Poland

Poland is a country located in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces, covering an area of ​​312,696 km2 (120,733 sq mi), and has a mostly temperate seasonal climate. With a population of about 38.5 million, Poland is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union. Warsaw is the capital of the country and the largest metropolis. Other major cities include Krakow, Lodz, Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk and Szczecin.

Poland's topographically diverse territory stretches from the beaches of the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetenland and the Carpathians in the south. The country is bordered by Lithuania and Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) in the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine in the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic in the south, and Germany in the west.

The history of human activity on Polish soil goes back thousands of years. In the period of late antiquity, it became very diverse: various cultures and tribes settled on the vast Central European Plain. However, it was the Western Poles who dominated the region and gave the name to Poland. The creation of Polish statehood dates back to 966, when the pagan ruler of a kingdom equal to the territory of modern Poland converted to Christianity and converted to Catholicism. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025, and in 1569 strengthened its long-standing political ties with Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. This union formed the Rzeczpospolita, one of the largest (over a million square kilometers or 400,000 square miles) and most populous European countries in the 16th and 17th centuries with a unique liberal political system that adopted Europe's first modern constitution. Constitution of May 3, 1791
Having lost its glory and prosperity, the country was divided into neighboring states at the end of the 18th century and regained its independence in 1918 under the Treaty of Versailles. After a series of territorial conflicts, the new multinational Poland has regained its position as a key player in European politics. In September 1939, World War II began with the German invasion of Poland, after which the Soviet Union invaded Poland under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Approximately six million Polish citizens, including three million Jews, died in the war. As a member of the Eastern Bloc, the Polish People's Republic immediately proclaimed that it was the main signatory of the Warsaw Pact amid global tensions during the Cold War. After 1989, in particular thanks to the emergence and participation of the Solidarity movement, the communist government was dissolved and Poland re-established itself as a democratic republic.

Poland is a developed market and a middle power; in terms of nominal GDP, it is the sixth largest economy in the European Union and the fifth largest GDP (PPP). It provides a very high standard of living, security and economic freedom, and free university education and a universal health care system. The country has 17 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, 15 of which are cultural. Poland is a member of the Schengen Area, the European Union, the European Economic Area, the United Nations, NATO, the OECD, the Three Seas Initiative and the Visegrad Group.