Population: 39 million
Capital: Warsaw
Major language: Polish
Major religion: Christianity
Life expectancy: 68 years (men), 77 years (women)
Monetary unit: 1 zloty = 100 groszy
Main exports: Machinery and transport equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals
Average annual income: US $11,300
Internet domain: .pl
International dialling code: +48
About Poland
The Poles belong to the Slavic peoples. The origin of the word 'Slav' has a somewhat inglorious legacy. During the twilight of the first millennium A.D, repeated raids were made into the Central European expanses. The purpose of these raids was to sell captives on the slave (Slav) markets of Constantinople.
Not that the Polish nobility claimed descent from these pagan fellows. Far from it. The Polish gentry believed that they were descended from an ancient warrior tribe known as the Sarmatians, who had swept into Central Europe from the Black Sea Steppe.
But whether or not the nobility ('szlachta') were Slavs or Sarmatians, they eventually absorbed a plethora of different peoples into their ranks, including Armenians, Lithuanians, Ruthenians, Scots and even small groups of Tatars. By the close of the 16th century, Poland had evolved into a hybrid state that was for a time something of a lone democracy amidst a sea of absolutist states. During its heyday, Poland - as the largest and most progressive country in Europe - had a greater degree of religious tolerance than any other European country, a factor which made it a haven for the Jewish diaspora.
Poland was brought to its knees during the mid-seventeenth century by a series of wars on all fronts. The country never quite recovered. Weaknesses in the country's democratic laws were exploited by partisan groups, and Poland drifted into decline. During the late eighteenth century, the spirit of reform permeated large numbers of the nobility. However, this eventually proved too much for Poland's absolutist neighbours, who were wary of a resurrected force in their midst. Led by Catherine the Great of Russia, the Prussians, Austrians and Russians set about dismembering the country. The final partition was completed in 1795.
Whilst two major uprisings were made in the Russian partition (1831, 1863) as well as a brief yet ill-fated alliance with Napoleon Bonaparte, it was not until 1918 that Poland regained her independence. This came in the wake of the Second World War, during which Marshal Jozef Pilsudski (later President) emerged as the nation's champion.
The wobbly period of independence was short-lived. In September 1939, Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia launched a two-pronged invasion that divided up the country. About a fifth of the country perished during the war, including vast numbers of the intelligentsia and a staggering 90% of the country's Jewish population.
After the war, the Soviets set up a communist regime, whose demise was spurred on by the Solidarity protest movement, whose leader, Lech Walesa, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983.
Throughout the Cold War era the Roman Catholic Church acted as something of a shepherd of the nation (as it had done in the nineteenth century era of partitions). The country was blessed with a number of visionary spiritual leaders, chief among them Karol Wojtyla, who became the first Polish Pope in 1978. The country had originally been brought into the Christian fold as far back as 966 AD, and today it is one of Europe's most Catholic countries.
The Presidential insignia was finally brought back to Poland in 1989 by the government in exile, which had remained in London since World War II. Lech Walesa became the first democratically elected President of the new era, but his term in office was a difficult one. Poland inherited monumental debts from the Communist era, and the shock of transition was acute. Nevertheless, Poland's economy was sufficiently successful to merit its accession into the European Union in the first wave of that body's expansion in 2004. And in spite of both high levels of unemployment and a number of corruption scandals in the political arena, the country is widely considered as a leader in the region. The baptism of the new Poland may have been by fire, but her borders are now safer than they have been for centuries.