Opole (German Oppeln), city and port, southern Poland, capital of Opole Province, on the Odra (Oder) River, near Wroclaw. The city is a rail junction and grain-trade center in a quartz-quarrying region, and its manufactures include machinery, textiles, cement, lime, lumber and wood products, tile, and flour. Capital of a duchy from 1163 to 1532, Opole passed to the Habsburgs and, in 1742, to Prussia. As a part of Germany, the city was the capital of the Prussian province of Upper Silesia from 1919 to 1945. Population (1997 estimate) 130,500.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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