Wiżajny w is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in Suwałki County, Podlaskie Voivodeship

Podlaskie Voivodeship

Podlaskie Voivodeship , is a voivodeship in northeastern Poland. It borders on Masovian Voivodeship to the west, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the northwest, Lublin Voivodeship to the south, the Belarusssian Voblasts of Grodno and Brest to the east, the Lithuanian Counties of Alytus and...

, in north-eastern Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

, close to the border with Lithuania

Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...

. It is the seat of the gmina

Gmina

The gmina is the principal unit of administrative division of Poland at its lowest uniform level. It is often translated as "commune" or "municipality." As of 2010 there were 2,479 gminas throughout the country...

 (administrative district) called Gmina Wiżajny

Gmina Wizajny

Gmina Wiżajny, is a rural gmina in Suwałki County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, on the Lithuanian border...

. It lies approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) north of Suwałki and 143 km (89 mi) north of the regional capital Białystok.

The village has a population of 1,000.

History

In the 6th-9th centuries this area has been inhabited by the Baltic tribe of Yotvingians

Yotvingians

Yotvingians or Sudovians were a Baltic people with close cultural ties to the Lithuanians and Prussians...

. The first mention of the settlement comes from 1253 when it was recorded as "Weyze", which was most likely taken from the name of a nearby lake, which in turn was derived from the Lithuanian

Lithuanian language

Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...

 word vėžės, or crawfish

Astacus leptodactylus

Astacus leptodactylus, the Danube crayfish, Galician crayfish, Turkish crayfish or narrow-clawed crayfish is a species of crayfish imported and introduced to Central Europe in 19th century from the Caspian Sea region.-Description:...

. In the 14th century there was an inn next to the road from Wyłkowyszki to Sejny

Sejny

Sejny is a town in north-eastern Poland, in Podlaskie Voivodeship, close to the border with Lithuania and Belarus. It is located in the eastern part of the Suwałki Lake Area , on the Marycha river, being a tributary of Czarna Hańcza...

. According to legend, in 1409 Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Władysław Jagiełło hunted aurochs

Aurochs

The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....

here and hence called the place Stumbrinė.

In 1570 the place was granted town status, in 1606 it had 4 streets: Stara, Wierzbołowska, Siemiańska i Sejweńsk. Around 1800 the town was granted the coat of arms and right to built the town hall.