 Nearby in the hills of the western Lusatia there is the source of the Schwarze Elster - one of the most important rivers of this region.In 1164 the village of Burkau has been mentioned for the first time in document - other sources say it happened some hundred years later in 1312 - that is why the real age of it is still not known.The administrative community that exists today has been formed in 1994 when three formally independent communities decided to unify - those were "Burkau" ("Porchow"), "Uhyst am Taucher" (Horni Wujězd) and "Kleinhänchen" (Mały Wosyk) with all their smaller parts