Kazimierz (Polish pronunciation: [kaˈʑimjɛʂ]; Latin: Casimiria; Yiddish: קוזמיר, romanized: Kuzimyr) is a historical district of Kraków and Kraków Old Town, Poland. Since its inception in the fourteenth century to the early nineteenth century, Kazimierz has been an independent city, a royal city of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, a location south of the Old Town of Kraków, separated from it by a branch of the Vistula river.