Połaniec is a town in

Staszów County __NOTOC__ Staszów County ( pl, powiat staszowski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, south-central Poland. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local g ...

Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship The Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, also known as the Świętokrzyskie Province, and the Holy Cross Voivodeship ( pl, województwo świętokrzyskie ) is a voivodeship ( province) of Poland situated in southeastern part of the country, in the his ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, with 8,406 inhabitants (2012). The town is in

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...

, and its history dates back to the early days of Polish statehood. It lies in the western part of the

Sandomierz Basin Sandomierz Basin ( pl, Kotlina Sandomierska) is a lowland, located in southeastern Poland, between the Lesser Poland Upland, Lublin Upland and the Western Carpathians. Its name comes from the historical city of Sandomierz, and the basin has a trian ...

, a few kilometres north of the

Vistula The Vistula (; pl, Wisła, ) is the longest river in Poland and the ninth-longest river in Europe, at in length. The drainage basin, reaching into three other nations, covers , of which is in Poland. The Vistula rises at Barania Góra in ...

, along the National Road Nr. 79, from

Bytom Bytom (Polish pronunciation: ; Silesian: ''Bytōm, Bytōń'', german: Beuthen O.S.) is a city in Upper Silesia, in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland, the city is 7 km northwest of Katowice, the regional capi ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...

. The town has a railway station serving a secondary line, nr. 75 from

Rytwiany Rytwiany is a village in Staszów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Rytwiany. It lies on the Czarna Staszowska river, approximately south-east of St ...

to Połaniec. The

Połaniec Power Station Połaniec Power Station is a coal-fired and biomass power station near Połaniec in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland. It consists of 8 units each with a generation capacity of 225 MW. The power station went into service between 1979 and 19 ...

, is one of the largest (1800 MW) coal-fired power plants in

and, since 2012, one of the largest

biomass Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms bio ...

plants in the world. It is located outside the town, in the nearby village of Zawada.

History

The history of Połaniec dates back to the 11th century, when a gord was built near the spot where the ''Czarna'' flows into the

. A settlement emerged in the 11th–12th centuries, with St. Catherine church in the vicinity of the gord. In 1241 Połaniec was completely destroyed in the Mongol invasion of Poland, and near the local village of Tursko a battle took place with the invaders. Połaniec recovered, gaining town rights before 1264, and by 1340, it had some 400 residents. Ten years later, in 1350, King

Kazimierz Wielki Casimir III the Great ( pl, Kazimierz III Wielki; 30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370) reigned as the King of Poland from 1333 to 1370. He also later became King of Ruthenia in 1340, and fought to retain the title in the Galicia-Volhynia Wars. He ...

ordered the town to move from its location on the ''Winna Góra'' hill to its present location. In the late

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, Połaniec was an important trade centre, located along the merchant route from

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...

Sandomierz Sandomierz (pronounced: ; la, Sandomiria) is a historic town in south-eastern Poland with 23,863 inhabitants (as of 2017), situated on the Vistula River in the Sandomierz Basin. It has been part of Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship (Holy Cross Prov ...

, and near the very important waterway, the

. Until 1795 the town belonged to Lesser Poland's

Sandomierz Voivodeship Sandomierz Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo Sandomierskie, la, Palatinatus Sandomirensis) was a unit of administration and local government in Poland from the 14th century to the partitions of Poland in 1772–1795. It was part of the Lesser Polan ...

. At the beginning of the 16th century, Połaniec was burned to the ground by the

Crimean Tatars , flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg , flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars , image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg , caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...

, so that King

Zygmunt Stary Sigismund I the Old ( pl, Zygmunt I Stary, lt, Žygimantas II Senasis; 1 January 1467 – 1 April 1548) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1506 until his death in 1548. Sigismund I was a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty, the ...

lowered the residents' taxes. In 1526 the town was once again in a conflagration. In the mid-16th century, a town hall, funded by

hetman ( uk, гетьман, translit=het'man) is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders. Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century. It was the title of the second-highest military ...

Jan Tarnowski Jan Amor Tarnowski (Latin: Joannes Tarnovius; 1488 – 16 May 1561) was a Polish nobleman, knight, military commander, military theoretician, and statesman of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. He was Grand Crown Hetman from 1527, and was th ...

was erected in Połaniec. At the beginning of the 17th century, a hospital was built. In 1772 (see

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...

), Połaniec suddenly became a border town, when the Austrian province of

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

was created. Establishing a border along the Vistula slowed economic development in Połaniec. In 1794 the town was one of centres of the

Kościuszko Uprising The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794 and the Second Polish War, was an uprising against the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia led by Tadeusz Kościuszko in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the P ...

: it was the scene of the Proclamation of Połaniec on 7 May 1794. In 1795 the town was annexed by the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

, and in 1815 it became part of Russian-controlled

Congress Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. I ...

. On 1 June 1869, as a punishment for the

January Uprising The January Uprising ( pl, powstanie styczniowe; lt, 1863 metų sukilimas; ua, Січневе повстання; russian: Польское восстание; ) was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at ...

