Poland i/ˈpoʊlənd/ (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe 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 Russianexclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi), making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world[7] and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, being its most populous post-communist member. Poland is a unitary state made up of sixteen voivodeships. Poland is a member of the European Union, NATO, the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, theOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Economic Area, International Energy Agency, Council of Europe, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, International Atomic Energy Agency and G6.
- On 1 July 2011, Poland replaced Hungary as the holder of the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
- Poland togethere with Ukraine will organize European Football Championship in June 2012.
Short History
The establishment of a Polish state is often identified with the adoption of Christianity by its ruler Mieszko I in 966, over the territory similar to that of present-day Poland. The Kingdom of Polandwas formed in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a long association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin, forming the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth ceased to exist in 1795 as the Polish lands were partitioned among the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Austria. Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic in 1918. Two decades later, in September 1939, World War II started with the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invasion on Poland. Over six million Polish citizens died in the war. Poland reemerged several years later within the Soviet sphere of influence as the People’s Republic in existence until 1989. During the Revolutions of 1989, communist rule was overthrown and soon after, Poland became what is constitutionally known as the „Third Polish Republic”.
Despite the vast destruction the country experienced in World War II, Poland managed to preserve much of its cultural wealth. Since the end of the communist period, Poland has achieved a „very high” ranking in terms of human development and standard of living.
Present-day Poland
A shock therapy programme, initiated by Leszek Balcerowicz in the early 1990s enabled the country to transform its socialist-style planned economy into a market economy. As with all other post-communist countries, Poland suffered temporary slumps in social and economic standards, but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989 GDP levels, which it achieved by 1995 largely thanks to its booming economy.
Most visibly, there were numerous improvements in human rights, such as the freedom of speech. In 1991, Poland became a member of the Visegrád Group and joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance in 1999 along with the Czech Republic and Hungary. Poles then voted to join the European Union in a referendum in June 2003, with Poland becoming a full member on 1 May 2004. Subsequently Poland joined the Schengen Area in 2007, as a result of which, the country’s borders with other member states of the European Union have been dismantled, allowing for full freedom of movement within most of the EU. In contrast to this, the section of Poland’s eastern border now comprising the external EU border with Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, has become increasingly well protected, and has led in part to the coining of the phrase ‘Fortress Europe’, in reference to the seeming ‘impossibility’ of gaining entry to the EU for citizens of the former Soviet Union.
On April 10, 2010, the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, along with 89 other high-ranking Polish officials died in a plane crash near Smolensk, Russia. The president’s party were on their way to attend an annual service of commemoration for the victims of the Katyń massacre when the tragedy took place.
Geography
Poland’s territory extends across several geographical regions, between latitudes 49° and 55° N, and longitudes 14° and 25° E. In the northwest is the Baltic seacoast, which extends from the Bay of Pomerania to the Gulf of Gdańsk. 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 theSzczecin Lagoon, the Bay of Puck, and the Vistula Lagoon. The centre and parts of the north lie within the North European Plain.
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.
Climate
The climate is mostly temperate throughout the country. The climate is oceanic in the north and west and becomes gradually warmer and continental towards the south and east. Summers are generally warm, with average temperatures between 17 °C (63 °F) and 20 °C (68.0 °F). Winters are cold, with average temperatures around 3 °C (37.4 °F) in the northwest and −6 °C (21 °F) in the northeast. Precipitation falls throughout the year, although, especially in the east; winter is drier than summer.
The warmest region in Poland is Lower Silesian located in south-western Poland where temperatures in the summer average between 22 °C (71.6 °F) and 30 °C (86 °F) but can go as high as 32 °C(89.6 °F) to 38 °C (100.4 °F) on some days in the warmest month of July and August. The warmest cities in Poland are Tarnów, which is situated in Lesser Poland and Wrocław, which is located inLower Silesian. The average temperatures in Wrocław being 20 °C (68 °F) in the summer and 0 °C (32.0 °F) in the winter, but Tarnów has the longest summer in whole Poland, which lasts for 115 days, from mid-May to mid-September. The coldest region of Poland is in the northeast in the Podlaskie Voivodeship near the border of Belarus. Usually the coldest city is Suwałki. The climate is affected by cold fronts which come from Scandinavia and Siberia. The average temperature in the winter in Podlaskie ranges from −6 °C (21 °F) to −4 °C (25 °F).
