Elbląg

Elbląg grew on the river leading to the Vistula Lagoon, where the Teutonic Order founded a castle and settlement in 1237. Known in German as Elbing, it became a Hanseatic port linking Prussia to the towns of northern Europe. Its merchants and craftsmen built a prosperous city at the edge of the Vistula delta, with ships reaching the Baltic through the lagoon.

The town joined the Prussian Confederation against the Order and came under the Polish Crown in 1454. In Royal Prussia it remained one of Poland's major ports and an important centre of English trade. Swedish wars disrupted its commerce, but its position on the lagoon continued to make it valuable. The First Partition of Poland brought Elbląg under Prussian rule in 1772, after which its trading importance diminished.