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Lódz (pronounce: Media:Lodz.ogg|
The first written source mentioning Lódz is a document giving the village of Lodzia to the bishops of Wroclaw in 1332. In 1423 king Wladyslaw Jagiello granted the village of Lódz with city rights. Since then until 18th century the town was but a small settlement on a trade route from Masovia to Silesia. In 16th century the town had less than 800 inhabitants, mostly working on the nearby grain farms.
After the partitions of Poland Lódz came under Prussian administration and was renamed to Lodsch in 1793. In 1798Events February- October Irish Rebellion of 1798 April 7 The Mississippi Territory is organized from territory ceded by Georgia and South Carolina and is later twice expanded to include disputed territory claimed by both the U. and Spain April 26 France a the town was nationalized and lost its status as a town of the bishops of Kuyavia. In 1806Events January 8 Cape Colony becomes a British colony January 10 Dutch in Cape Town surrender to the British January 19 The United Kingdom occupies the Cape of Good Hope March 23 After traveling through the Louisiana Purchase and reaching the Pacific Ocea it joined Duchy of WarsawThe Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1807 from the Polish lands he seized from the Kingdom of Prussia in Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was in personal union with Saxony under Frederick Augustus I as Duke of Warsaw (1 and in 1815Events January 3 Austria, Britain, and France form a secret defensive alliance treaty against Prussia and Russia. January 8 War of 1812: Battle of New Orleans February 3 The first commercial cheese factory is founded in Switzerland February 6 New Jersey g was given to the RussiaThe Russian Federation ( Russian: , transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija , or Russia (Russian: , transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija , is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. Withn-controlled Congress PolandThe term Congress Poland refers to the Polish political entity that was created out of the Duchy of Warsaw at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, when European powers reorganised Europe following the Napoleonic wars. Congress Poland largely emerged as a resul.
In 1820Events January 1 Constitutionalist military insurrection at Cadiz leads to summoning of Spanish parliament ( March 7) and restoration of 1812 Constitution ( March 8) by king Ferdinand VII. January 29 George the Prince Regent becomes king George IV of the Stanislaw Staszic started a campaign of turning the small town into a modern centre of industry. Constant influx of workers, businessmen and craftsmen from all over the continent turned Lódz into the main textile-productons centre of the whole Russian Empire. The first cotton mill was started in 1825, and 14 years later the first steam-powered factory in both Poland and Russia was opened.
The immigrants were coming to the Promised Land ( Polish Ziemia obiecana, the term being a city nick-name) from all over Europe. Mostly from Southern Germany and Bohemia, but also from countries as far as Portugal, England, France or Ireland. However, the city population was composed mostly of three groups that constituted the city's development the most: Poles, Germans and the Jews.
In 1850 Russia abolished a customs border between the Congress Poland and Russia proper so the industry in Lódz could develop freely with a huge Russian market at a close distance. Soon the city became the second largest city of the Congress Poland. In 1865 the first railroad line was opened (to Koluszki) and soon the city became linked to Warsaw and Bialystok. In the 1823- 1873 period, the city's population doubled every ten years. The years 1870- 1890 marked the period of most intense industrial development in the city's history.
Lódz soon became a major centre of the socialist movement. In 1892 a huge strike paralyzed most of the factories. During the 1905 Revolution more than 300 workers were killed by the Tsarist police. Despite the great crisis preceding the World War I, the city grew constantly until 1914. On that year it was one of the most densely populated industrial cities in the world (13 280 people per sq. kilometre).
In 1915 the city came under German occupation, but in November 1918 was liberated by the local population who disarmed the German troops. In the effect of World War I, Lódz lost approximately 40% of its' inhabitants, mostly due to draft, diseases and the fact that after 1918 a huge part of the German population moved back to Germany.