Politics
Poland is a democracy, with a president as a head of state, whose current constitution dates from 1997. The government structure centers on the Council of Ministers, led by a prime minister. The president appoints the cabinet according to the proposals of the prime minister, typically from the majority coalition in the Sejm. The president is elected by popular vote every five years. The current president is Bronisław Komorowski.
Polish voters elect a bicameral parliament consisting of a 460-member lower house (Sejm) and a 100-member Senate (Senat). The Sejm is elected under proportional representation according to the d’Hondt method, a method similar to that used in many parliamentary political systems. The Senat, on the other hand, is elected under the First-past-the-post voting method, with one senator being returned from each of the 100 constituencies.
Law
The Constitution of Poland is the supreme law in contemporary Poland, and the Polish legal system is based on the principle of civil rights, governed by the code of Civil Law. Historically, the most famous Polish legal act is the Constitution of May 3, 1791. Historian Norman Davies describes it as the first of its kind in Europe.[51] The Constitution was instituted as a Government Act (Polish: Ustawa rządowa) and then adopted on May 3, 1791 by the Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Poland’s current constitution was adopted by the National Assembly of Poland on 2 April 1997, approved by a national referendum on 25 May 1997, and came into effect on 17 October 1997. It guarantees a multi-party state, the freedoms of religion, speech and assembly, and specifically casts off many Communist ideals to create a ‘free marketeconomic system’. It requires public officials to pursue ecologically sound public policy and acknowledges the inviolability of the home, the right to form trade unions, and to strike, whilst at the same time prohibiting the practices of forced medical experimentation, torture and corporal punishment.
Economy
Poland’s high-income economy is considered to be one of the healthiest of the post-Communist countries and is currently one of the fastest growing within the EU. Having a strong domestic market, low private debt, flexible currency, and not being dependent on a single export sector, Poland is the only European economy to have avoided the late-2000s recession. Since the fall of the communist government, Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy of liberalising the economy and today stands out as a successful example of the transition from a centrally planned economy to a primarily market-based economy. In 2009 Poland had the highest GDP growth in the EU. As of November 2009, the Polish economy has not entered the global recession of the late 2000s nor has it even contracted.
According to a Credit Suisse report, Poles are the second wealthiest (after Czechs) of the Central European peoples. This makes Poland an attractive destination for many guest workers from Asia and Eastern Europe. Even though Poland is rather an ethnically homogeneous country, the number of foreigners is growing every year.
Poland is recognised as a regional economic power within Central Europe, possessing nearly 40 percent of the 500 biggest companies in the region (by revenues). Poland was the only member of the EU to avoid the recession of the late 2000s, a testament to the Polish economy’s stability. The country’s most competitive firms are components of the WIG20 which is traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Well known Polish brands include, amongst others, Tyskie, Fakro, Comarch, LOT Polish Airlines, PKN Orlen, E. Wedel, Empik, Poczta Polska, PKO Bank, PKP, Mostostal, PZU Insurance, and TVP.
Poland is recognised as having an economy with significant development potential, overtaking the Netherlands in mid-2010 to become Europe’s sixth largest economy. Foreign Direct Investment in Poland has remained strong ever since the country’s re-democratisation following the Round Table Agreement in 1989. Despite this, problems do exist, and further progress in achieving success depends largely on the government’s privatisation of Poland’s remaining state industries and continuing development and modernisation of the economy.
Tourism
Poland is a major part of the global tourism market and is currently experiencing an upward trend in its number of visitors; this began shortly after joining the European Union. Tourism in Poland contributes to the country’s overall economy and makes up a relatively large proportion of the country’s service market. The most attractive urban destinations for tourists are Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, Lublin and Toruń; in addition to these the historic site of the Auschwitz concentration camp near Oświęcim is a noteworthy place of pilgrimage and a now constitutes a major monument to the prevention of war and suffering in Southern Poland. Popular areas of natural beauty include northeast Poland’s Masurian Lake District and Białowieża Forest. Poland’s main tourist offerings are thought to be based around city-sightseeing and extra-urban historical monuments, business trips, qualified tourism, agrotourism, and mountain hiking, among others.
Poland was the 17th most visited country by foreign tourists in 2008.
