The Republic of Poland is a country, which situated in Central Europe. It is surrounded by 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 to the north. Warsaw is a capital and largest city of Poland.

The Polish state was established about 1000 years ago under the Piast dynasty. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Poland united with Lithuania. At that time Poland became the largest, wealthiest, most prosperous and most powerful country under the Jagiellonian dynasty. When the dynasty came to an end in 1572, Poland entered a long time of decline. In 1791 the sejm of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth adopted the constitution of May 3, Europe's first modern codified constitution. But the process of reforms stopped with the partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1772, 1793 and 1795. Poland regained independence in 1918 as a sovereign state offer World War I. It was partitioned a forth time in 1939 by Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In 1989, due to the Solidarity movement, Poland's communist rulers were defeated. The drafting of a new constitution in 1997 formed the Third Polish Republic.

In 1999, Poland joined the NATO alliance along with Czech Republic and Hungary. Moreover Poland joined the European Union on 1st may 2004. The name Polaska (Poland) was comes from an ancient Slavic tribe Polanie. Poland is officially called the Republic of Poland.

During the 10th century, Poland was established under the Plats dynasty. In 966 Mieszko-I was the first ruler of Poland. In the 12th century, Poland became separate from some smaller states, which were later devastated bye the Mongol armies. Wladyslow-I became the ruler of Poland in 1320. His son Kazinrierz Wielki rearranged the Polish economy, built new castles and won the war against the Ruthenium dukedom.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Poland united with Lithuania, became one of the largest, wealthiest, most prosperous and most powerful countries in Europe, under the Jagiellonian dynasty. In 1797, 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. The Process of reforms stopped with the partitions of Poland between Russia, Prussia and Austria in 1772, 1793 and 1795. Due to these partitions, the development of the country had been decreased.

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 communist satellite state of the Soviet Union known as the People's Republic of Poland. It was partitioned a forth time in 1939 by Germany, and USSR.

In 1989 the first partially - free elections in Poland's post World War II history concluded the Solidarity movements struggle for freedom and resulted in the defeat of Poland's communist rulers. The drafting of a new constitution in 1997 formed the Third Polish Republic. Poland joined the NATO alliance in 1999 along with the Czech Republic and Hungary. Poland joined the European Union (EU) on 1 May 2004.

Poland

Culture

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Poland has a very rich culture polish architecture; folklore and art are great examples of this culture.

Education: - Education in Poland is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 7 and 16. on completion of the six-year primary schooling, children enter middle school or gymnasium for three years. After gymnasium, students have the choice of entering a general lyceum, specialized lyceum, technical secondary school or basic vocational school. These secondary school programmed is about two to four years. All students accept those students, who attending basic vocational school can pursue higher education after graduation. Graduated of basic vocational school have a choice of entering the workforce or continuing their education at a complementary lyceum or complementary technical secondary school. Poland has many higher educational institutions. Poland had more than 100 higher education institutions in 2000s, among them 8 were schools of agriculture, 17 were universities, 10 were medical schools, 18 were technical universities, 17 were schools of art and music and most of the remainder were specialized vocational colleges.

Literature: - Poland reached at the highest peak of literature. The greatest literary period is generally regarded as the romantic period of the 19th century, the chief figures being Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Slowacki Zygmunt Krasinski and Cyprian Kmil Norwid. Its drama and poetry were full of romanticism. Boleslaw Prus, Henryk sienkiewicz and Wladysaw Stanislaw Reymont were the greatest novelists, among tham Stanislaw Wyspianski is known as the founder of modern Polish drama. Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz received the Nobel Prize in 1980, while in 1996 Poet Wislawa Szymborska received Nobel prize in literature.

Music and Dance: - Poland has a long tradition of folk music and dance. Frederic Chopin was the greatest Polish composer of 19th century. The mazurka and the polonaise were his great compositions, which were based on traditional folk music and dances. Karol Szymanowski was also a great composer of 20th century. Wanda Landowska and the pianist Ignace Jan Paderewslo are famous Polish musicians.

Art and Cinema: - Mostly Polish art and artists greatly affected by Western movements and trends. Poland's folk arts and crafts range from pottery, fabrics and embroidery, to sculpture, graphics and painting. From the beginning, Polish filmmakers succeeded to get international fame Krzysztof Kieslowski was a leading filmmaker in Eastern Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. Andrcej Wajada played a tremendous role in Polish cinema in 2000, so he received an honorary Academy Award. Moreover, Roman Pulaski was also a great filmmaker during 2002, The Pianist was his best film.

Since its return of democracy, Poland has speedily achieved the goal of a policy of liberalizing the economy and at present it stands out as one of the most successful and open examples of the transition from a partially state-capitalist market economy to a primarily privately owned market economy. The privatization of small and medium state-owned companies and a liberal law on establishing new firms have allowed for the rapid development of an aggressive private sector, followed by a development of consumer rights organizations.

Some sensitive sectors like coal, steel, railways, energy etc. had been restructuring and privatization. The biggest privatizations so far were a sole of Telekomunikaeja Polaska, a national telecom to France Telecom and an issue of 30% shares of the biggest Polish bank, PKO BP, on the Polish stock market. Moreover its agriculture plays an important role in Poland's economy.

GDP: - Poland's GDP growth had been strong and steady from 1993 to 2000, but it slightly slow down from 2001 and 2002. In 2003, GDP growth was 3.7%, in 2004 it was 5.4% and in 2005 it was 3.3%. Ultimately the Polish economy is underdeveloped and undergoing economy, which have to face many challenges. The most important task is the preparation of the economy to allow Poland to meet the strict economic criteria for entry into the European Single Currency.

Population: - According to the 2006 estimate, the total population is about 3,86,23,000 and its population density is 123.5-persons/sq km. Poland's highest population densities are in the southern areas, while the lowest densities are in the northwest and northeast. The average annual rate of population growth was very high after World War II, but after the 1960s it became less than 1%. In 2003, 62% of the population lived in urban areas.

Ethnic Groups: - Poland's population comprises varied ethnic groups such as poles Belanisians, Ukrainians, Jews and Germans. Moreover smaller communities of Slovaks, Czechs, Lithuanians and Russians are also present. About 96.74 percent of the country's inhabitants are ethnic Poles and the remainder is comprised mainly of Ukrainians, Belarusian and Germans. Most of Ukrainian population lives in northern Poland, while the Belarusian population lives in Bialystok Province, German population lives in the southern region of Silesia and the northeastern region. According to the 2002 census, today 3,69,83,700 people considers themselves Polish 4,71,500 (1.23%) declared another nationality and 7,74,900 people (2.03%) didn't declare any nationality.

Religion: - Roman Catholicism has played a tremendous role in the history of Poland. At the time of the communist period, the Polish government strictly restricted the people to follow the Roman Catholic Church Religious practices were also restricted and so many priests were sent to jail Most of Polish Catholics fought for freedom religion. But during 1984 to 1981, Stefan Cardinal Wyszynski played an important role to achieve religious freedom. After 1950s the communist government discontinued mostly the restrictions, about religion as well as church. Karol Cardinal Wojtyla became the first Polish pope. After the fall at communism in 1989, the new government favored the religion. The Roman Catholic Church greatly affected the Polish life. Poland has approximately 50 non Catholic Churches and other religious groupings.

Polish is the official language of Poland. It is spoken by mostly all of the population. The Polish language is a member of the West Slavic branch of the Slavic languages. It is written using the Latin alphabet and comprises some letters. Some inhabitants of ethnic groups speak their own native languages also.