Poland

Republic of Poland Rzeczpospolita Polska  (Polish)
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: "Mazurek Dąbrowskiego" ("Poland Is Not Yet Lost")
Location of  Poland  (dark green) – on the European continent  (green & dark grey) – in the European Union  (green)  —  [Legend]
Capital and largest city	Warsaw 52°13′N 21°02′E
Official language	Polish
Ethnic groups (2021)	98.84% Polish 96.28% only Polish 2.56% Polish and others 1.13% only non-Polish 0.03% unknown
Religion (2021)	72.4% Christianity 71.3% Catholicism 1.1% other Christian 6.9% no religion 0.1% other 20.6% unanswered
Demonym(s)	Polish Pole
Government	Unitary parliamentary republic
• President	Andrzej Duda
• Prime Minister	Donald Tusk
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	Sejm
Formation
• Duchy of Poland	c. 960
• Christianization	966
• Kingdom of Poland	18 April 1025
• Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth	1 July 1569
• Partitions of Poland	24 October 1795
• Second Republic	11 November 1918
• Government-in-exile	17 September 1939
• People's Republic	22 July 1944
• Third Republic	31 December 1989
Area
• Total	312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi) (69th)
• Water (%)	1.48 (2015)
Population
• 2024 census	36,620,970 (38th)
• Density	122/km2 (316.0/sq mi) (75th)
GDP (PPP)	2024 estimate
• Total	$1.801 trillion (20th)
• Per capita	$49,060 (39th)
GDP (nominal)	2024 estimate
• Total	$844.623 billion (21st)
• Per capita	$23,014 (45th)
Gini (2022)	26.3 low
HDI (2022)	0.881 very high · 36th
Currency	Złoty (PLN)
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Date format	dd.mm.yyyy (CE)
Driving side	right
Calling code	+48
ISO 3166 code	PL
Internet TLD	.pl [a]
Also .eu, shared with other European Union member states.

Poland is a country in the eastern region of Central Europe. Its official name is Republic of Poland. It is on the east of Germany (along Oder and Lusatian Neisse). The Czech Republic and Slovakia are to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania, and the Russian exclave Kaliningrad to the north. The total land area of Poland is about 312,679 km² (120,728 mi²), slightly larger than Oman. This makes Poland the 77th largest country in the world with over 38.5 million people. Most Polish people live in large cities, including the capital, Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa), Łódź, Cracow (Polish: Kraków), the second capital of Poland (first was Gniezno), Szczecin, Gdańsk, Wrocław and Poznań.

The word "Poland" was written officially for the first time in 966. In 1569, Poland formed a strong union with Lithuania called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. At some point in its history, it was the largest state in Europe and became very influential. Eventually, after a slow decline, the Commonwealth collapsed in 1795. Poland regained its independence in 1918 after World War I. In 1921, Poland defeated Soviet Russia in the Polish-Soviet War that started in 1919.

However, Poland lost independence again not long after the beginning of World War II, after suffering a defeat by both the USSR and Nazi Germany. Although the government collapsed, the Polish people fought on by forming the largest and most effective resistance movement in Nazi-occupied Europe. It is most notable for disrupting German supply lines to the Eastern Front of WWII, providing military intelligence to the British, and for saving more Jewish lives in the Holocaust than any other Allied organization or government. After the war, Poland regained "independence" and became a communist country within the Eastern Bloc. The new government was appointed by Joseph Stalin and was under the control of the Soviet Union.

In 1989, Poland ceased being a communist country and became a liberal democracy. Its change of government was the first in a series of events that led to the states of Eastern and Central Europe regaining their independence and the fall of the USSR in 1991. After the democratic consolidation, Poland joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. Poland is also a member of NATO, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization.

History

See the main article: History of Poland

Early history

Slavic tribes 600-800

The first sign of humans in Polish lands was 500,000 years ago. The Bronze Age started around 2400-2300 BC. The Iron Age started around 750-700 BC. At that time the Polish lands were under the influence of the Lusatian culture. About 400 BC Celtic and Germanic tribes lived there. Those people had trade contacts with the Roman Empire.

