Gdańsk, also known as Danzig, is a city in northern Poland. It is the sixth-largest city in Poland, and serves as that nation's principal seaport as well as the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship.
The city lies on the southern coast of Gdańsk Bay (of the Baltic Sea), in a conurbation with the spa town of Sopot, the city of Gdynia and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called "greater Gdańsk" and the Tricity (Trójmiasto) with a population of over a million people. Gdańsk is, with a population of 458,053 (2006), the largest city in the province of Eastern Pomerania and the Gdańsk Pomerania region.
Gdańsk is situated at the mouth of the Motława River, connected to the Leniwka, a branch in the delta of the Vistula River, whose waterway system connects 60% of the area of Poland. This gives the city a unique advantage as the center of Poland's sea trade.
Historically an important seaport since medieval times and subsequently a principal shipbuilding center, Gdańsk was a member of the Hanseatic League. The city is famous worldwide as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which, under the leadership of Lech Wałęsa, played a major role in bringing an end to communist rule in Poland. Together with the nearby port of Gdynia, Gdańsk is an important industrial center.
Source: 
|
