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Trómiasto

Trómiasto (Tricity in English) is a metropolitan area that centers on the cities of Gdańsk (formerly called Danzig in German), Sopot and Gdynia located along Gdańsk Bay in in Pomorskie (Pomerania) Province, Polska (Poland). It has a population of 1.105 million.1 The three cities' populations are: Gdańsk, 459 thousand;2 Sopot, 38 thousand3 and Gdynia 250 thousand.2

Gdańsk is located on a distributary of the Wisła (Vistula) River, which also serves as an outlet for the Motława River, which passes through the city. The city was majority German from its early days until the mid-20th century. Its Yiddish4 speaking Jews fled or were murdered by the German Christians, and then the Russians killed or deported the German Christians, moving in large numbers of Poles to supplement what had been a minority.

Tourists enjoy Gdańsk's 'Royal Way,' which passes by old gates, the Main Town Hall and the Long Market. Beyond that area, the Bazylica (Basilica) Mariacka (built 1343 to 1502) boasts the largest cubic volume of any church.5

Sopot is a spa resort. Three 12 story residential towers are the city's tallest.5

Gdynia is an important coal port.6 Trómiasto's tallest building is the Sea Towers 1, a predominantly residential building whose architectural height is 381 feet (453 to its tip).5

The Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport is one of Poland's busiest.7

YearPopulationPolitical entity
1500 CE30,0008Królestwo Polskie and Vepikoe knjazstvo Pitovskogo, Ruskogo, Žomojtskogo i inyx (Poland-Lithuania)
1600 CE49,0008Królestwo Polskie and Vepikoe knjazstvo Pitovskogo, Ruskogo, Žomojtskogo i inyx (Poland-Lithuania)
1700 CE50,0008Królestwo Polskie and Vepikoe knjazstvo Pitovskogo, Ruskogo, Žomojtskogo i inyx (Poland-Lithuania)
1800 CE41,0009Königreich Preußen (the Kingdom of Prussia)
1900 CE190,0009Deutsches Reich (German Empire)
2005 CE1,105,0001Polska (Poland)

External references

Neptune's Fountain in the Long Market of Gdańsk

Historical maps

map showing part of the Królestwo Polskie and Vepikoe knjazstvo Pitovskogo, Ruskogo, Žomojtskogo i inyx (Poland-Lithuania), 1500 to 1600CE

map showing part of the Królestwo Polskie and Vepikoe knjazstvo Pitovskogo, Ruskogo, Žomojtskogo i inyx (Poland-Lithuania), 1700 CE

map showing part of Königreich Preußen (the Kingdom of Prussia), 1800 CE

map showing parts of the Deutsches Reich (German Empire) and Rossiyskaja Imperija (Russian Empire), 1900 CE

map showing Polska (Poland), 2000 CE

Footnotes

1. Large urban zone population as of 2005 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_areas_in_Poland, Eurostat LUZ column, accessed 12/18/2013.
2. Figures for 2007 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Poland, accessed 12/18/2013.
3. Figure for 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopot, side banner, accessed 12/18/2013.
4. Yiddish is a dialect of Franconian (Middle) German.
5. emporis.com, accessed 1/14/2014. The Bazylica Mariacka is, at 269 feet, Gdańsk's tallest building.
6. The Times Atlas of the Oceans (Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, 1983), "commodity loading ports" map.
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_Poland, accessed 1/14/2014.
8. Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987), "Cities of Europe" tables for Danzig (now Gdańsk). In 1500, 1600 and 1700 CE, it was the largest city in what is now Polska (Poland).
9. Ibid., "Tables of the World's Largest Cities."