Poles nationality Polish Polanders people of Poland
GEOGRAPHY
Poland lies along the Baltic Sea in the north. Russia and Lithuania lie to the northeast, and Belarus and Ukraine to the east. The Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains define Poland's southern border between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Neisse and Oder Rivers in the
west divide Poland and Germany. The predominantly lowland terrain of the North European Plain accounts for the vast arable lands. Poland has more than 9,300 lakes, the majority in the north. Poland's highest point, Mount Rysy in the Carpathians, is 8,200 feet. Poland is divided into 16 provinces. Poland's total area is 120,728 square miles.
INCEPTION AS A NATION
Poland's frontiers have dramatically shifted within the past millennium. Poland was first united as a kingdom under Mieszko I of the Polanians, who founded the Piast dynasty in 960 c.e. and united the various tribes of Western Slavs. The established territory of the early Poles expanded and diminished over the centuries. The War of the Polish Succession (1733-35) led to a division Polish territories among Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Successive partitions that occurred within the next 40 to 50 years made Poland disappear from the map. The French under Napoleon I Bonaparte established a buffer Polish state in 1807. After Napoleon's defeat the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) defined a Polish kingdom (Congress Poland) in personal union with Russia. Poland lost autonomy after the Polish Revolt in 1830-31.
A Polish family poses for this early 20th-century photograph. (Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-100123])
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