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Traces of settlement in the place of today's Malbork are dated to the younger Stone Age, and Roman relics were found nearby. In the 12th and early 13th century Pomezania, on which Malbork lies, was inhabited quite densely for those times. Large areas of the country were covered by forests, where the lush grassy meadows grazed, game herds grazed, and the lakes abounded in fish. Part of the Pomezania area was captured by Pomeranian dukes. Thanks to them, the Zantyr stronghold and the borough were built on the right high bank of the Nogat. As a result of the policy of Sambor, one of the two brothers of the mighty prince Świętopełk, Zantyr was given to the Order in 1250. Around 1274, the Teutonic Knights began to erect, partly from materials obtained from the demolition of the old monastery buildings of the castle in Zantyra, a strongly fortified castle in the lower course of the Nogat. The castle under construction and the city surrounding it was called Marienburg, or the stronghold of Mary, after the patron of the Order. In 1280, the convent of the order from Zantyr was moved to the castle. In the years 1309–1457 Malbork was the seat of the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and the capital of the religious state. In the years 1466–1772 Malbork was the capital of the Malbork Province of the First Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After the First Partition of Poland, in the autumn of 1772 Prussian troops entered Malbork, and the Polish voivode Michał Czapski and his administration were removed. In 1773 Malbork was included in the newly created province of West Prussia from the capital in Gdańsk. After 1919, Malbork became part of the West Prussian Region, and in 1939-1945 the Kwidzyn Region of the Gdańsk-West Prussia District. Between January and March 1945, the attacking Red Army destroyed 80% of Malbork's construction substance. After the war, the gradual removal of war damage boiled down to the systematic demolition of the remains of the Malbork Old Town. The recovered brick was given to the reconstruction of Warsaw. Such actions of the Malbork authorities meant that in the early 1950s, no historic buildings remained in the old town. The only surviving relics of the Gothic city are the parish church, town hall, two city gates and fragments of the defensive walls. Currently, the old town of Malbork occupies a housing estate of four-storey blocks. However, the layout of medieval streets with a long market square and economic streets was preserved, the town hall and church of St. John, two gate towers, fragments of the defensive walls and the Gothic walls of the school.