Education
The education of Polish society was a goal of rulers as early as the 12th century, and Poland soon became one of the most educated countries in Europe. The library catalogue of the Cathedral Chapter of Kraków dating back to 1110 shows that in the early 12th century Polish intellectuals had access to European literature. The Jagiellonian University, founded in 1364 by King Casimir III in Kraków, is one of Europe’s oldest universities. In 1773 King Stanisław August Poniatowski established the Commission of National Education (Komisja Edukacji Narodowej), the world’s first state ministry of education.
The first university in Poland, Kraków’s Jagiellonian University, was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kraków. It is the oldest university in Poland. It is the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world. The idea to found the university was first conceived when Poland’s King Casimir III realized that the nation needed a class of educated people, especially lawyers, who could codify the country’s laws and administer the courts and offices. His efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were finally rewarded when Pope Urban V granted him permission to open the University of Krakow.
Since changes made in 2009 education in Poland starts at the age of five or six for the 0 class (Kindergarten) and six or seven years in the 1st class of primary school (Polish szkoła podstawowa). It is compulsory that children do one year of formal education before entering 1st class at no later than 7 years of age. At the end of 6th class when the students are 13, they take a compulsory exam that will determine to which lower secondary school (gimnazjum, pronounced gheem-nah-sium) (Middle School/Junior High) they will be accepted. They will attend this school for three years for classes, 7, 8, and 9. They then take another compulsory exam to determine the upper secondary level school they will attend. There are several alternatives, the most common being the three years in a liceum or four years in a technikum. Both end with a maturity examination (matura, quite similar to French baccalauréat), and may be followed by several forms of upper education, leading to licencjat or inżynier (the Polish Bologna Process first cycle qualification), magister (the Polish Bologna Process second cycle qualification) and eventually doktor (the Polish Bologna Process third cycle qualification).
There are currently 18 fully accredited traditional universities in Poland, these are then further supplemented by 20 technical universities, nine independent medical universities and five universities for the study of economics. In addition to these institutions there are then nine agricultural academies, three pedagogical universities, a theological academy and three maritime service universities. Poland’s long and history of promoting the arts has led to the establishment of a number of higher educational institutes dedicated to the teaching of the arts. Amongst these are the seven higher state academies of music. All of these institutions are further supplemented by a large number of private educational institutions and the four national military academies (two for the army and one for each of the other branches of service), bringing the total number of organisations for the pursuit of higher education to well over 500, one of the largest numbers in Europe. The Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Poland’s educational system as the 23rd best in the world, being neither significantly higher nor lower than the OECD average.
Society
Poland has a great, long standing tradition of tolerance towards minorities, as well as absence of discrimination on the grounds of religion, nationality or race. It has a high level of gender equality, promotes disability rights movement, and is legally and socially tolerant towards homosexuality. Poland is the first country in the world where corporal punishment was prohibited. Poland has, throughout most of its long history, experienced only very limited immigration from abroad; this trend can largely be attributed to Poland’s lack of slavery and overseas colonies as well as its lack of existence as a state during much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite this, the country has for a long time been regarded as having a very tolerant society, which affords equal rights to all people no matter what their ethnic background.
Cuisine
Polish cuisine has influenced the cuisines of its surrounding countries. For centuries the Polish kitchen has been the arena for competing with France and Italy. It is rich in meat, especially chicken and pork, and winter vegetables (cabbage in the dish bigos), and spices, as well as different kinds of pasta the most notable of which are the pierogi. Polish national cuisine shares some similarities with other Central European and Eastern European traditions. Generally speaking, Polish cuisine is hearty. The preparation of traditional cuisine generally is time intensive and Poles allow themselves a generous amount of time to prepare and enjoy their festive meals, with some meals (like Christmas Eve or Easter breakfast) taking a number of days to prepare in their entirety. It is worth noting that most regions of Poland have their own local gastronomic traditions and distinctive flavours.
Notable foods in Polish cuisine include: soups - rosół, barszcz, żurek, krupnik, kapuśniak, zupa pomidorowa, zupa ogórkowa, zupa grzybowa, flaczki (tripe soup); pierogi, kiełbasa, gołąbki,oscypek, kotlet schabowy, kotlet mielony, bigos, various potato dishes, kanapka, and many more. Traditional Polish desserts include pączki, faworki, gingerbread, babka and others.