Originally named Königsberg in German, the town was founded in 1255 and was part of Prussia and then of Germany until 1945, but was largely destroyed during World War II. Its ruins were occupied by the Soviet Army in 1945 and its German citizens forced out. It was renamed Kaliningrad in 1946 in honor of Mikhail Kalinin.
According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, its population was 431,500—an increase from 430,003 recorded in the 2002 Census. Its ethnic composition is 77.9% Russians, 8.0% Belarusians, 7.3% Ukrainians, 1.9% Lithuanians, 0.6% Germans, and 0.5% Poles.