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Poland is a member of the European Union, NATO, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Poland currently has a population of over 38 million people, [3] which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world [18] and one of the most populous members of the European Union.
However, it was the West Slavic Lechites, the closest ancestors of ethnic Poles, who established permanent settlements during the Early Middle Ages. The Lechitic Western Polans , a tribe whose name denotes "people living in open fields", dominated the region and gave Poland - which lies in the North-Central European Plain - its name .
The intellectual and artistic climate of the early 19th century further stimulated the growth of Polish demands for self-government. During these decades, modern nationalism took shape and rapidly developed a massive following throughout the continent, becoming the most dynamic and appealing political doctrine of its time.
Poland escaped the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which ravaged everything to the west, especially Prussia. In 1618, the Elector of Brandenburg became hereditary ruler of the Duchy of Prussia on the Baltic coast. From then on, Poland's link to the Baltic Sea was bordered on both sides by two provinces of the same German state.
One of the major historical regions of Poland since the Middle Ages. Centre of Polish statehood during late Middle Ages with the former national capital of Kraków. Periodically ruled by Prussia, Austria and Russia during the Partitions of Poland. Kraków Land (Polish: Ziemia krakowska), named after the historic capital and largest city Kraków.
To the East possibly later included the Lusici of Lower Lusatia and the Milceni of Upper Lusatia, [5] while to the East of them were the Selpoli and the Besunzanen, and on the middle Oder the Leubuzzi who were associated with medieval Poland. [7] Small groups of West Slavs lived on the Main and the Regnitz near Bamberg, in northeastern Bavaria. [7]
The culture of medieval Poland was closely linked to the Catholic Church and its involvement in the country's affairs, especially during the first centuries of the Polish state's history. Many of the oldest Polish customs and artifacts date from the Middle Ages , which in Poland lasted from the late 10th to late 15th century, and were followed ...
The origins of the Slavic peoples, who arrived on Polish lands at the outset of the Middle Ages as representatives of the Prague culture, go back to the Kyiv culture, which formed beginning early in the 3rd century AD and is genetically derived from the Post-Zarubintsy cultural horizon (Rakhny–Ljutez–Pochep material culture sphere) [10] and itself was one of the later post-Zarubintsy ...