Polish Polska, officially Republic of Poland (1994 estimated population 38,655,000), 120,725 square miles (312,677 square kilometers), central Europe; bordered by Germany (West), the Baltic Sea and the Kaliningrad oblast of Russia (North), Lithuania (North East), Belarus and Ukraine (East), and the Czech Republic and Slovakia (South). The country is generally low-lying, except in the south, where the Sudeten and Carpathian mountains form a natural barrier between Poland and the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Poland's main rivers, including the Vistula and the Oder, are important routes to the Baltic Sea. Nearly all of the population is Polish, and Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion.
Warsaw city (1989 estimated population 1,651,000) is the capital of Poland on both banks of the Vistula River. Settled by the 11th century, it became Poland's capital (1596); passed (1795) to Prussia; was the capital of the grand duchy of Warsaw; and later, under Russian rule, was the scene of nationalist uprisings (1830, 1863). In 1918 the city became the capital of the restored Polish state. During the German occupation (1939-45) in World War II, a Jewish Ghetto was isolated that contained (1942) c.500,000 persons; virtually all perished, either in Concentration Camps or after the armed uprising (February 1943). In 1944 Polish nationalists tried unsuccessfully to oust the Germans while the Soviet army remained inactive across the Vistula.
Polish Polska, officially Republic of Poland (1994 estimated population 38,655,000), 120,725 square miles (312,677 square kilometers), central Europe; bordered by Germany (West), the Baltic Sea and the Kaliningrad oblast of Russia (North), Lithuania (North East), Belarus and Ukraine (East), and the Czech Republic and Slovakia (South). The country is generally low-lying, except in the south, where the Sudeten and Carpathian mountains form a natural barrier between Poland and the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Poland's main rivers, including the Vistula and the Oder, are important routes to the Baltic Sea. Nearly all of the population is Polish, and Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion.
Warsaw city (1989 estimated population 1,651,000) is the capital of Poland on both banks of the Vistula River. Settled by the 11th century, it became Poland's capital (1596); passed (1795) to Prussia; was the capital of the grand duchy of Warsaw; and later, under Russian rule, was the scene of nationalist uprisings (1830, 1863). In 1918 the city became the capital of the restored Polish state. During the German occupation (1939-45) in World War II, a Jewish Ghetto was isolated that contained (1942) c.500,000 persons; virtually all perished, either in Concentration Camps or after the armed uprising (February 1943). In 1944 Polish nationalists tried unsuccessfully to oust the Germans while the Soviet army remained inactive across the Vistula.