Over time, Slavs came to Polish lands. Some of those Slavs, now commonly referred to as Western Slavs (though in reality a diverse group of tribes with shared ethnic and cultural features), stayed there and started to create new nations. The most powerful tribe was called the Polans, who united all of the other Slavic tribes living there, and this is where the name "Poland" comes from.

Piast and Jagiellon dynasties

Poland 960-992

Boleslaw I of Poland

Poland began to form a country around the middle of the 10th century in the Piast dynasty. In 966, Prince Mieszko I became a Christian, and so the Polish people also became Christians. The next king was Bolesław I of Poland (called Bolesław the Brave). He conquered many lands and he became the first King of Poland. Casimir I of Poland changed the Polish capital from Gniezno to Kraków. In the 12th century, Poland broke into some smaller states after the death of King Bolesław III Wrymouth in 1138 because of his will. Those states were later attacked by Mongol armies in 1241, which slowed down the unification of the small states into the big country of Poland. This happened eighty years later, in 1320 when Władysław I became the King of United Poland. His son Casimir III the Great reformed the Polish economy, built new castles, and won the war against the Ruthenian Dukedom. Many people emigrated to Poland, becoming a haven for emigrants. Many Jewish people also moved into Poland during that time. The Black Death, which affected many parts of Europe from 1347 to 1351, did not come to Poland.

After the death of the last Piast on the Polish throne, Casimir III, Louis I of Hungary and his daughter Jadwiga of Poland began their rule. She married the Lithuanian prince Jogaila. Their marriage started a new dynasty in Poland: the Jagiellon dynasty. Under the Jagiellon dynasty, Poland made an alliance with its neighbor Lithuania.

Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to Second Republic of Poland

Polish-Lithuanian Union when it was largest 1618-1655

In the 17th century Sweden attacked almost all of Poland (this was called “the Deluge”). Many wars against the Ottoman Empire, Russia, Cossacks, Transylvania and Brandenburg-Prussia ended in 1699. For the next 80 years, the government and the nation were weak, making Poland dependent on Russia. Russian tsars took advantage of this by offering money to dishonest members of the Polish government, who would block new ideas and solutions. Russia, Prussia, and Austria broke Poland into three pieces in 1772, 1793 and 1795, which dissolved the country. Before the second split, a Constitution called "The Constitution of 3 May" was made in 1791.

Napoleon made another Polish state, “the Duchy of Warsaw”, but after the Napoleonic wars, Poland was split again by the countries at the Congress of Vienna. The eastern part was ruled by the Russian tsar. The Polish people did not like the new kings, and often rebelled (two big rebellions in 1830 and 1863). During World War I all the Allies agreed to save Poland. Soon after the surrender of Germany in November 1918, Poland became the Second Polish Republic (II Rzeczpospolita Polska). It got its freedom after several military conflicts; the largest was the 1919-1921 Polish-Soviet War.

World War II

Poland 1922-1939

On September 1, 1939, World War II started when Nazi Germany attacked Poland. The Soviet Union attacked Poland on September 17, 1939. Warsaw was defeated on September 28, 1939. Poland was split into two pieces, one half owned by Nazi Germany, the other by the Soviet Union. More than 6 million Polish people died, and half of these people were Jewish. Most of these deaths were part of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews and 1.5 poles were killed. At the war's end, Poland's borders were moved west, pushing the eastern border to the Curzon line. The western border was moved to the Oder-Neisse line. The new Poland became 20% smaller by 77,500 square kilometers (29,900 sq mi). The shift forced millions of Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, and Jews to move.

Polish People's Republic to Third Polish Republic

Poland's current boundaries were made after 1945. The grey areas went from Poland to the Soviet Union. The red areas from Germany to Poland.

After these events, Poland gradually became a communist country. It was supposedly an independent country, but in reality, the new government was appointed by Joseph Stalin and was also under the control of the Soviet Union. The country was then renamed the People's Republic of Poland. There are many Poles in the neighboring countries Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania (these three countries were part of the Soviet Union until 1991), as well as in other countries. Most Poles outside of Poland are in the United States, especially in Chicago. Germany and the United Kingdom are also home to a large Polish diaspora. The most recent mass emigration of Poles to western countries began after 1989.

