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Poland

Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordering seven countries. Poland is the fifth-most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 million people, and the seventh largest EU country, covering a combined area of 312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi). Its territory is characterized by a varied landscape, diverse ecosystems, and temperate transitional climate. The capital and largest city is Warsaw; other major cities include Kraków, Wrocław, Łódź, Poznań, and Gdańsk. Humans have been present on Polish soil since the Lower Paleolithic, with continuous settlement since the end of the Last Glacial Period over 12,000 years ago. A variety of peoples and cultures lived in the area into late antiquity, with the West Slavic Polans settling in the early medieval period, giving Poland its name. The first Polish state emerged in 966 when Mieszko I united the Polish tribes into a Christian realm closely aligned to the Roman Catholic Church. Subsequent territorial expansion and political consolidation led to the establishment of the Kingdom of Poland in 1025. By the mid-14th century, Poland became a major European power and began gradually integrating with Lithuania, resulting in the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. For the next two centuries, the Commonwealth was one of the great powers of Europe, with a large and diverse population governed by a uniquely liberal political system that adopted Europe's first modern constitution in 1791. With the passing of the prosperous Polish Golden Age in the late 16th century, Poland-Lithuania was weakened by social and political turmoil that led to its partition by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century. Poland regained its independence at the end of World War I with the founding of the Second Polish Republic, which secured its sovereignty in 1921 after the Polish–Soviet War. In September 1939, the invasion of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union marked the beginning of World War II, which resulted in the Holocaust and millions of Polish casualties. Post-war Poland was forced into the Eastern Bloc in the global Cold War, with the Soviet-installed Polish People's Republic being a founding signatory of the Warsaw Pact. Through the emergence and contributions of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democratic state in 1989. Poland is a unitary parliamentary republic organized into sixteen voivodeships, with its bicameral legislature comprising the Sejm and the Senate. The country is considered a middle power, with a developed market and high-income economy that is the sixth largest in the EU by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by GDP (PPP). Poland enjoys a very high standard of living, safety, and economic freedom, as well as free university education and universal health care. The country has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 15 of which are cultural. Poland is a founding member state of the United Nations and a member of the World Trade Organization, OECD, NATO, and the European Union (including the Schengen Area).