It is situated east of the Łeba river in the historic Pomerelian region, approximately 4 kilometres (2 mi) south-east of Wicko, 13 km (8 mi) north-west of Lębork, and 71 km (44 mi) north-west of the regional capital Gdańsk.
Białogarda is one of the oldest documented settlements of the region, mentioned in a 1209 deed, after Duke Sambor I of Pomerania had granted the castellany near the border with the Pomeranian Lands of Schlawe and Stolp to his younger brother Mestwin I. Mestwin's son, the Pomerelian duke Ratibor (Racibor Białogardzki), made Białogarda his residence between 1233 and 1262.
After Ratibor had invaded the adjacent Stolpe Land, then held by his elder brother Duke Swietopelk II, his castle was devastated in the following fratricidal war within the ruling Samborides dynasty. Ratibor was imprisoned, he later joined the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, to whose he bequested his Pomerelian lands. After the extinction of the Samborides, the State of the Teutonic Order purchased Pomerelia from Margrave Waldemar of Brandenburg in the 1309 Treaty of Soldin.
