Kalisz

Industrial town, capital of Kalisz province, Poland, on the River Prosna, 109 km/68 mi southeast of Poznań; population (2002) 109,500. It has been a major textile producer since the Middle Ages. Other industries include metal goods, embroidery, and food processing, and lignite is mined in the district.

An early settlement, recorded in the 2nd century AD by the Egyptian geographer Ptolemy, has left numerous archaeological remains. It lay on the ‘amber route’ from southern Europe to the Baltic. The town was annexed to Prussia 1793, and to Russian Poland 1815.