There are two parts to Lusatia, Upper, and Lower Lusatia. The greater region was only sparsely inhabited by Slavic tribes when the region was claimed by the Holy Roman Empire in the 10th century. Lower Lusatia, around the city of Cottbus, would be handed to the Margraves of Brandenburg and Upper Lusatia to the Bohemian (Czech) Crown. Eventually, the region would be united under Bohemian control in the 14th century and would pass then to Saxony at the end of the 30 Years War and then to Prussia in the 19th century.

Unlike the other Slavic tribal lands along the Elbe, Lusatia was mostly uninhabited forests. German colonization of the region would only begin in the 13th century and for the most part, did not violently displace the Slavic inhabitants as elsewhere. Today the Slavic-Speaking Sorbian minority continues to exist around the city of Bautzen.

With the arrival of the Germans and the reemergence of continental trade in the 15th century, Lusatia would grow wealthy on the trade flowing from Krakow to Paris on the Royal Road or the Via Regia. The six major urban centers formed a league called the Lusatian City League, for protection and to assert their rights at the Bohemian court. These cities, Görlitz, Bautzen, Zittau, Lauban, Löben, and Kamenz form many of the most interesting destinations in the region. With the exception of Lauban, all survived the Second World War and the urban renewal campaigns of the 1970s. It is entirely possible to feel fully immersed in the cultural landscape of Lusatia.