History of Białystok
This is a sub-article to Białystok The history of Białystok spans for over five centuries, during which time the fate of the city has passed between various political and economic forces. From surviving documentation is it known that around 1437, a representative of the family Raczków, Jakub Tabutowicz with the coat of arms of Łabędź, received from Michael Žygimantaitis son of Sigismund Kęstutaitis, Duke of Lithuania, a wilderness area located along the river Biała that marked the beginning of Białystok as a settlement.