Lodz is one of the youngest, and one of the largest cities (near 800 000 of population) in Poland. The word Lodz means boat. The first information about Lodz is from the year 1332 about the village Lodzia (Latin), witch was the own of Kujawy's bishops.
In Poland village became town, when it gets formal document from a king and the owner of the village. In 1414 bishop of W??oc??awek - Jan Kropid??omake the document, and in the 1423 king W??adys??aw Jagie????o gave the town rights to Lodz . First of all Lodz was a completely agricultural town (44 wooden houses and 44 barns) up until the 16th century when development of the town commenced. The population was 700 citizens. After that came a worse time for Lodz , and at the end of the 18th century there were only 170 citizens in 30 houses. At the same time the Jews had come to town, in the 20s of 19th century Germans' manufactories, and in the end of 19th century Russians. From this moment onwards Lodz became multinational and specific in this situation.
In 19th century Lodz become the most important center of textile production. Lodz was the most specific city in Europe.
Facts:

DURING 100 years of city (19th century)

* number of citizens have grown from 191 people up to 500 000, means 2 500 times!
* number of Judes of Lodz have grown from 11 to 170 000 , so 15 500 times!
2nd after Warsaw biggest center of Judes in Kingdom of Poland
* number of Polish Germans had grown from dozen up to 67 000, it means 35 000 times!
biggest center of Germans in Kingdom of Poland

* from agriculturally village Lodz become
o second largest city in Poland !
o the biggest industrial center!
o the place with a biggest population of workers!

During the second world war:

* the population of Jews were kept in Ghettos, and after destruction of the
Ghettos of Lodz, the Jews were transported to Auschwitz( O??wi?cim ) and Birkenau (Brzezinka) and exterminated.
* Germans were relocated to Germany
* Russians came back to RSSU

50 years after second war Lodz of Polish people become the biggest textile center in Poland.

After 1989 and change of political situation, old factories become unprofitability , because of no demand for products (earlier almost everything was buying by RSSU) the factories one by one was becoming bankrupt.

There is 16% of population without work in Lodz , but Lodz become newest tourist city.

Please add to this at:http://www.world66.com/europe/poland/lodz