The strait between the island and the mainland is called the Peenestrom; it is a downstream extension of the valley of the Peene river, which flows into the westernmost part of the Szczecin Lagoon.

The largest municipalities in the German part are Heringsdorf (from 2005 to 2006 called Dreikaiserbäder, literally "The Three Imperial Spas") and Zinnowitz.

There are many seaside resorts on the Baltic Sea coast, including Zinnowitz and Koserow in the west – and the three Imperial Spas Ahlbeck, Heringsdorf, and Bansin forming a town, as well as neighbouring Świnoujście in the east of Usedom.

Main economic activities include tourism, health and life sciences, retail, agriculture, fishing, animal husbandry, food processing, and timber production.

Settled since the Stone Age, the area was probably inhabited by Germanic Rugians, before the Polabian Slavs moved in during the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries.

During the Thirty Years' War, on June 26, 1630, the Swedish Army under King Gustavus Adolphus landed in the village of Peenemünde, located on the Peenestrom strait.

Usedom was annexed by Sweden after the war for almost a century, until in 1720 it was sold for 2 million thalers to Prussian King Frederick William I.

[8][9] In 1945 the eastern part of the island, together with the city and port of Swinemünde (now Świnoujście), was assigned to Poland under border changes promulgated at the Potsdam Conference, and the surviving German inhabitants of the town were expelled to the west.

Usedom is one of Germany's major holiday and recreation areas due to its beaches, its natural environment, and seaside towns such as Ahlbeck, Heringsdorf and Bansin, which, since the Gründerzeit in the 19th century, have been frequented by the German and international nobility as well as the general public.

[10] St. Peter's Church in Benz is featured in the works of several artists, including the German-American painter Lyonel Feininger who spent summer vacations on the island from 1909 to 1918.