Proper noun

Singular Poland

Plural -

Poland

1. A country in Central Europe. Official name: Republic of Poland.

Poland /ˈpoʊlənd/ (help·info) (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska), 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 Russian exclave, 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 and one of the most populous members of the European Union.

The establishment of a Polish state is often identified with the adoption of Christianity by its ruler Mieszko I, in 966 (see Baptism of Poland), when the state covered territory similar to that of present-day Poland. In 1025, Poland became a kingdom 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 collapsed in 1795 and Poland's territory was partitioned among the Kingdom of Prussia, the Russian Empire, and Austria. Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic in 1918, after World War I, but was later occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II. Poland lost over six million citizens in World War II, emerging several years later as the socialist People's Republic of Poland within the Eastern Bloc, under strong Soviet influence.

During the Revolutions of 1989, communist rule was overthrown and Poland became what is constitutionally known as the "Third Polish Republic". Poland is a unitary state, made up of sixteen voivodeships (Polish: województwo). Poland is also a member of the European Union, NATO, United Nations, World Trade Organization, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Poland is a country in Central Europe.

Sourced

• Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła...
  • Poland is not yet lost...
  • Incipit of the national anthem of Poland, written by Józef Wybicki in 1797
  • Ustawa z dnia 31 stycznia 1980 r. o godle, barwach i hymnie Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej oraz o pieczęciach państwowych – Dziennik Ustaw z 2005 r. Nr 235, poz. 2000

• Poland has been a source of trouble for over five hundred years.
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a conversation with Winston Churchill in Yalta in 1945. Reported in Churchill, Winston (1986). The Second World War, Volume 6: Triumph and Tragedy. Mariner Books.

• Quant à l'action qui va commencer, elle se passe en Pologne, c’est-à-dire nulle part.
  • As to the action which is about to begin, it takes place in Poland – that is to say, nowhere.
  • Introduction to the premier of Ubu Roi in Paris in 1896. Quoted in Jarry, Alfred; transl. Beverly Keith and Gershon Legman (2003). Ubu Roi. Dover Publications.

• Un polonais – c'est un charmeur; deux polonais – une bagarre; trois polonais, eh bien, c'est la question polonaise.
  • One Pole is a charmer; two Poles – a brawl; three Poles – well, this is the Polish Question.
  • Voltaire, quoted in Davies, Norman (1996). Europe: A History. Oxford University Press.

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Sat Oct 10 08:22:08 2009