City
Szczecin is a city situated in the north-west of Poland, where the river Odra meets the Baltic Sea (through Szczecin Bay). For centuries this location has been the junction for major European transit routes, from the west to the east and from the north, through the Baltic, to the south of Europe. Szczecin is also the capital of a new province, the Western Pomeranian Province. This is the result of the recent reform of the national administration.
Szczecin is a city with over a thousand years of tradition and turbulent history, and is also the historical capital of Western Pomerania. Its most illustrious period was the time of the reign of the dukes of the Griffin dynasty, when the city belonged to the Hanseatic League. At this time the city was one of the most powerful ports and trade centres on the Baltic. In the XVII century, after the termination of the line of descent of the Pomeranian dukes, the strategic location of Szczecin became the cause of numerous armed interventions from adjoining nations - Denmark, Sweden, Brandenburg and Germany. 
At the end of the XIX century the city experienced a period of particularly dynamic economic development, as capital flowed in from all over Europe. The port, maritime economy and cargo transport developed extremely rapidly. After the end of the Second World War, the reconstruction of the destroyed city was taken care of by settlers from all over Poland, who arrived in Szczecin and in the area of Western Pomerania in large numbers. Although the former image of the city changed, its unique character was preserved with the captivating charm of historical, secessionist architecture and the beauty of its lustrous vegetation.
source: Szczecin.pl