POZNAN

German Posen, miasto-wojewdztwo (urban province) and capital of surrounding Poznan wojewdztwo (province), west-central Poland, on the Warta River near its confluence with the Cybina. Beginning as a small stronghold in the 9th century, Poznan became the capital of Poland (with Gniezno) and the residence of Poland's first two sovereigns. The first Polish cathedral was erected there in 968. In the 13th century a new section, now known as Old Town, developed on the left bank of the Warta. The town received municipal rights in 1253. With duty-free trade privileges, Poznan became a major European trade centre, its economic and cultural growth reaching a peak in the 15th and 16th centuries. It declined during the 17th century through fires and wars. In 1793 Poznan was annexed to Prussia, intensifying a Germanization that had begun as early as the 13th century, with the arrival of the first German immigrants. Poznan was under Russian administration from 1807 to 1815 as part of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, then reverted to Prussian control. Anti-Polish and anti-Catholic measures were enacted by Otto von Bismarck in the 1870s. In 1886 a commission of colonization was organized to buy Polish land for German colonists, but the Poles established cooperative credit organizations and continued to defeat Prussian efforts to control Poznan. At the beginning of the 20th century much building was done to give the city a Prussian complexion, and Poznan was renamed Posen. Meanwhile, Poznan progressed economically, with its population tripling between 1871 and 1910, and in 1918 its citizens defeated their Prussian overseers. Poznan prospered somewhat between the two world wars, but, with the return of the Germans in 1939, the city was devastated; its inhabitants were deported or exterminated. Russian forces defeated the Germans during the siege of 1945, leaving the city in ruins. Poznan was rebuilt after World War II and has become the administrative, industrial, and cultural centre of western Poland. Poznan is one of Poland's largest industrial centres. Its varied industry includes metallurgical works; textile mills; clothing and food-, metal-, and rubber-processing plants; and chemical facilities. Since 1921 it has been the site of a major international trade fair. Poznan is a cultural and academic centre, with several schools of higher education (including the Lubranski Academy of Literature, founded in 1518); numerous scientific institutes sponsored by the Polish Academy of Sciences; operatic, orchestral, and dance centres; Poland's oldest zoological garden; and a number of theatres. It has excellent transportation connections to major cities in Poland and the remainder of Europe. Pop. (1991 est.) 590,100.