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Poland on the map

Poland is located almost in the heart of Europe and for ages it used to be the border between the West and East. Travelling around the country you can get the spirit of both... Nearby Warsaw there is the geometrical centre of Europe! Poland extends from the Baltic Sea toward the Tatras (part of the Carpathians) covering the area of 312 685 km2. Territorially it is the 9th big country in Europe and the 63rd in the world. Poland has quite many neighbours: Germany from West, Czech Republic and Slovakia from the South, Ukraine, Belorus, Lithuania in the East and Russia (north-east). Because of the Baltic Sea there is also the marine border with Denmark and Sweden. Poland is a member of ONZ, NATO, EU. The country is divided into 13 administration regions – voivodships (wojewodztwo). The name of the country probably derives from the name of one of the largest tribes that used to live in this region Polanie, 'dwellers of the plains'.

Population

 Poland is inhabited by about 38 million people, what gives it the 8th place in Europe and the 29th in the world. In contradiction to the past history today it is a very homogeneous country – more than 96% inhabitants are Polish. The ethnic minorities are 3,6 % of the population (before World War II they were 35% of the population!). Among them the largest groups are Germans (about 150 thousand people), Belorussians and Ukrainians. The reason for this homogeneity is the tragic 20th cenury history of Poland: during World War II about 6 million people were killed in the battlefront or exterminated. After the conference in Jalta (1945) the borders of Poland were marked. Due to it the country lost about 20% of the territory from before World War II and with them - 6,5 million people. The resettlements and emigration under the communist regime decreased the number of 1,7 million.

Geography

 Poland extends between the Baltic Sea and the Carpathians what provides the picturesque variety of the landscape in one country. Almost 75 % of Poland are the lowlands. They cover the northern and central part of the country, south is mountainous. In the North there are Lakeland and Masurian Lake district, with tiny postglacial hills,countless lakes and hundreds kilometers long canoeing routes. Central Poland are the green plains. The southern part are the Jurassic uplands and the mountain ranges: Karkonosze, Beskidy and the Tatras, the highest mountain range in Poland (the highest peak is Rysy 2499 m above the sea level). The longest river of Poland is Vistula (in Polish Wisła), that goes from the south through central Poland towards the Baltic See and is 1047 km long.

Language

 Polish is the Slavonic language and belongs to the group of Western Slavonic languages (together with e. g. Czech and Slovakian). It originates in the Indo-European languages group. It seems to be one of the most difficult languages with many grammatic rules and even bigger number of exceptions... The pronunciation is a real hard nut to be cracked by the foreigners. But even for Polish words like chrząszcz or rzeszowszczyzna are not easy... But Polish language is worth learning – it is spoken by about 50 million people!
Travelling around Poland you shouldn't have any problems communicating in basic English. In the tourist places or the big cities English is rather widely spoken, especially by young people, descriptions in the museums or menu in the restaurants are in English as well. In some parts of Poland (Silesia region, Baltic sea shore, Masurian Lake district) you can also communicate in German easily. But if you plan to go off roads, to the places that are not very popular among the visitors you may have some difficulties. Polish people are very hospitable and they help you with pleasure, but your success in getting information may be based only on the sign language... People in their fifties or more still remember some Russian, that was thought in the schools as the second language under the communist regime.