History
Tarnobrzeg was founded in 1593, during the golden age of Poland, to become the residence of the regional Tarnowski "szlachta" (noble family) whose head is known as Count Tarnów. In 1772, it became part of the Austrian Empire and remained part of this country until 1918. World War I brought disaster to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Galician Poland. Tarnobrzeg, located very close to the Russian-Austrian border, sustained heavy damage during World War I by invading armies.
In the aftermath of World War I, the short-lived Republic of Tarnobrzeg was declared here, and in 1919, it became part of Lwow Voivodeship of the newly independent Second Polish Republic. The city suffered significant emigration within the former Austrian empire and elsewhere during the interbellum years (1919–1939).
A public school system was founded here during the time it was part of the Austrian Empire. To a great extent, this system established the literacy and culture of pre-World War I Tarnobrzeg and other similar Austrian-ruled Polish municipalities.
The nearest larger city of importance is Rzeszów, the capital city of the Subcarpathian Voivodeship, 75 km to the south. Travel to and from the one-time Imperial capital of Vienna was through Kraków. Railway service was established in later years of the Empire; Tarnobrzeg is located on the secondary-importance line between Dębica and Sandomierz.
In the 1950s, after geological research into fuel deposits, significant sulfur resources were discovered. From early 1960s the city grew rapidly: the population rose from 5,000 to 50,000 in 1990s.
After closing the sulfur mine "Siarkopol" in Machów and Jeziórko a stagnation of Tarnobrzeg followed. In 1999 it stopped being a Voivodeship capital and became a city county (powiat grodzki).
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