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Official name - Republic of Poland, in Polish Polska, or Rzeczpospolita Polska, a country lying at the physical centre of the European continent, approximately between latitudes 49° and 55° N and longitudes 14° and 24° E. Except for its southern mountainous regions, the country consists almost entirely of lowlands within the North European Plain. The total area of Poland is 120,728 square miles (312,685 square kilometres). Its capital is Warsaw (Warszawa). Other major cities include Lodz, Krakow, Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk, Katowice, Elblag, Gdynia, Szczecin, and Olsztyn (see also: Polish cities).

Over the past millennium, the name Poland has been applied to a shifting territorial base. At one time, in the 16th century, Poland was the largest state in Europe after Russia. This popular statement is however very misleading, because what is now referred to as 16th century Poland, includes a number of other none Polish states. At other times there was no separate Polish state at all. Poland gained its independence in 1918, when Soviet Russia had to renounce all claims on Poland and other countries at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

In 1921 the by the Versailles Treaty newly established Poland received back large parts of land lost during the three Partitions, among them part of Gdansk Pomerania, which became known as Polish Corridor plus the harbor, post office and customs office of the city of Gdansk, (turned into Free City of Gdansk). Since the death of the Polish moderate leader Pilsudski in 1935, Poland's rulers have been openly nationalistic, lead by the highest authority in Poland the Primate of the Catholic Church of Poland, Cardinal August Hlond. In 1935 Pilsudski worried by the rise of power in Nazi Germany, tried to create a Polish, English and French coalition and start a preventative war with Germany, to abolish the Nazi regime. Unfortunately his ideas were not met with understanding from the French and English.

Years of attempts by Germany to negotiate return of Gdansk to Germany or an "extrteritorial highway" through the middle of the Polish territory were successively rejected by Poland, and seen as "peaceful aggression" on Polish independence, by one of the former Partitioning Powers. This and other conflicts (some of them staged like "Radio Gliwice")were used by the Nazi regime as an excuse to start World War II by attacking Westerplatte in Gdansk, the Polish military outpost.

Poland was overrun by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II. Its current frontiers, stretching for 2,198 miles (3,538 kilometres), were drawn by Soviet conquest in 1945; Poland's Lublin Communists helped the Soviet Union to make Poland a Soviet satellite country following the war, but one that was compared to the Soviet Union tolerant and progressive.

The Primate Cardinal August Hlond expelled the German clergy and the German population of the land, which in Poland became known as "Recovered Territories". In May 1985 the Szceczin bishop Jan Galecki praised the Polish clergy for the roll they played in the "Stabilisation of the Western Territories". The Polish Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski called the 1945 annexation of parts of Eastern Germany/ Poland's Western Territories "godgiven justice" and "the largest Anti-Reformation ever".

Labor turmoil in 1980 led to the formation of an independent trade union "Solidarity" (Solidarnosc) that over time became a political force and in 1989-1990 swept elections to both parliament and the presidency, displacing the communist party from government. A "shock therapy" program during the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its economy into one of the most robust in Central Europe, boosting hopes for early admission to the EU. Poland joined NATO in 1999.

Poland is bordered to the north by the Baltic Sea, to the northeast by Russia (the Kaliningrad area) and Lithuania, and to the east by Belarus and Ukraine. To the south the border follows the watershed of the Beskid, Carpathian, and the Sudeten (Sudety) mountains, which separate Poland from Slovakia and the Czech Republic, while to the west the border with Germany is defined by the western Neisse (Nysa Luzycka) and Odra rivers.

The territory which makes up Poland after 1945 is divided into several geographical and historical regions: Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Upper Silesia, Lower Silesia, Masovia, Warmia, Masuria, Kujavia, Pomerania, Pomerelia, Podhale and the Tatra Mountains.

Population: 38.6m: mainly Poles, with about 1.000.000 Germans, 120,000 Ukrainians, 30,000 Jews, Lithuanians, Russians, Lemkas and others.

Form of Government: unitary multiparty republic with two legislative houses (Sejm ; Senat ), see Polish constitution on Polish Misplaced Pages.

Monetary Unit: Zloty(PLN)=100 groszy; 1 USD=4.2 PLN (26/07/2001)
Country code: PL
TLD: .pl
International calling code: 48

Fig. 3 - Map of Poland Source: CIA World Factbook 2001

• Geography
  • Cities
• History
  • Rulers
  • Presidents
  • Prime Ministers
• People
• Religions
• Culture
  • Polish literature
  • Polish composers
  • Polish painters
  • Polish poets
  • Polish theater
  • Film History
  • Music
• Political System
  • Government
    • Urzad Ochrony Panstwa -- (Office for State Protection) intelligence agency
  • Political Parties
• Economy
• Communications
• Transportation
• Military
• Transnational issues
• Media
• Prominent Politicians

Language spoken: Polish (see Polish language).

For the national anthem see Mazurek Dabrowskiego.

Poland is divided into 16 regions or voivodships (Polish: województwo): Dolnoslaskie, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Lubelskie, Lubuskie, Lódzkie, Malopolskie, Mazowieckie, Opolskie, Podkarpackie, Podlaskie, Pomorskie, Slaskie, Swietokrzyskie, Warminsko-Mazurskie, Wielkopolskie, Zachodniopomorskie

Poland is also the name of a place in the United States of America: Poland, Ohio.