Historical records first mention the river in 1097 as
Sanъ,
reku Sanъ,
k Sanovi; then as
nad Sanomъ (1152) and
Sanu (1287). On the old maps of the
Ruthenian Voivodeship, Poland 1339–1772 it was referred to as "San" (1339), San (1372), "Szan" (1406), "Sanok" (1438), "Saan" (1439), "Sayn" (1445), "San" (1467), "Szan" (1517), and "Schan" (1526). Humans had first settled the southeastern region of present-day Poland (the
Subcarpathian Voivodeship or
Podkarpacie) in prehistoric times. In the pre-Roman era various tribes, including the
Celts,
Goths and
Vandals (
Przeworsk culture and
Puchov culture) overran the area. After the fall of the Roman Empire,
Hungarians and Slavs invaded the area. The San
valley must have become an important trade-route and axis of human settlement as early as the 9th or 10th century. The region subsequently became part of the
Great Moravian state. Upon the invasion of the
Hungarian tribes into the heart of the Great Moravian Empire around 899, the
Lendians of the area declared their allegiance to the Hungarian Empire. The region then became a site of contention between
Poland, Kievan Rus and
Hungary starting in around the 9th century. This area was mentioned for the first time in 981 (by
Nestor), when
Volodymyr the Great of
Kievan Rus took the area over on his way into
Poland. In 1018 it returned to Poland, in 1031 reverted to Rus, and in 1340 was recovered by
Casimir III of Poland. During the years 966–1018, 1340–1772 (the
Ruthenian Voivodeship) and 1918–1939, the region was part of Poland. Between 1772 and 1918 it belonged to the Austrian empire, which became the Austro-Hungarian empire when the double monarchy was introduced. This region, including the area west and east of the
Subcarpathian Voivodship, was controlled by
Austria for almost 120 years. During that time it was known as
Galicia.
Ukrainians traditionally associated the San with their ethnographic western frontier: this is reflected in the
State Anthem of Ukraine (which describes Ukraine as extending from the San to the
Don) and the
March of Ukrainian Nationalists (which calls for a Ukraine from the San to the
Caucasus). The
Poland–Ukraine border today follows the San for approximately the first 50 km of its course. The San River, which has seen many battles in its history, was a battle site at the beginning of
World War II in 1939. At the outset of the German
invasion of Poland, Polish forces attempted to defend a line along the San from September 6, until German forces broke out of their
bridgeheads on September 12. It turned out as being a really innefective front line, and it is an example of terrain overestimation in military planning, as water levels were extremely low at the time of the year, and it could be crossed by foot, so even after destroying the bridges, the Germans were only slowed down by a few hours. with Soviet-occupied right-bank
Przemyśl in the background (World War II) == Cities ==