Darłowo

Darłowo
Market Square (Rynek)
Coat of arms
Darłowo
Coordinates: 54°25′N 16°25′E / 54.417°N 16.417°E / 54.417; 16.417
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	West Pomeranian
County	Sławno
Gmina	Darłowo (urban gmina)
Area
• Total	19.93 km2 (7.70 sq mi)
Highest elevation	5 m (16 ft)
Lowest elevation	1 m (3 ft)
Population (2006)
• Total	14,380
• Density	720/km2 (1,900/sq mi)
Postal code	76-150 and 76-153
Website	http://www.darlowo.pl/

Darłowo ([darˈwɔvɔ]) (in full The Royal City of Darłowo ; Polish: Królewskie Miasto Darłowo, German: Rügenwalde), is a seaside town in the West Pomeranian Region, at the south coast of the Baltic Sea, north-western Poland, with 14,931 inhabitants (2006). Located in Sławno County in West Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, it was previously in the Koszalin Voivodeship (1950–1998).

After the last Ice-age had ended at about 8,000 BC, settlers of the Stone Age first populated the region.

By the eleventh century a fortress named Dirlow, (or Dirlovo) existed where the River Wieprza entered the Baltic. From this fortress, the district of Dirlow was administered, which belonged to the castelany of Sławno. A town was later founded in the district of Dirlow, but not at the location of the fortress itself.

The town was probably founded in 1270 by Wizlaw II of the Danish Principality of Rügen, at that time also ruler of the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp. The first mention of the town is in a document of February 5, 1271. The settlement decayed.

The town was destroyed in 1283 during a conflict between Wizlaw II and Mestwin II (Polish: Mszczuj or Mściwój). In a chronicle of 1652, Matthäus Merian stated that the town had been destroyed by Bogislaw of Pomerania, when after Mestwin's II death in December 1294 the Duke Przemysł II (future king) of Poland acquired the town, as a consequence of Treaty of Kępno.