Inowrocław

Inowrocław was an important center of Kuyavia, first recorded in 1185 and later the seat of its own Piast duchy. Salt deposits in the surrounding country contributed to the town's growth. Its position also placed it close to the struggles between Poland and the Teutonic Order: the knights occupied the town from 1332 to 1337, before it returned to Polish rule. After the victory at Grunwald in 1410, Władysław Jagiełło used Inowrocław as a principal base. Swedish troops plundered it during the wars of the 1650s, and Prussia annexed it in 1772. The town passed to the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 and returned to Prussia after the Congress of Vienna in 1815.