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The story
Ptolemy's world map of the 2nd century mentions Budorgis in the area of today's Kolín.
Kolín was founded by King Ottokar II in the 13th century by relocation, when Starý Kolín ("Old Kolín") was threatened by floods and the king decided to move the settlement. The first written mention of Kolín is from 1261, when it was mentioned that Přelouč obtained town privileges, just like Kolín and Kouřim have. It lay on a trade route Prague–Český Brod–Čáslav–Moravia. Jewish people settled in Kolín in the 14th century. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Kolín was a rich town thanks to silver mining, but then mining began to concentrate in Kutná Hora. Germans formed the majority of the population, but Czechs predominated during the Hussite Wars (1419–1434). In 1421, the Hussites burned down the local Dominican monastery.
During the Thirty Years' War, Kolín was badly damaged. The Battle of Kolín was fought during the Seven Years' War in 1757. A new period of prosperity came during the reign of Emperor Joseph II (1780–1790). In 1845, the construction of the Prague–Kolín–Olomouc railway was finished, which was an impetus for the development of industry.
In 1944, a refinery in Kolín was bombed during the Oil Campaign of World War II. Zyklon B for the Nazi concentration camps was produced there.
From Wikipedia’s article on Kolín, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4