Tadeusz Kosciuszko, (full name Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko), was born on the 4th of February 1746 and died on the 15th of October 1817.

He is a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, and the United States, and is treated as a national hero by many people in Belarus.

Amongst his achievements, he was a Polish general, and a Polish-Lithuanian national hero.

In 1794, as leader of revolutionary Poland, he was the first statesman in the world to unconditionally abolish slavery, with the famous statement:

"Whoever sets foot on Polish soil, shall be free"

This was 40 years before Britain and 70 years before the US!

He also fought in the American Revolutionary War as a colonel in the Continental Army. From the Continental Congress he was recognised for his dedicated service, was promoted to brigadier general and became a naturalised citizen of the United States.

Thomas Jefferson called Kościuszko "as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known."

As a national hero in Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, and the United States, Kościuszko has given his name to many places around the world. Apart from having the highest mountain in Australia named after him, and the mountain itself being situated in Kosciuszko National Park, he has also given his name to Kosciusko, Mississippi and Kosciusko, Texas; Kosciusko County, Indiana; Kosciusko Island in Alaska; New York State's two Kosciuszko Bridges (in Latham on I-87 just north of Albany; and on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway); Kosciuszko Street (BMT Jamaica Line); the Kosciuszko Bridge that crosses the Naugatuck River in Naugatuck, Connecticut; Kosciuszko Street in Brooklyn, New York; Kosciuszko Street in Manchester, New Hampshire; Kosciuszko Street in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania; Kosciuszko Way in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Kosciuszko Park in Stamford, Connecticut; Kosciuszko Street in South Bend, Indiana, Kosciusko Street in Woburn, Massachusetts, and Thaddeus Kosciusko Way in downtown Los Angeles, California.

There is also a Kościuszko Monument at the entrance to Kraków's Wawel Castle, where he was laid to rest. There is a replica of the monument in Detroit, Michigan, which was erected in 1978. There is an equestrian statue of him at Kosciuszko Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, across from the Polish Basilica of St. Josaphat, and other statues, in Boston Public Garden; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Chicago's Museum Campus on Solidarity Drive; Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C.; the United States Military Academy at West Point; Williams Park in St. Petersburg, Florida; and Red Bud Springs Memorial Park in Kosciusko, Mississippi; in Kosciuszko Park in East Chicago, Indiana; and (with Kazimierz Pułaski) in Poland, Ohio, a village named in honor of the two heroes of the American Revolution.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his Revolutionary War home is preserved as Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial, administered as part of Independence National Historical Park; and a monument to him stands at the corner of Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 18th Street. Hamtramck, Michigan, has a Kosciuszko Middle School; Winona, Minnesota has Washington-Kosciuszko Elementary School; Chicago, a public park named for him in Logan Square; and East Chicago, Indiana, a public park (with statue), a school and a neighborhood, all bearing Kosciuszko's name. Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania has a Polish Falcons Sportsman's Club named after Kosciuszko. There is a Kosciusko Way in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, there is a club called Kosciuszko Hall.

In Poland, every major town has a street or square named for Kościuszko. Between 1820 and 1823, the people of Kraków built the Kościuszko Mound (Polish: Kopiec Kościuszki w Olkuszu) to commemorate the Polish leader. A similar mound was built in 1861 at Olkusz.

He is the patron of Kraków University of Technology, Wrocław Military University, and countless other schools and gymnasia throughout Poland.

There are also streets named for Kościuszko in Saint Petersburg, Russia; downtown Belgrade, Serbia; Budapest, Hungary; and Vilnius, Lithuania. There is a Kosciusko Avenue in Geelong, Victoria and one in Canberra in Australia. There is even a small street named after him in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A Kosciuszko monument in Minsk, Belarus was dedicated in 2005.