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| Rzeczpospolita Polska
Republic of Poland
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|
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Anthem: Mazurek Dąbrowskiego (Polish)
Dąbrowski's Mazurek
("Poland Is Not Yet Lost") (English).
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Capital
(and largest city) |
Warsaw
 52°13′N, 21°02′E |
| Official languages |
Polish² |
| Demonym |
Pole/Polish |
| Government |
Parliamentary republic |
| - |
President |
Lech Kaczyński |
| - |
Prime Minister |
Donald Tusk |
| Formation |
| - |
Christianisation4 |
14 April 966 |
| - |
Redeclared |
11 November 1918 |
| EU accession |
1 May 2004 |
| Area |
| - |
Total |
312,685 km² (69th³)
120,728 sq mi |
| - |
Water (%) |
3.07 |
| Population |
| - |
Dec. 2007 census |
38,115,641[1] (33rd) |
| - |
Density |
122/km² (83rd)
319.9/sq mi |
| GDP (PPP) |
2007 (IMF) estimate |
| - |
Total |
$620.9 billion (21st) |
| - |
Per capita |
$16,600 (2007) (50th) |
| GDP (nominal) |
2007 (IMF) estimate |
| - |
Total |
$413.3 billion (24th) |
| - |
Per capita |
$11,693 (49th) |
| HDI (2005) |
▲ 0.870 (high) (37th) |
| Currency |
Złoty (PLN) |
| Time zone |
CET (UTC+1) |
| - |
Summer (DST) |
CEST (UTC+2) |
| Internet TLD |
.pl5 |
| Calling code |
+48 |
1 See, however, Unofficial mottos of Poland.
² Although not official languages, Belarusian, Kashubian, Lithuanian and German are used in 20 communal offices.
³ The area of Poland according to the administrative division, as given by the Central Statistical Office,[2]
amounts to 312,679 km²: land area (311 888 km²) and part of internal
waters (791 km²) cut by the coast line. The area of Poland's territory,
including all internal waters and the territorial sea, is 322 575 km².
4 The adoption of Christianity
in Poland is seen by many Poles, regardless of their religious
affiliation, as one of the most significant national historical events;
the new religion was used to unify the tribes in the region.
5 Also .eu, as Poland is a member of the European Union. |
Poland [ˈpoʊlənd] (help·info) (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska), is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 km² (120,728 sq mi),[2] making it the 69th largest country in the world and 9th in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38.5 million people, which makes it the 33rd most populous country in the world.[3]
The establishment of a Polish state is often identified with the adoption of Christianity by its ruler Mieszko I in 966 (see Baptism of Poland), when the state covered territory similar to that of present-day Poland. Poland became a kingdom in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a long association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by uniting to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth collapsed in 1795, and its territory was partitioned among Prussia, Russia, and Austria. Poland regained its independence in 1918 after World War I but lost it again in World War II, occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Poland lost over six million citizens in World War II, and emerged several years later as a socialist republic within the Eastern Bloc under strong Soviet influence. In 1989 communist rule was overthrown and Poland became what is constitutionally known as the "Third Polish Republic". Poland is a unitary state made up of sixteen voivodeships (Polish: województwo). Poland is also a member of the European Union, NATO and OECD.
Geography
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Poland’s territory extends across several geographical regions. In the northwest is the Baltic seacoast, which extends from the Bay of Pomerania to the Gulf of Gdansk. This coast is marked by several spits, coastal lakes (former bays that have been cut off from the sea), and dunes. The largely straight coastline is indented by the Szczecin Lagoon, the Bay of Puck, and the Vistula Lagoon. The center and parts of the north lie within the North European Plain. Rising gently above these lowlands is a geographical region comprising the four hilly districts of moraines and moraine-dammed lakes formed during and after the Pleistocene ice age. These lake districts are the Pomeranian Lake District, the Greater Polish Lake District, the Kashubian Lake District, and the Masurian Lake District.
The Masurian Lake District is the largest of the four and covers much
of northeastern Poland. The lake districts form part of the Baltic
Ridge, a series of moraine belts along the southern shore of the Baltic
Sea. South of the Northern European Lowlands lie the regions of Silesia and Masovia, which are marked by broad ice-age river valleys. Farther south lies the Polish mountain region, including the Sudetes, the Cracow-Częstochowa Upland, the Świętokrzyskie Mountains, and the Carpathian Mountains, including the Beskids. The highest part of the Carpathians is the Tatra Mountains, along Poland’s southern border.
Rivers
The longest rivers are the Vistula (Polish: Wisła), 1,047 km (678 miles) long; the Oder (Polish: Odra) – which forms part of Poland’s western border – 854 km (531 miles) long; its tributary, the Warta, 808 km (502 miles) long; and the Bug – a tributary of the Vistula – 772 km (480 miles) long. The Vistula and the Oder flow into the Baltic Sea, as do numerous smaller rivers in Pomerania. The Łyna and the Angrapa flow by way of the Pregolya to the Baltic, and the Czarna Hańcza flows into the Baltic through the Neman.
While the great majority of Poland’s rivers drain into the Baltic Sea,
Poland’s Beskids are the source of some of the upper tributaries of the
Orava, which flows via the Váh and the Danube to the Black Sea. The eastern Beskids are also the source of some streams that drain through the Dniester to the Black Sea.
Poland’s rivers have been used since early times for navigation. The Vikings, for example, traveled up the Vistula and the Oder in their longships. In the Middle Ages and in early modern times, when Poland-Lithuania was the breadbasket of Europe, the shipment of grain and other agricultural products down the Vistula toward Gdańsk and onward to eastern Europe took on great importance. For an overview of Polish rivers, see Category:Rivers of Poland.
Geology
The geological structure of Poland has been shaped by the continental collision of Europe and Africa over the past 60 million years, on the one hand, and the Quaternary glaciations of northern Europe, on the other. Both processes shaped the Sudetes and the Carpathians. The moraine landscape of northern Poland contains soils made up mostly of sand or loam, while the ice-age river valleys of the south often contain loess. The Cracow-Częstochowa Upland, the Pieniny, and the Western Tatras consist of limestone, while the High Tatras, the Beskids, and the Karkonosze are made up mainly of granite and basalts. The Kraków-Częstochowa Upland is one of the oldest mountain ranges on earth.
Mountains and topography
Poland has 21 mountains over 2,000 metres (6,561 ft) in elevation, all in the High Tatras. The Polish Tatras, which consist of the High Tatras and the
Classical
from 
