The town was founded by Adam Olbracht Przyjemski of Rawicz coat of arms for Protestant refugees from Silesia during the Thirty Years' War.

After the destruction of Rawicz by the Swedes in 1655 during the Deluge, the town was rebuilt in an impressive way, erecting new townhouses, a Baroque church and a Catholic monastery.

In 1701 it suffered a fire, in 1704-1705 it was occupied by Sweden, foreign troops marched through it: Russians in 1707, Austrians in 1719, Saxons in 1733.

[2] In the following decades, rapid development took place again, the construction of the castle was completed and a new Baroque town hall was built.

In 1919 the Battle of Rawicz was fought as part of the Greater Poland uprising, aiming to reunite the region with the reestablished Polish state.

On the first day of the invasion of Poland, which started World War II on September 1, 1939, the Germans entered the town, but were forced to withdraw.

[5] The expelled Poles were predominantly local activists and owners of better houses, which were then handed over to German colonists as part of the Lebensraum policy.

The officially protected traditional food originating from Rawicz is kiełbaska rawicka, a local type of kiełbasa (as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Poland).