon Wegner (1824-1877)
Anna Wolff-Powęska, historian
Tadeusz Zwiefka - popular TV journalist, former editor-in-chief of the Poznań regional TV center, and today a PO's Member of European Parliament.
Maciej Żurawski - football player of Lech Poznań, Warta Poznań, Wisła Kraków, Celtic Glasgow and Poland national football team