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POLAND

Map of Polond

Poland is located in the very centre of Europe. With the total

area of 312,679 km². It’s the seventh biggest country on the

continent.

Map of Polond

Most of the country is located on lowlands. On the south

there are upland areas with two major mountain chains –

the Carpathians (Karpaty) and the Sudetes (Sudety). The

Baltic sea coastline on the north measures 770 km. The

longest river, Vistula (Wisła) is 1,047 km (678 miles) long.

Geography

The CarpatiansThe Baltic Sea

Poland Regions

Poland is

divided 16

districts

Polish Flag• Polish flag is white and red.

• It was officially recognised in 1919

• Polish Eagle with crown on its head is their emblem

• In the years of comminism, the eagle was deprived of its crown• In 1990 the crown came back

HistoryGreat (north) Poland was founded in 966 by Mieszko I, who

belonged to the Piast dynasty. The tribes of southern Poland

then formed Little Poland. In 1047, both Great Poland and

Little Poland united under the rule of Casimir I the Restorer. Poland merged with Lithuania by royal marriage in 1386. The

Polish-Lithuanian state reached the peak of its power

between the 14th and 16th centuries, scoring military

successes against the (Germanic) Knights of the Teutonic

Order, the Russians, and the Ottoman Turks.

Lack of a strong monarchy enabled Russia, Prussia, and

Austria to carry out a first partition of the country in 1772, a

second in 1792, and a third in 1795. For more than a century

thereafter, there was no Polish state, just Austrian, Prussian, and

Russian sectors, but the Poles never ceased their efforts to

regain their independence.

HistoryThe Polish people revolted against foreign dominance

throughout the 19th century. Poland was formally reconstituted in

Nov. 1918, with Marshal Josef Pilsudski as chief of state. In 1919,

Ignace Paderewski, the famous pianist and patriot, became the

first prime minister. In 1926, Pilsudski seized complete power in a

coup and ruled dictatorially until his death on May 12, 1935.

Despite a ten-year nonaggression pact signed in 1934, Hitler

attacked Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. Soviet troops invaded from the

east on Sept. 17, and on Sept. 28, a German-Soviet agreement

divided Poland between the USSR and Germany. All of Poland

was occupied by Germany after the Nazi attack on the USSR in

June 1941. Nazi Germany's occupation policy in Poland was

designed to eradicate Polish culture through mass executions and to exterminate the country's large Jewish minority.

HistoryThe Polish government-in-exile was replaced with the Communist-

dominated Polish Committee of National Liberation by the Soviet

Union in 1944. A new constitution in 1952 made Poland a “people's

democracy” of the Soviet type. In 1955, Poland became a

member of the Warsaw Treaty Organization, with its foreign policy

identical to that of the USSR.

Led by Solidarity, an independent union founded by an

electrician, Lech Walesa, workers launched a drive for liberty and

improved conditions. A national strike for a five-day workweek in

Jan. 1981 led to the dismissal of Prime Minister Pinkowski and the

naming of the fourth prime minister in less than a year, Gen.

HistoryIn 1999, Poland became part

of NATO, along with the

Czech Republic and Hungary.

On May 1, 2004,

Poland joined the

EU. Prime Minister

Leszek Miller

resigned on May 2, 2004.

Polish LanguagePolish is the official language of Poland. It is also used as a

second language in some parts of Russia, Lithuania,

Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The Polish language

belongs to the West-Slavic group of the Indo-European

languages.

Polish, like other Indo-European languages, shares some

Latin grammar and vocabulary. There are 3 tenses (past,

present, future), 2 numbers (singular and plural), and 3

genders (masculine, feminine, neuter).

There are no articles but Polish, like Latin, and is an

inflectional language that distinguishes 7 cases, defining

the noun usage in a sentence. This feature makes their

mother tongue difficult to master and presents a lot of

trouble to foreigners

Polish LanguageDzien dobry : good day

Dobry wieczor : good

evening

Dobranoc : good night

Czesc : hi / hello

Do widzenia : good bye

Prosze : please

Dziekuje : thank you

Dzieki : thanks (less formal)

Przepraszam : I'm sorry /

excuse me

Tak : yes

Nie : no

Goverment

Cabinet Of Poland

Goverment

Donald Tusk

Prime Minister of Poland

Bronisław Komorowski

President of Poland

Polish Currency

Polish currency is Zloty

Capital of Poland

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is

located on the Vistula River, roughly 260 kilometres from

the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres from the Carpathian

Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.711 million

residents within a greater metropolitan area of 2.666

million residents, making Warsaw the 9th most populous

city proper in the European Union.

Capital of Poland

The Royal Castle The Old Town

Wilanów Palace

Capital of Poland

It is the tallest

building in Poland

Today it is exhibition

center and office

copmlex

There are cinemas,

theatres, museums,

offices, bookshops,

and a large

conference hall for

3000 peopleThe Palace of Culture and Science

Climate

The climate is

moderate. The

average summer

temperature ranges

from 20 °C to 30 °C.

Winters are cold the

average ranges

from 3 °C in the

northwest to –8 °C in

the northeast.

Polish Folk Dance

Polish folk dances tend to be

lively, energetic, and joyful.

Hops, twirls, and athletic

movements are common.

Many dances involve a circle.

Clothing is usually colorful. In

addition, women often wear

coral necklaces, particularly red

ones. They also decorate their

hair with flowers or ribbons.

The Polish national dances are

the Krakowiak, Kujawiak, Mazur

ek, Oberek, and Polonaise.

Polish Folk Dance

Polish cuisine shares many similarities with other Central European

cuisines, especially German, Austrian and Hungarian cuisines, as well

as Jewish. Poles boast that their two basic products are bread and

sausages.

The most typical ingredients used in Polish cuisine are sauerkraut,

beetroot, cucumbers (gherkins), sour cream, kohlrabi, mushrooms, sausages and smoked sausage

Polish Cuisine

Since last 15 years Polish GDP grows

rapidly, with an average rate of 5% per

year. The inflation rate is low and the

wages have grown in a yearly rate of 15%

for the past two years. The unemployment,

very high until 2004, is rapidly decreasing. Right now its level is 11 %, but it's expected

to fall beneath 8% in two years time. These

economical factors, along with the

modest living costs, make Poland an

attractive location for both studying and

working

Economy

Poland, especially after 1989 and joining of the European Union in 2004,

became a place frequently visited by tourists. Most tourist attractions in Poland

are connected with natural environment, historic sites and cultural events. They draw millions of tourists every year from all around the world. The most

popular cities are;

Kraków, Wrocław, Gdańsk, Warsaw, Poznań, Lublin, Toruń and the historic site

of Auschwitz - German nazi concentration camp in Oświęcim.

Tourism

Royal palace at WawelTatra Mountains

WroclawManufaktura

Masurian Lake District Malbork Castle

Wieliczka Salt Mine

Nicolaus Copernicuswas famous Polish

astronomer

He wrote the theory

that the sun was in the

middle of the the solar

system

Famous Poles

Frederic Chopin was

the most famous

Polish composer and

pianist

Famous Poles

Marie Sklodowska-Curie was physicist and

chemist from Poland

but lived in France

She was the first

woman to win a Nobel

Prize. She was an

expert in the field of

radioctivity and the

only person to get the

Nobel Prize in two

different sciences.

Famous Poles

Lech Walesa was a

Polish shipyard worker

Later he became the

leader of Solidarity

and the President of

Poland, he won the

Nobel Peace Prize in

1983.

Famous Poles

Dziękuję!

Prepared by Büşra Kuyumcu