The Pomerelian settlement of Łeba was first mentioned in a 1282 deed. At
that time the village was located about two kilometers (1.2 miles) west from
the present mouth of the Łeba River. Łeba received municipal rights by the
State of the Teutonic Order in 1357. Located at the Łebsko Lake at the Baltic
Sea, it developed to a fishing port and a wood marketplace. With Lauenburg Land
it became a Polish fief during the Thirteen Years' War in 1454, held by the
Dukes of Pomerania.
Old Leba was threatened for many centuries by floods and expanding sand
dunes and therefore was rebuilt in a safer location after 1558. The
