Geography
Poland can be divided broadly into three relief groups: the lowlands, the highlands, and the mountains. There are sharp contrasts between the northern two-thirds of the country and the southern one-third.The Geographical coordinates are 52 00 N, 20 00 E .It has the total area of 312,685 sq km including land area of 304,465 sq km and water of 8,220 sq km .
Eastern Poland displays characteristics common to eastern Europe, but the rest of the country is linked to western Europe by structure, climate, and the character of its vegetation. The Baltic Coastal Plain stretches across northern Poland from Germany to Russia (Kaliningrad region). The Pomeranian (Pomorska) Bay in the west and the Gulf of Gdansk in the east are the two major inlets. In the southern portion of the former, two islands block off the Szczecin (Szczecinski) Lagoon, into which the Oder discharges its waters. In the Gulf of Gdansk, the Vistula (Wisla) River forms a large delta. Sandbars, on which the winds have created large dunes, line much of the coast, separating the coastal lakes and lagoons from the sea. The main urban centres are the ports of Szczecin on the lower Oder and Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot in the east. The belt immediately to the south of the coastal plain presents, with its many lakes, a varied, hilly landscape. Wide river valleys divide the region into three parts: the Pomeranian (Pomorskie) Lakeland; the Masurian (Mazurskie) Lakeland, east of the lower Vistula; and the Great Poland (Wielkopolskie) Lakeland. There are some 9,300 Polish lakes with areas of more than 1 hectare (2.5 acres), and their total area is 1 percent of the national territory. The larger settlements and the main communications routes of this zone lie in and along the river valleys; the remainder of the area is mostly wooded and thinly populated. The character of the central lowlands is generally flat and monotonous. The basins of the main rivers divide the area into the Silesian Lowland, which lies in the upper Oder; the southern Great Poland Lowland, which lies in the middle Warta basin; and the Mazovian and Podlasian lowlands, which lie in the middle Vistula basin.Lower Silesia (main city: Wroclaw) and Great Poland (Poznan) are important agricultural areas, but large industrial centres are found in many parts of the central lowlands. Warsaw, the capital, situated on the middle Vistula, is most prominent. The uplands of Little Poland (main city: Cracow), south of the central lowlands, extend from east to west, but they are folded transversely. In the west is the Silesian-Crakow upthrust, with rich deposits of coal. A second upthrust is formed by the ancient rocks of the Swietokrzyskie ("Holy Cross") Mountains, which reach a maximum elevation of 612 m. East of the Swietokrzyskie Mountains, and the valley of the Vistula, lie the Lublin (Lubelska) Uplands. In the south occur patches of loess, on which fertile brown (and black) soils have developed. The older geological regions contain valuable minerals: in the Silesian-Kraków uplands there are coal, iron, zinc, and lead deposits. These mineral resources have made possible the rise of Poland's most important industrial region, and the landscape of Upper Silesia is highly urbanized. Katowice is the largest centre. To the north the Staropolski ("Old Polish") Basin, situated in the foothills of the Shwietokrzyskie Mountains, has a long history of industrial production. The Sudeten and its foreland are part of the larger Bohemian Massif. Their highest part, the Karkonosze, reaches 1,602 m (Sniezka) above sea level. The region has many small towns. Resorts and spas are found in more secluded areas. The foreland of the Sudeten, separated by a large fault from the larger mass, contains many granite quarries. The southernmost portion of Poland embraces the Carpathian Mountains and their associated chains and basins. Within the Polish frontiers lie the Oswiecim and Sandomierz basins, a portion of the Beskid Mountains, the Orawka-Podhale Basin, and the Tatra Mountains. The sub-Carpathian basins contain deposits of salt, sulphur, natural gas and some petroleum. There is both a large rural population and many towns of medium size. The highest peaks of the Tatras - with peak Rysy of 2,499 metres - are the highest part of the Polish Carpathians. Zakopane, the largest tourist and resort centre in Poland, lies at their feet. The Bieszczady Mountains, carpeted in beech woods, lie in the extreme southeast.The border countries are Belarus 605 km, Czech Republic 658 km, Germany 456 km, Lithuania 91 km, Russia (Kaliningrad Oblast) 206 km, Slovakia 444 km, Ukraine 428 km .
Capital Warsaw
Languages Polish, Belarusan, German, Standard, Kashubian, Romani
Currency Z?oty (PLN)
