Warsaw’s history (historia Warszawy)

The first documents which mention Warsaw are dated between 1281 and 1321. In the 14th and 15th centuries Warsaw began to assume the role of the capital city of the Duchy of Mazovia, which was incorpored in 1526 into the Polish kingdom. Thanks to its convenient site, Warsaw flourished and became the most important town in Poland by the 16th century. Its central location was the main reason for holding royal elections here.
After Wawel Castle in Cracow burnt down, King Zygmunt III Waza moved his permanent residence, court and the crown headquarters from Cracow to Warsaw in 1596.
During the reign of the Waza dynasty, Warsaw became an important centre of sciences and arts. The city`s development was halted by the Swedish invasion in the middle of the 17th century. During the reign of the Saxon dynasty in the 18th century, Warsaw once again became an important cultural centre.
Warsaw had its second golden age during the reign of the last Polish king, Stanisław August Poniatowski. It was in this time that
the May 3rd Constitution was rattified - the first European bill of human rights, a modern city administration introduced, the arts flourished, and the National Theatre and the Ministry of Education were established . But it was also the period of the partitions. In 1795, after the third partition, Poland was erased from the map of Europe and for the next 123 years its territory was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria. Warsaw was the focal point of three uprisings against the foreign rule. In 1918, Warsaw became the capital of the reborn Polish state. Development of the city, including the construction of new roads and modern residential districts was short-lived, however, halted by the outbreak of World War II. In 1940 the Nazis created the Warsaw Ghetto. They destroyed it completely in 1943 after killing off the remainder of the Jewish population in the Ghetto Uprising. After the failure of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 the Nazis destroyed the city, razing over 84 percent of the buldings to the groung.