History of Białystok
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The city of Białystok has existed for over five centuries, during which time the fate of the city has passed between various political and economic forces.
- This is a sub-article to Białystok
From surviving documentation we know that around 1437, a representative of the family Raczków, Jakub Tabutowicz with the coat of arms of Łabędź, received from Michael Žygimantaitis son of Sigismund Kęstutaitis, Duke of Lithuania, a wilderness area located along the river Biała that marked the beginning of Białystok as a settlement.[1][2] Białystok administratively was part of the Podlaskie Voivodeship, after 1569 also part of the Lesser Poland Province of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.
During the years 1617–1626, the first brick church and a beautiful castle, on a rectangular plan with two floors, in the Gothic-Renaissance style, was built by Job Bretfus. Extension of the castle continued by Krzysztof Wiesiołowski, since 1635 Grand Marshal of Lithuania and the owner of several administrative and royal and married Aleksandra Marianna Sobieska. In 1637 he died childless, thus Bialystok came under the management of his widow. After her death in 1645 the Wiesiołowskis estate, including Białystok, passed to the Commonwealth, to maintain Tykocin Castle. In the years 1645–1659 Bialystok was managed by governors of Tykocin.[3][4]
In 1661 it was given to Stefan Czarniecki as a reward for his service in the victory over the Swedes. Four years later, as a dowry of his daughter Aleksandra who married Jan Klemens Branicki, thus passing into the hands of the Branicki family.[5][6] In 1692 Stefan Mikołaj Branicki [pl], the son of Jan Klemens Branicki (Marshal of the Crown Court), obtained the rights to the city of Białystok from King John III Sobieski and built Branicki Palace in the city on the foundations of former defensive castle of Wiesiołowskis' family.[7] In the second half of the 18th century the ownership of the city was inherited by Field Crown Hetman Jan Klemens Branicki.[1] It was he who transformed the previously existing palace built by his father into the magnificent residence of a great noble.[8][9]
Capital of administrative divisions
Over the course of the last 200 years, the city has been the capital of numerous administrative divisions of a number of countries or occupying powers;
- Capital of the New East Prussia province, Kingdom of Prussia from 1795 to 1807[10]
- Capital of the Belostok Oblast, Russian Empire from 1807 to 1842[11]
- Capital of the Belostok Province of the Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire from 1842 to 1915[12]
- Capital of the Bialystok-Grodno District of the German-controlled territory of Ober-Ost during World War I (1915–1918)[13][14]
- Capital of the Białystok Voivodeship, Second Polish Republic from 1919 to 1939[15]
- Capital of the Belastok Voblast, Byelorussian SSR during the World War II occupation of Poland by the Soviet Union from 1939 to 1941[16][17]
- Capital of Bezirk Białystok during the World War II occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944[18][19]
- Capital of the Białystok Voivodeship, People's Republic of Poland from 1944 to 1998[20][21]
Białystok was, from 1945 until 1975, the capital city of the Białystok Voivodeship.[22] After the 1975 administrative reorganization of the People's Republic of Poland, the city was the capital of the smaller Białystok Voivodeship which lasted until 1998.[23]
Since 1999 it has been the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship, Republic of Poland.[23]