Country in Central Europe
The location of Poland Map of Poland The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Poland:
Poland sovereign country located in Central Europe .[ 1] Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine , Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast , a Russian exclave , to the north. The total area of Poland is 312,679 km2 (120,728 sq mi),[ 2] 69th largest country in the world and 9th in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38.5 million people, which makes it the 33rd most populous country in the world.[ 3]
The establishment of a Polish state is often identified with the adoption of Christianity by its ruler Mieszko I in 966 (see Baptism of Poland ), when the state covered territory similar to that of present-day Poland. Poland became a kingdom in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a long association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by uniting to form the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . The Commonwealth collapsed in 1795, and its territory was partitioned among Prussia , Russia , and Austria . Poland regained its independence in 1918 after World War I but lost it again in World War II, occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union . Poland lost over six million citizens in World War II, and emerged several years later as a socialist republic within the Eastern Bloc under strong Soviet influence. In 1989 communist rule was overthrown and Poland became what is constitutionally known as the "Third Polish Republic". Poland is a unitary state made up of sixteen voivodeships (Polish : województwo European Union , NATO and OECD .
