Konin is located in central Poland. The vicinity of the city has always been an important communication junction connecting the northern to the southern parts of the country and the eastern to the western. The 12th century milestone, proudly standing in the old city centre that used to mark halfway between Kalisz and Kruszwica, proves that important trade routes have always run through the city.
The most important settlement used to be Stare Miasto with a Romanesque parish church. This settlement originated in Konin, which was founded according to the Magdeburg Law around 1993. Konin, then located in the islet in the Warta river, was a town guarding the ford across the river. The history of the city has reflected Poland’s history since 1331, when the Teutonic Knights devastated the city. Rebuilt by King Kazimierz the Great (1333 - 1370) and surrounded by walls with two towers, Calisian and Torunian, it again guarded the fords on the routes leading to other cities. Konin became the seat of the court county, and Konin castle, the seat of the starosta (count) and the administrative and economic centre for the vicinity. In the following centuries handicrafts quickly developed, which improved the good economic condition of the city. Even then Konin was an important cultural center. New religious currents developed here, and even medicine flourished. In the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries two important doctors, educated in Padova, worked here.
They were the founders of the oldest institute of anatomy and medical botany in the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Jan Zemełka and Kacper Blewski. The fortunate development stopped in the 17th century. A three-year plague broke out in 1628, which decimated the population. The Swedish invasion, fires, and more plagues added to the calamities. After the Warsaw Principality fell, Konin was now within the Polish Kingdom forming a part of the Russian Empire. The most dangerous as far as the consequences are concerned, the January uprising (1863) was particularly cruel in the Konin region as many lives were lost, many battles fought, and a lot of repression ensued. After the period of the Polish Kingdom, the city for a long time lost its position as a regional centre.
When independence was won again in 1918, this did not bring the much sought after improvement in the economic condition of the city. The city lacked a water supply system and sewage, and the inhabitants particularly suffered the harsh consequences of the Depression in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. A limited economic boom was only brought about by the opening of the railroad connecting Warsaw to Poznań and the construction of the Warta - Gopło canal.
During World War II, Konin was incorporated into the Third Reich, being a part of so-called Warta Country. The Nazis had a county seat here. The adjacent forests were witness to many executions of Polish Jews.
After World War II, the fifties and sixties brought about a rapid industrialization, which changed the image of a so far agricultural region. In 1950 Konin had 12,145 inhabitants, but 10 years later - 17,638 and in 1970 - 40,744. In 1998, however, the population of the city was more than 83,500 people. Such a rapid population growth also caused a fast area increase. The city absorbed more and more adjacent villages and moved further and further from its historical centre. At present, the municipal area is 82 square kilometers. The Land Development Plan, accepted in the fifties, led to the creation of two separate parts of the city, divided by the non-urbanized Warta valley. Konin remains an important administration centre: firstly being a voivodship seat from 1975 to January 1 1999, and after this day - when Konin lost the voivodship status - it became a municipal county and the capital of a land county. Thus, the city is a centre of dynamically developing political and social activities for the whole Eastern Wielkopolska and the Wielkopolskie Voivodship.