In 1989 Solidarity - a trade union led by Lech Wałęsa - helped defeat the communist government in Poland. Even before that event, Lech Wałęsa was given a Nobel Prize for leading the first non-communist trade union fighting for democracy in the Communist Block. When Communism ended in Poland there were many improvements in human rights, such as freedom of speech, democracy, etc. In 1991 Poland became a member of the Visegrad Group and joined NATO in 1999 along with the Czech Republic and Hungary. Polish voters then voted to join the European Union in a vote in June 2003. The country joined the EU on May 1, 2004.

Currently, the Prime Minister is Mateusz Morawiecki. On 10 April 2010 the President Lech Kaczyński died in a government plane crash in Smolensk in Russia. The president is elected directly by the citizens for a five-year term. The Prime Minister is appointed by the President and confirmed by the "Sejm". The Sejm is the lower chamber of Parliament legislature for the country. It has 460 deputies elected every four years.

Geography

Physical land features of Poland

Poland's territory is a plain reaching from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Carpathian Mountains in the south. Within that plain, the land varies from east to west.

The Polish Baltic coast is mostly smooth but has natural harbors in the Gdańsk-Gdynia region and Szczecin in the far northwest. This coast has several spits, dunes, and coastal lakes. Coast lakes are former bays that have been cut off from the sea. These areas are sometimes called lagoons. Szczecin Lagoon is on the western border with Germany. The Vistula Lagoon is on the eastern border with Kaliningrad, province of Russia. The longest river in Poland, the Vistula river, empties into the Vistula Lagoon and also directly into the Baltic Sea.

The northeastern region is densely wooded, sparsely populated, and lacks agricultural and industrial resources. The geographical region has four hilly districts of moraines and lakes created by moraines. These formed during and after the Pleistocene ice age. The Masurian Lake District is the largest of the four districts and covers much of northeastern Poland.

Poland has many lakes. In Europe, only Finland has more lakes. The largest lakes are Śniardwy and Mamry. In addition to the lake districts in the north, there are also many mountain lakes in the Tatras mountains.

South of the northeastern region is the regions of Silesia and Masovia, which are marked by the broad ice-age river valleys. The Silesia region has many resources and people. Coal is abundant. Lower Silesia has large copper mining. Masovian Plain is in central Poland. It is in the valleys of three large rivers: Vistula, Bug and Narew.

Further south is the Polish mountain region. These mountains include the Sudetes and the Carpathian Mountains. The highest part of the Carpathians is the Tatra mountains which is along Poland’s southern border. The tallest mountain in Poland, Rysy at 2,503 m (8,210 ft), is in the High Tatras.

Climate

Poland has a continental climate.

The highest temperature ever recorded in Poland was 40.2 °C (104.4 °F) on 29 July 1921 in Prószków. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Poland was −41.0 °C (−41.8 °F) on 11 January 1940 in Siedlce.

Top 5 warmest days

Rank	Temperature	Date	Location
1.	40.2 °C (104.4 °F)	29 July 1921	Prószków
2.	38.4 °C (101.1 °F)	19 June 2022	Słubice
3.	38.2 °C (100.8 °F)	26 July 2019	Radzyń
4.	37.6 °C (99.7 °F)	20 July 2022	Wrocław
5.	37.3 °C (99.1 °F)	1 August 2020, 13 July 2010	Kikoły, Hajnowka

Administrative divisions

Poland is made of sixteen regions known as voivodeships (województwa, singular - województwo). They are basically created from the country's historical regions, whereas those of the past two decades (till 1998) had been focused on and named for separate cities. The new units range in areas from under 10,000 km² (Opole Voivodeship) to over 35,000 km² (Masovian Voivodeship). Voivodeships are controlled by voivod governments, and their legislatures are called voivodeship sejmiks.

The sixteen voivodeships that make up Poland are further divided into powiaty (singular powiat), second-level units of administration, which are about the same as to a county, district or prefecture in other countries.

