Poland (Polish: Polska) is a parliamentary republic in . Poland is a unitary state divided into 16 administratve subdivisions covering an area of 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq mi)with a populaton of over 38.5 million people. The cites are mostly small or medium-sized. Some 43 cites have populatons of more than 100,000 inhabitants. Warsaw, the capital and Poland's largest metropolitan area, has a populaton of 1.7 million people.

Warsaw

The origin of the name Poland derives from a West Slavic tribe of (Polanie) that inhabited the River basin of the historic region in the 8th century. The origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole (feld). First Polish state was recognized in second half of Xth century when the connected a few territories ruled by local Slavic tribes. In 966 Poland was baptzed, and in 1025 the frst king- Bolesław Chrobry – was enthroned. Tatra mountains

The country lies almost entrely on the North European Plain and is a land of gentle relief, rarely rising above 350 feet except along the southern border with the Sudety and Carpathian mountain ranges. Rysy is the highest mountain peak - 2,499 meters above sea level. The longest rivers which cross the country north-ward are the Vistula (667 miles in length) in the centre, and the Odra (530 miles) which fows along Poland's western border. Poland borders 7 countries: Germany on the west, Czech Republic and Slovakia on the south, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania on the east, and Russia on the north.

Poland has a climate characterized by relatvely cold winters and warm summers. The average summer temperature ranges from 20 °C (68 °F) to 30 °C (86 °F). Winters are cold – the average ranges from 3 °C (37,4 °F) in the northwest to –8 °C (17,6 °F) in the northeast. Poland is in the Central European tme zone and is thus one hour ahead of standard GMT in the winter months and two hours ahead from April to October. Kraków In September 1939 Poland was atacked by joint German (1 IX) and Soviet (17 IX) forces. Untl 1945 the country was occupied. Over 6 000 000 people (half of them Polish Jews) perished. Polish troops fought against Germany on numerous fronts of World War II. In 1991, Poland became a member of the Visegrad Group and joined the North Atlantc Treaty Organizaton (NATO) alliance in 1999 along with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. then voted to join the European Union in a referendum in June 2003, with Poland becoming a full member on 1 May 2004. The overwhelming majority of Poles are Roman Catholic.

Masurian Lake District