Bialowieza is a complex of settlements situated on the Bialoweiza Glade, linked administratively into one village. It is historically composed of the settlements Stoczek, Tropinka, Centura, Wojciechowka, Krzyze and Zastawa. The history of Bialowieza is inextricably linked with the monarch’s hunting. The Bialoweiza forest was a favourite hunting ground of successive rulers of Poland. Bialowieza was mentioned for the first time in D?ugosz’s work at the yeara 1409 and 1426. the development of the settlement dates back to the end of the 16th century. At that time a royal hunting manor house was erected within the area of present Bialowieza Glade. The name Bialoweiza may derive from Jatvingian bialo wiesu meaning’a settlement by marshes’, or from a woodem manor house, white tower (= biala wieza) of which contrasted with the green of the surrounding forests. Another explanation invokes a Romanesque-Gothic tower that existed in nearcy Kamenets in 1271. the king August II Sas’s residence is the best described manor house. A manor fram was created next to it and gradually expended. In 1796, settlements Stoczek and Podolany were located near the manor farm. Peasants lived there.
In the first half of the 19th century, the lifestyle of Bialoweiza residents and the forest management changed significantly. That was result of destruction caused by Napoleonic campaigne in Russia in 1812 and the consequences of the November Uprising in 1830-1831. Workers of the forest administration and their families were exiled to Siberia because of their praticipation in the uprising. Foresters of the Orthodox faith were brought to the Bialoweiza Forest from Russia. The tsar issued an edict ordering to convert the Uniate faitj to the Orthodox one. In the years 1888-1894, the only tsar’s palace in the area under Russian rule was built here. It was accompanied by an Orthodox church and many other buildings as well as a park. The period of the First World War did not stop the economic development of Bia?owie?a. At the end of 1919 there were about 2000 residents in Bialowieza, and in 1939 almost 9000. In the Second World War, during in Soviet occupation about 1500 residents of Bialowieza were deported to Siberia under various pretexts. During the German occupation, the population of Bialowieza was reduced by about 2400 people. After the war, the Soviet authorities divided the Bialowieza forest with a state border.
At present about 2000 people live in Bialowieza, and about 3000 people in the whole Bialowieza District. Many of today’s residents of Bialowieza are descendants of royal hunting servants- shoooters, osoczniks (beaters taking part in cornering of an animal) and tsarist hunting wardens. The Bialowieza community is a peculiar medley of nationalites and religions. Member of the Orthodox church and the Christian Church of the Pentecost Faith, Catholics, Baptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and others live here in harmony. Most Bialoweiza residents belong to the Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Poland.