Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie province (voivodeship), located on the banks of the Biała River. It has historically attracted migrants from elsewhere in Poland and beyond, particularly from Central and Eastern Europe. This is facilitated by the fact that the nearby border with Belarus is also the eastern border of the European Union.

The city charter dates back to 1692, but settlement activity in the area dates back to the 14th century. Białystok has traditionally been one of the leading centers of academic, cultural, and artistic life in Podlaskie and the most important economic center in northeastern Poland. In the nineteenth century Białystok was an important center for light industry which was the reason for the substantial growth of the city's population. However, after the fall of communism in 1989 many of these factories faced severe problems and subsequently closed down.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the majority of the city's population was Jewish. According to Russian census of 1897, out of the total population of 66,000, Jews constituted 41,900 (around 63% percent).

With the beginning of World War II, Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany and Soviet Union and initially the city came under Soviet control, as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. It was incorporated into the Byelorussian SSR from 1939 to 1941 as the capital of the Belastok Voblast. After the Nazi attack on Soviet Union in 1941, the area was taken over by Germans and the city became the capital of Bezirk Białystok, a separate region in German occupied Poland, until 1944. The 56,000 Jewish residents of the town were confined in a ghetto, and most of them transferred to the Treblinka extermination camp. The city was liberated by the Red Army and on 20 September 1944 transferred to Poland.

Through the infusion of EU investment funds, the city continues to work to reshape itself into a modern metropolis.