Oława (Polish pronunciation: [ɔˈwava] ⓘ, German: Ohlau, [ˈoːlaʊ] ⓘ) is a historic town in south-western Poland with 33,029 inhabitants (2019).

The association with water refers to the location of the settlement between two rivers: the Oder and the Oława, which are close to each other, but only connect in Wrocław, which is 27 km away.

In a document written in Latin by Henry I the Bearded from 1214, the city is mentioned under the name Olaua in the fragment Olauam et Odriczam.

As a result of the fragmentation of Poland, Oława at various times formed part of the duchies of Silesia, Legnica and Brzeg.

Following the death of the last Silesian Piast duke George IV William of Legnica in 1675, Oława ceased to be a residence town.

In spite of Habsburg political influence, in the 17th century, the town was still part of the territory dominated by the Polish language.

Poles smuggled large amounts of gunpowder through the town to the Russian Partition of Poland during the January Uprising in 1863.

After the war, a sizeable group of Polish Armenians displaced from Soviet-annexed eastern Poland settled in the town, and the first post-war mayor was Polish-Armenian Jakub Axentowicz.

The coat of arms can also be also traced back to the personage of Szyban von Der - the court adjudicator of Henry III of Głogów - erroneously equated to Szaban Tader, a castellan of the Świny Castle, mentioned in Franciszek Piekosiński's book - Heraldyka polska wieków średnich - (Heraldry of Polish Middle Ages) published in Kraków, in 1899;[12] where the document is sealed with the town's coat of arms from 1300.

The town's industries include the production of electronics (namely Electrolux Poland and Nardi Appliances), furniture and car parts.