Hel (Hél; Hela) is a seaside resort city in Puck County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland, located on the tip of the Hel Peninsula, some from the Polish mainland.
The territory became part of the emerging Polish state in the 10th century, under its first historic ruler Mieszko I. The Kashubian village of Hel was first mentioned in 1198 as a centre of herring trade area named Gellen. In one of the Danish chronicles of 1219 it is mentioned that a damaged ship of King Valdemar II the Victorious was set ashore on an "Island of Hel". By the 13th century the village became one of the most important trade centres of the area, competing with the nearby city of Gdańsk. It was then that the village was granted town rights by Duke Świętopełk II the Great of Pomerania. The privileges were again confirmed in 1378 when the town came under the rule of the Teutonic Order.
Initially the town was some from its present-day centre. It contained a church, hospital, city house, two market places, several guest houses and a small port. However, during the 15th century the peninsula started to shrink through marine erosion and soon the town was moved to a safer place. In 1417 St Peter's Church was built in the town, devoted to the patron saint of fishermen. Hel experienced a period of growth, but was later left behind by the faster-growing city of Danzig (Gdańsk). In 1440, the town joined the anti-Teutonic Prussian Confederation, upon the request of which the area was re-incorporated by King Casimir IV Jagiellon into the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. The re-incorporation was confirmed in the 1466 peace treaty, when the Teutonic Knights renounced any claims to the area. In 1466 Casimir IV granted the town as a fief to the city of Gdańsk, which ended the century-long struggle for economic domination over Gdańsk Bay. In 1526 King Sigismund I the Old withdrew all privileges previously granted to Hel and sold the town and the peninsula to the city authorities of Gdańsk. Since then Hel's fate was tied to the fortunes of its bigger neighbour.