 Quick
Facts |
| Capital |
Warsaw |
| Language |
Polish (official) |
| Government
President
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Republic
Lech Kaczyński |
Independence
•Christianisation
• Declared
• Redeclared |
966
10th century
Nov. 11, 1918 |
| Area |
311,904km²(68th) |
Population
• 2005 est.
• Density |
38,558,000 (32nd)
123.5/km² (64th) |
GDP (PPP)
• Total
• Per capita |
2005 estimate
$512.9 bn (23rd)
$13,275 (51st) |
| HDI (2003) |
0.858 (36th)–high |
| Currency |
Złoty (PLN) |
Time zone
• Summer DST |
CET (UTC+1)
CEST (UTC+2) |
| Internet TLD |
.pl |
| Calling code |
+48 |
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Quick Facts
about Poland |
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The Republic of Poland (Polish:
Rzeczpospolita Polska) is a country located
in Central Europe, between Germany to the
west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the
south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and
the Baltic Sea, Lithuania, and Russia (in
the form of the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave)
to the north.
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The Polish state was formed over
1,000 years ago under the Piast
dynasty, and reached its golden age
near the end of the 16th century
under the Jagiellonian dynasty, when
Poland was one of the largest,
wealthiest, and most powerful
countries in Europe.
In 1791 the
Sejm of the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth adopted the
Constitution of May 3, Europe's
first modern codified constitution,
and the second in the world after
the Constitution of the United
States. Soon afterwards, the country
ceased to exist after being
partitioned by its neighbours
Russia, Austria, and Prussia.
Poland
regained independence in 1918 in the
aftermath of the First World War as
the Second Polish Republic.
Following the Second World War it
became a communist satellite state
of the Soviet Union known as the
People's Republic of Poland.
In 1989
the first partially-free elections
in Poland's post-World War II
history concluded the Solidarity
(Solidarność) movement's struggle
for freedom and resulted in the
defeat of Poland's communist rulers.
The current Third Polish Republic
was established, followed a few
years later by the drafting of a new
constitution in 1997. In 1999 Poland
acceded to NATO, and in 2004 it
joined the European Union. |
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