RUDA SLASKA

town, Katowice wojewdztwo (province), south central Poland, in the heart of the Grny Slask (Upper Silesia) coal-mining region. An old industrial town, Ruda Slaska was founded in the Middle Ages as an iron-mining settlement, but it was not incorporated until after World War II. Poland's first coal mine was operated there in 1751. Pop. (1982 est.) 161,600.