Poland
Geography
Location: Central
Europe, east of Germany
Area: 312,685 sq km
Area comparative: slightly smaller than New Mexico
Climate: temperate with cold, cloudy, moderately severe winters with frequent
precipitation; mild summers with frequent showers and thundershowers
Terrain: mostly flat plain; mountains along southern border
Natural Resources: coal, sulfur, copper, natural gas, silver, lead, salt,
amber, arable land
People
Population: 38,635,144
Age Structure: 0-14 years: 16.7%
15-64 years: 70.3%
65 years and over:
13%
Median Age: 36.43 years
Population Growth Rate: 0.03%
Birth Rate: 10.78 births/1,000 population
Death Rate: 10.01 deaths/1,000 population
Sex Ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
total population: 0.94 male(s)/female
Life Expectancy at Birth: total population: 74.74 years
male: 70.71 years
female: 79.03 years
Ethnic Groups: Polish 96.7%, German 0.4%, Belarusian 0.1%, Ukrainian 0.1%,
other and unspecified 2.7%
Religions: Roman Catholic 89.8% (about 75% practicing), Eastern Orthodox 1.3%,
Protestant 0.3%, other 0.3%, unspecified 8.3%
Language: Polish 97.8%, other and unspecified 2.2%
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population:
99.8%
male: 99.8%
female: 99.7%
Economy
GDP (purchasing power
parity): $489.3 billion
GDP (official exchange rate): $249 billion
GDP - real growth rate: 3.3%
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 2.8%
industry: 31.7%
services: 65.5%
Labor Force: 17.1 million
Unemployment Rate: 18.3%
Population Below Poverty Level: 17%
Agriculture Products: potatoes, fruits, vegetables, wheat; poultry, eggs, pork,
dairy
Industries: machine building, iron and steel, coal mining, chemicals,
shipbuilding, food processing, glass, beverages, textiles
Slavs in Europe
Migrated
from Central Asia in 3rd or 2nd millenia BCE
East Slavs: Russians,
Ukrainians, and Belarussians
West Slavs: Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Wends, or Sorbs
South Slavs: Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, and Macedonians (Bulgarians, of mixed origin like the Hungarians, speak a Slavic language)
Poland: Ethnic Origins
W. Slavic tribe
the polanie
pol means
“field” in Polish
reference to geography of Poland
Polish ethnic stock
Mixed with Germanic tribes from the W
E Slavs from the Russia, Belarus, Ukraine
Scandinavians (esp. Swedes) from the N
Peasant Culture
The Polish Peasant, Thomas and Znanecki
Characteristics of peasant
life
familial solidarity
absolute; loyalty/assistance to family demanded by degree of relation
**husband/wife unit
marriage – not based on
love/sex/affection
rather RESPECT
their behaviors reflect
upon each other; do nothing that would lower the social standing of one
another’s families
e.g. shameful for wife to do hired
labor
dowry – received by the couple from both sides
[still really the communal property of the family because they are part of the family]
couple does not become individualized – a new nucleus but forever tied to the larger family network
parental control/responsibility
LAND – SANCROSANCT
the means of family sustenance
father retires when son becomes more able to manage the farm than he
patriarchy-boys more important than girls – they get the land
pride = familial, not
individual
likewise
with shame
**collectivity/family group
identity
not indiv.
reinforced by village, community
Polish Political History
1st United
State:
Mieszko I 966
converted to Christianity (Catholicism)
Founds the Piast Dynasty
Major
competitors, invaders
Teutonic Knights
Tatars
Wladyslaw I reunites in 1320
Kazimierz the Great 1333-1370
Jadwiga
marries Wladyslaw II Jagiello 1386
Jagiellonian Dynasty
Defeat the Teutons at Battle of Tannenburg in 1410
16th Century
Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania
Noble
Republic 1572-1795
Elected Monarchy
First
Republic/Constitution
May 3, 1791
The Second Republic (1918-1939)
Interwar Period
General Pilsudski
WWII
Molotov-Rippentrop Pact
Invasion September 17, 1939
Occupation by Nazis
Eastern Front
Holocaust
Communist Period 1945-1989
Solidarity Movement
Strikes, Gdansk Shipyards
Legacies of Communism
Traditional
bases of National Identity
Catholicism, Marianism
Our Lady
of Czestochowa (The Black Madonna)
Poland as Christ in Europe
nationalism (anti-Germanic, anti-Russian)
land (the Fatherland)
the Polish family
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