Voivodeship Capital city or cities in Polish Kuyavia-Pomerania Kujawsko-Pomorskie Bydgoszcz / Toruń Greater Poland Wielkopolskie Poznań Lesser Poland Małopolskie Kraków Łódź Łódzkie Łódź Lower Silesia Dolnośląskie Wrocław Lublin Lubelskie Lublin Lubusz Lubuskie Gorzów Wielkopolski / Zielona Góra Masovia Mazowieckie Warsaw (National Capital) Opole Opolskie Opole Podlaskie Podlaskie Białystok Pomerania Pomorskie Gdańsk Silesia Śląskie Katowice Subcarpathia Podkarpackie Rzeszów Swietokrzyskie Świętokrzyskie Kielce Warmia-Masuria Warmińsko-Mazurskie Olsztyn West Pomerania Zachodniopomorskie Szczecin

Literature

Henryk Sienkiewicz, famous Polish novelist

Almost no Polish literature remains before Christianisation in the 10th century. Polish literature was written in the Latin language during the Middle Ages. The Polish language was accepted as equal to Latin after the Renaissance for literature.

Jan Kochanowski was a leading poet of European Renaissance literature in the 16th century. Other great Polish poets include Adam Mickiewicz who wrote Pan Tadeusz epic in 1834.

Several Polish novelists have won the Nobel prize. Henryk Sienkiewicz won in 1905 dramatized versions of beginnings of Christianity (Quo Vadis). Władysław Reymont won a Nobel prize in 1924. He wrote the novel Chłopi, recently filmed. Olga Tokarczuk 2018. Two Polish poets won Nobel prizes as well. One is Czesław Miłosz (1980) and the second Wisława Szymborska (1996).

Stanisław Lem is a famous science fiction author in the modern era. His Solaris novel was made twice into a feature film.

People

See the main article: Poles

Frederic Chopin, famous Polish composer and pianist

In the past, Poland was inhabited by people from different nations and of different religions (mainly Catholics, Orthodox and Judaism). This changed after 1939, because of the Nazi Holocaust which killed many Polish Jews. After World War II, the country was changed into a communist country, by the Warsaw Pact which included most central European countries and Russia Russia.

Today 38,038,000 people live in Poland (2011). In 2002 96.74% of the population call themselves Polish, while 471,500 people (1.23%) claimed another nationality. 774,900 people (2.03%) did not declare any nationality. Nationalities, or ethnic groups in Poland are Silesians, Germans (most in the former Opole Voivodeship), Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Russians, Jews, Roma and Belarusians. The Polish language is part of the West Slavic section of the Slavic languages. It is also the official language of Poland. English and German are the most common second languages studied and spoken.

Marie Curie, famous Polish chemist and two time Nobel Prize winner

In the past few years, Poland's population has gone down because of an increase in emigration and a sharp drop in the birth rate. In 2006, the census office estimated the total population of Poland at 38,536,869, a very small rise from the 2002 figure of 38,230,080. Since Poland's accession to the European Union, many Polish people have moved to work in Western European countries like the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Some organizations state people have left because of high unemployment (10.5%) and better opportunities for work somewhere else. In April 2007, the Polish population of the United Kingdom had risen to about 300,000 people and estimates predict about 65,000 Polish people living in the Republic of Ireland. However, in recent years strong growth of the Polish economy and the increasing value of Polish currency (PLN) makes many Polish immigrants go back home. In 2007, the number of people leaving the country was lower than people who are coming back. Poland became an attractive place to work for people from other countries (mainly Ukraine).

A Polish minority is still present in neighboring countries of Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania, as well as in other countries. The largest number of ethnic Poles outside of the country can be found in the United States.

Famous people

• Fryderyk Chopin, a music composer.
• Joseph Conrad, born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, an acclaimed author who however wrote in English.
• Nicolaus Copernicus, an astronomer who showed that the Earth moves around the Sun.
• Maria Skłodowska-Curie discovered radium and polonium.
• Franciszek Kamieński, discovered mycorrhiza.
• Tadeusz Kościuszko, an army commander who fought for USA's and Poland's independence.
• Robert Kubica, a F1 driver.
• Stanisław Lem, a science fiction writer.
• Adam Małysz, a ski-jumper.
• Adam Mickiewicz, a poet
• Pope John Paul II (earlier Karol Wojtyła). Before he became Pope, he was a Bishop in Kraków.
• Agnieszka Radwańska, female tennis player
• Władysław Reymont, a novelist
• Henryk Sienkiewicz, a novelist
• Kamil Stoch, a ski jumper
• Wisława Szymborska, a writer
• Andrzej Wajda, a film director
• Lech Wałęsa, leader of "Solidarność" ("Solidarity"), he helped defeat the communist government in Poland and USSR influence in Central and Eastern Europe
• Robert Lewandowski, a football player
• Czesław Miłosz, a poet
• Jan Matejko, a painter

