Hałcnów

Hałcnów
Osiedle of Bielsko-Biała
Aerial view of Hałcnów
Location of Hałcnów within Bielsko-Biała
Coordinates: 49°50′59″N 19°05′31″E / 49.84972°N 19.09194°E / 49.84972; 19.09194Coordinates: 49°50′59″N 19°05′31″E / 49.84972°N 19.09194°E / 49.84972; 19.09194
Country	Poland
Voivodeship	Silesian
County/City	Bielsko-Biała
Area
• Total	13.5091 km2 (5.2159 sq mi)
Population (2006)
• Total	7,747
• Density	570/km2 (1,500/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Area code(s)	(+48) 033

Hałcnów is a osiedle (district) of Bielsko-Biała, Silesian Voivodeship, southern Poland. It is located in the north-east part of the city. It was a separate municipality, but was merged into Bielsko-Biała in 1977. The osiedle has an area of 13.5091 km² and on December 31, 2006 had 7,747 inhabitants.

The village was first mentioned in 1404. Politically the village belonged then to the Duchy of Oświęcim, a fee of the Kingdom of Bohemia. In 1457 Jan IV of Oświęcim agreed to sell the duchy to the Polish Crown, and in the accompanying document issued on 21 February the village was mentioned as Halcznow. The territory of the Duchy of Oświęcim was eventually incorporated into Poland in 1564 and formed Silesian County of Kraków Voivodeship.

Upon the First Partition of Poland in 1772 it became part of the Austrian Kingdom of Galicia. In that time it used to be known in German language as Alzen, Alzenau, as it was a part of a German language island around Bielsko (German: Bielitz-Bialaer Sprachinsel). In 1786 the village became a seat of a Catholic parish.

According to the Austrian census of 1900 the village had 2669 inhabitants living in 288 houses. The census asked people their native language, and results show that 1986 (74,4%) were German-speaking and 678 (25,4%) were Polish-speaking. The dominant religious groups were Roman Catholics with 2652 (99,4%), 11 (0,4%) Jews and 6 persons were adherents of another religion. A specific Germanic ethnolect was also spoken here.