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Gdansk

Gdańsk

The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. | 2008 | Copyright

Gdańsk , formerly Danzig , city (1993 est. pop. 466,700), capital of Pomorskie prov., N Poland, on a branch of the Vistula and on the Gulf of Gdańsk. One of the chief Polish ports on the Baltic Sea, it is a leading industrial and communications center. It has important mechanical-engineering, machine-building, chemical, and metallurgical industries. Sawmilling, food processing, and light manufacturing are also important. Its once-famous shipyard is no longer state-owned and was nearly closed in 1996; it continues shipbuilding on a smaller scale. There are two port areas; one is at Nowy Port (Neufahrwasser), a northern suburb, and the other, Port Połnocny, was completed in 1975. The port cities of Gdańsk and Gdynia and the nearby resort of Sopot are administered as a single city. Gdańsk has numerous educational and cultural facilities. Historic landmarks include the Gothic Church of St. Mary (1343).

A Slavic settlement, Gdańsk was first mentioned in 997. It soon became the capital of Pomerelia (see Pomerania ). After its settlement by German merchants, it joined (13th cent.) the Hanseatic League and developed as an important Baltic trading port. In 1308 it was conquered by the Teutonic Knights and became an object of struggle between them and Poland. Pomerelia and Gdańsk passed to Poland in 1466. Gdańsk was granted local autonomy under the Polish crown. In 1576, Gdańsk withstood a siege by Stephen Báthory and thus preserved its established privileges against domination by the Polish crown.

After the Thirty Years War the city began to decline. In the War of the Polish Succession , King Stanislaus I took refuge in Gdańsk until it fell (1734) after a heroic defense. The first partition of Poland in 1772 made Gdańsk a free city; the second partition (1793) gave it to Prussia .

Napoleon I restored its status as a free city (1807). Reverting to Prussia in 1814, it was fortified and, as Danzig, was the provincial capital of West Prussia until 1919, when by the Treaty of Versailles it once more became a free city with its own legislature. In order to give the newly reestablished nation of Poland a seaport, Danzig was included in the Polish customs territory and was placed under a high commissioner appointed by the League of Nations.

As the League's authority waned after 1935, Gdańsk came under Nazi control. Hitler's demand (1939) for the city's return to Germany was the principal immediate excuse for the German invasion of Poland and thus of World War II. Gdańsk was annexed to Germany from Sept. 1, 1939, until its fall to the Soviet army early in 1945. The Allies returned the city to Poland, which restored the name Gdańsk. In 1970 workers' grievances sparked riots in Gdańsk that spread to other cities and led to changes in Poland's national leadership. Further labor unrest in the Gdańsk shipyard led to the formation of the Solidarity union in 1980.

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"Gdańsk." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Gdańsk

Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names | 2005 | | Copyright

Gdańsk, Poland Gyddanyzc, Kdanzc, Danzig Derived from Gutisk‐anja ‘End of the Goths’, to signify the limit of their territory. The Teutonic Knights captured the city in 1308 and held it until 1466 when it was retaken by the Poles. At the second partition of Poland in 1793 Prussia acquired Gdańsk. Although in 1919 its population was over 90 per cent German, it was designated a free city under the League of Nations mandate in a customs union with Poland in 1919–39; thus it was not included in the Polish Corridor. It was seized by Nazi Germany at the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939. It was returned to Poland in 1945.
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JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Gdańsk." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Gdańsk." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-Gdask.html

JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Gdańsk." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. 2005. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-Gdask.html

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Gdańsk

World Encyclopedia | 2005 | Copyright

Gdańsk (Danzig) City and seaport on the Gulf of Gdańsk, n Poland; capital of Gdańsk county. Settled by Slavs in the 10th century, it was a member of the Hanseatic League. It was taken by Poland in the 15th century but passed to Prussia in 1793. The Treaty of Versailles (1919) established it as a free city, and annexation by Germany in 1939 precipitated World War II. The Solidarity movement led by Lech Wałesa was founded by strikers in Gdańsk's shipyards in 1980. Industries: metallurgy, chemicals, machinery, timber. Pop. (1999) 457,900.
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Gdansk

A Dictionary of Contemporary World History | 2004 | | Copyright

Gdansk, see Danzig
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JAN PALMOWSKI. "Gdansk." A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

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Gdansk

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

Gdansk •Basque, Monégasque •ask, bask, cask, flask, Krasnoyarsk, mask, masque, task •facemask •arabesque, burlesque, Dantesque, desk, grotesque, humoresque, Junoesque, Kafkaesque, Moresque, picaresque, picturesque, plateresque, Pythonesque, Romanesque, sculpturesque, statuesque •bisque, brisk, disc, disk, fisc, frisk, risk, whisk •laserdisc • obelisk • basilisk •odalisque • tamarisk • asterisk •mosque, Tosk •kiosk • Nynorsk • brusque •busk, dusk, husk, musk, rusk, tusk •subfusc • Novosibirsk •mollusc (US mollusk) • damask •Vitebsk •Aleksandrovsk, Sverdlovsk •Khabarovsk • Komsomolsk •Omsk, Tomsk •Gdansk, Murmansk, Saransk •Smolensk •Chelyabinsk, Minsk •Donetsk, Novokuznetsk •Irkutsk, Yakutsk

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