Bydgoszcz

Bydgoszcz grew on the Brda near its confluence with the Vistula, where river routes carried the produce of Kuyavia toward the Baltic. A medieval stronghold guarded the crossing, and Casimir III granted the town its charter in 1346 after fighting with the Teutonic Order. Its river trade helped make Bydgoszcz a significant grain market in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Merchants shipped wheat downstream, while local craftsmen produced beer and pottery. A royal salt depot was established in 1522, and a mint founded in 1594 later served the crown. Swedish invasions in the seventeenth century brought severe destruction, including the ruin of the castle. Under Prussian rule, a canal built in the 1770s linked the Brda with the Noteć, joining the Vistula and Oder river systems.