ZAKOPANE is situated at a height of 740 m. Although it is called the "capital of the Tatras" today, it was a small village in the third quarter of the 19th century. The settlement was first mentioned at the end of the 15th century but its name first occurs in a charter of 1616. Its inhabitants were Polish shepherds, so-called Gorals, who lived in scattered farmsteads in the pastures of the High Tatras. The town's growth began with the discovery of iron ore deposits in the nearby Jaworzynka valley and the building of forges in the mid-18th century. In addition, it became a favourite tourist spot and a health resort, which was in a large part due to a renowned physician of Warsaw, Tytus Chalubiñski, who settled down in Zakopane in the 1870s. His discovery of the salutary effects of fresh alpine air on pneumonia stimulated the influx of visitors. The town did not become part of the Habsburg Empire until 1772, the first division of Poland.
Bibliography: Kollár, Lazarek