Urban demographics

Warsaw

Kraków

Poznań

Wrocław

Łódź

Gdańsk

Szczecin

Katowice

See the main article: List of cities and towns in Poland

The lists below show the population count of Poland's largest cities based on 2005 estimates.

	Agglomeration or conurbation	Voivodeship	Inhabitants (Estimated, 2005)
1	Katowice (USIA)	Silesia	3,487,000
2	Warsaw (Warszawa)	Masovia	2,679,000
3	Kraków	Lesser Poland	1,400,000
4	Łódź	Łódź	1,300,000
5	Tricity	Pomerania	1,100,000
6	Poznań	Greater Poland	1,000,000

	City	Voivodeship	Inhabitants May 20, 2002	Inhabitants December 31, 2004
1	Warsaw (Warszawa)	Masovia	1,671,670	1,692,854
2	Łódź	Łódź	789,318	774,004
3	Kraków	Lesser Poland	758,544	757,430
4	Wrocław	Lower Silesia	640,367	636,268
5	Poznań	Greater Poland	578,886	570,778
6	Gdańsk	Pomerania	461,334	459,072
7	Szczecin	Western Pomerania	415,399	411,900
8	Bydgoszcz	Kuyavia-Pomerania	373,804	368,235
9	Lublin	Lublin	357,110	355,998
10	Katowice	Silesia	327,222	319,904
11	Białystok	Podlaskie	291,383	292,150
12	Gdynia	Pomerania	253,458	253,324
13	Częstochowa	Silesia	251,436	248,032
14	Sosnowiec	Silesia	232,622	228,192
15	Radom	Masovia	229,699	227,613
16	Kielce	Świętokrzyskie	212,429	209,455
17	Toruń	Kuyavia-Pomerania	211,243	208,278
18	Gliwice	Silesia	203,814	200,361
19	Zabrze	Silesia	195,293	192,546
20	Bytom	Silesia	193,546	189,535
21	Bielsko-Biała	Silesia	178,028	176,987
22	Olsztyn	Warmia-Masuria	173,102	174,550
23	Rzeszów	Subcarpathia	160,376	159,020
24	Ruda Śląska	Silesia	150,595	147,403
25	Rybnik	Silesia	142,731	141,755
26	Tychy	Silesia	132,816	131,547
27	Dąbrowa Górnicza	Silesia	132,236	130,789
28	Opole	Opole	129,946	128,864
29	Płock	Masovia	128,361	127,841
30	Elbląg	Warmia-Masuria	128,134	127,655
31	Wałbrzych	Lower Silesia	130,268	127,566
32	Gorzów Wielkopolski	Lubusz	125,914	125,578
33	Włocławek	Kuyavia-Pomerania	121,229	120,369
34	Tarnów	Lesser Poland	119,913	118,267
35	Zielona Góra	Lubusz	118,293	118,516
36	Chorzów	Silesia	117,430	115,241
37	Kalisz	Greater Poland	109,498	108,792
38	Koszalin	Western Pomerania	108,709	107,773
39	Legnica	Lower Silesia	107,100	106,143
40	Słupsk	Pomerania	100,376	99,827
41	Grudziądz	Kuyavia-Pomerania	99,943	98,757
42	Jaworzno	Silesia	98,780	96,600

Related pages

• List of rivers of Poland
• Poland at the Olympics
• Poland national football team

Other websites

• Tourist information portal
• Poland.gov.pl - Polish national portal Archived 2008-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Poland at the World Factbook Archived 2019-08-18 at the Wayback Machine
• Background Note: Poland
• WorldFlicks in Poland: photos and interesting places on Google Maps Archived 2008-05-03 at the Wayback Machine