, it lost its town privileges. At that time, its population was around 2,000. While in the

Kielce Voivodeship Kielce Voivodeship ( pl, województwo kieleckie) is a former unit of administrative division and the local government in Poland. It was originally formed during Poland's return to independence in the aftermath of World War One, and recreated within ...

during the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

Połaniec suffered badly in the

1934 floods Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

. Połaniec had a large Jewish population, who were murdered in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

by Germans. In the 1970s, the ''Tadeusz Kościuszko Power Plant'' was built, and in 1980, Połaniec regained its town rights.

Demography

According to the 2011 Poland census, there were 8,227 people residing in Połaniec, of whom 49.6% were male and 50.4% were female. In the town, the population was distributed such that 18.6% under the age of 18, 40.9% from 18 to 44, 31.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 or older.

ImageSize = width:420 height:331 PlotArea = left:70 right:15 top:30 bottom:50 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = justify Colors = id:gray1 value:gray(0.9) id:blue1 value:rgb(0.2,0.7,0.8) legend:Male id:red1 value:rgb(1,0.5,0.5) legend:Female id:green1 value:rgb(0,1,0) Legend = orientation:horizontal top:331 left:185 TextData = pos:(201,20) textcolor:black fontsize:S text:Połaniec in 2010 DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:-490 till:490 ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:490 start:-490 gridcolor:gray1 PlotData = bar:85+ color:blue1 width:1 from:-10 till:0 width:12 text:10 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:85+ color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:52 width:12 text:52 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:80-84 color:blue1 width:1 from:-35 till:0 width:12 text:35 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:80-84 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:38 width:12 text:38 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:75-79 color:blue1 width:1 from:-46 till:0 width:12 text:46 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:75-79 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:78 width:12 text:78 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:70-74 color:blue1 width:1 from:-54 till:0 width:12 text:54 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:70-74 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:66 width:12 text:66 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:65-69 color:blue1 width:1 from:-74 till:0 width:12 text:74 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:65-69 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:67 width:12 text:67 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:60-64 color:blue1 width:1 from:-226 till:0 width:12 text:226 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:60-64 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:193 width:12 text:193 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:55-59 color:blue1 width:1 from:-378 till:0 width:12 text:378 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:55-59 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:357 width:12 text:357 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:50-54 color:blue1 width:1 from:-479 till:0 width:12 text:479 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:50-54 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:485 width:12 text:485 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:45-49 color:blue1 width:1 from:-304 till:0 width:12 text:304 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:45-49 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:391 width:12 text:391 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:40-44 color:blue1 width:1 from:-196 till:0 width:12 text:196 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:40-44 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:229 width:12 text:229 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:35-39 color:blue1 width:1 from:-244 till:0 width:12 text:244 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:35-39 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:221 width:12 text:221 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:30-34 color:blue1 width:1 from:-289 till:0 width:12 text:289 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:30-34 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:285 width:12 text:285 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:25-29 color:blue1 width:1 from:-464 till:0 width:12 text:464 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:25-29 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:378 width:12 text:378 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:20-24 color:blue1 width:1 from:-404 till:0 width:12 text:404 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:20-24 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:416 width:12 text:416 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:15-19 color:blue1 width:1 from:-257 till:0 width:12 text:257 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:15-19 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:280 width:12 text:280 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:10-14 color:blue1 width:1 from:-232 till:0 width:12 text:232 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:10-14 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:210 width:12 text:210 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:5-9 color:blue1 width:1 from:-166 till:0 width:12 text:166 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:5-9 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:189 width:12 text:189 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:0-4 color:blue1 width:1 from:-220 till:0 width:12 text:220 textcolor:black fontsize:8px bar:0-4 color:red1 width:1 from:0 till:214 width:12 text:214 textcolor:black fontsize:8px

Figure 1. Population pyramid of town in 2010 – by age group and sex

International relations

Twin towns – sister cities

Połaniec is twinned with: *

Étoile-sur-Rhône Étoile-sur-Rhône (, literally ''Étoile on Rhône''; oc, Estiala) is a commune in the Drôme department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Drôme department The following is a ...

, France (2004) *

Šalčininkai Šalčininkai (, , yi, סאָלעטשניק ''Solechnik'', be, Салечнікі) is a town in Vilnius County, Lithuania, situated south-east of Vilnius, near the border with Belarus. Šalčininkai attained the town status in 1956 and is now ...

, Lithuania (2001) *

Stará Ľubovňa Stará Ľubovňa (german: Altlublau; hu, Ólubló; la, Lublovia; pl, Lubowla) is a town with approximately 16,000 inhabitants in northeastern Slovakia. The town consists of the districts Podsadek and Stará Ľubovňa. Names The name is of Slo ...

, Slovakia (1999) * Svaliava, Ukraine (2005) * Viggiano, Italy (2001) *

Vonitsa Vonitsa ( el, Βόνιτσα) is a town in the northwestern part of Aetolia-Acarnania in Greece, seat of the municipality of Aktio-Vonitsa. Population 4,916 (2011). The beach town is situated on the south coast of the Ambracian Gulf, and is domina ...

, Greece (2001)

References

External links

Polish official population figures 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polaniec Cities and towns in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship Staszów County Sandomierz Voivodeship Radom Governorate Kielce Voivodeship (1919–1939) Holocaust locations in Poland