The name Lublin dates from 1198. The city was a target of attacks by Tatars, Ruthenes, Yotvingians and Lithuanians and was destroyed a number of times. It received a city charter in 1317. Casimir the Great, appreciating the strategic importance of the site, built a masonry castle in 1341 and encircled the city with defensive walls.
In July, 1980, the workers of Lublin and nearby Swidnik began the first in the wave of mass strikes aimed against the Communist regime, which eventually led to the emergence of the Solidarity movement.
The Lublin region has the unfortunate distinction of having the lowest per capita GDP in the entire European Union. It is a part of eastern Poland, which has generally benefited less from the economic transformation after 1989 than other regions of Poland located closer to Western Europe.
With the decline of Lublin as a regional industrial centre, the city's economy is being reoriented towards the service industries. Currently, the largest employer is the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University (UMCS).