Oświęcim

Oświęcim stands near the confluence of the Soła and Vistula, on routes between Lesser Poland and Silesia. Around 1315 it became the seat of a duchy ruled by a branch of the Piast dynasty. The duchy came under Bohemian suzerainty, before Duke Jan IV acknowledged Polish overlordship in 1454 and King Casimir IV bought the rights to Oświęcim in 1457. In 1539 the townspeople received a royal privilege to trade in salt from Wieliczka. The former duchies of Oświęcim and Zator were incorporated into the Polish kingdom in 1564. The town prospered during the sixteenth century but was burned during the Swedish invasion in 1655. The first partition of Poland brought it under Habsburg rule in 1772.