Augustów

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Augustów

	(Coat of arms)


Basic Information
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Podlasie
Population	30 870
Founded	-
City rights	-
Latitude Longitude	53°51' N 22°58' E
Area	80,9 km²
Agglomeration	-
Density	387/km²
Area code	+48 87
Car plates	BAU
Twin towns	Porto Cereiso-Italy, Tuusula-Finnland, Szklarska Poręba-Poland
Economy and Traffic
Administration
Mayor	Leszek Cieslik
Municipal Website

Augustów ( listen) (Lithuanian Augustavas) is a town in north-eastern Poland with 29,600 inhabitants (1995).

It is situated in the Podlasie Voivodeship (since 1999), having previously been in Suwałki Voivodeship (1975-1998). It is the seat of Augustów County.

The town is first mentioned in 1496 and was granted city rights by king Sigismund II in 1557. Till 1569 Union of Lublin town belonged to Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Afer union the town became a part of the Kingdom of Poland, while the cemetery was left in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Tatar invaders destroyed Augustów in 1656, and the second half of the 17th century saw the town afflicted by plague.

In 1795 Prussia annexed Augustów, and in 1807 it became part of the Duchy of Warsaw, followed by incorporation into the Kingdom of Poland in 1815. Made a county seat in 1842, the first railway connection reached Augustów in 1899.

During World War I, in the Battle of Augustów (1914) the Russian army successfully counterattacked the German army. From 1939 to 1941, Soviet troops were in occupation, then the German Wehrmacht until 1944. World War II brought destruction of about 70% of the town and the death or departure of most of its residents. In 1945 the Soviets conducted the nearby Augustów chase 1945 - a special operation against former Armia Krajowa anticommunist fighters.

In 1970 Augustów officially became a health-cure resort, and in 1973 adjoining local villages were annexed.

[edit] Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1911)

Augustowo is a city of Poland, in the government of Suwalki, 20 miles S. of the town of that name, on a canal (65 mi.) connecting the Vistula with the Neman River. It was founded in 1557 by Sigismund II (Augustus), and is laid out in a very regular manner, with a spacious market-place. It carries on a large trade in cattle and horses, and manufactures linen and huckaback. Pop. (1897) 12,746.