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Poland, or Rzeczpospolita Polska to give it its full name, lies at the heart of Central Europe. To the west it is bordered by Germany, to the south by the Czech Republic and Slovakia, by Belarus and the Ukraine to the East, and in the north the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and Kaliningrad Oblast (a little oupost of Russia in Europe).

It covers an area of 312,683km2 or 120,728 square miles, making it the 69th largest country in the world. It's population is around 38.5 million, and the majority of this is concentrated in industrial cities.

Poland has had a turbulent history over the years. Although it has some natural protection to the North and South of the country in the form of the Baltic Sea and the Tatra Mountains, to the east and west it's flat rolling plains have made it an easy target for invading armies on several occasions, and it's land borders have changed considerably through history.

In the beginning... the first Polish state came into being in 966 and was fairly similar in size and shape to Poland today. It became a kingdom in 1025, then in 1529 united with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. For the next couple of hundred years, Poland did some invading and appropriation of its own and its borders expanded to make it the largest country in Europe. As a country Poland was proud of it's nobility, the freedoms of the people and the parliamentary systems it had developed.

The middle.... unfortunately after a good start, things started to go downhill pretty fast! In the mid 17th century Poland was invaded by Sweden and numerous wars with Russia followed. The Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth deteriorated from a major European force into a state of anarchy and the country was controlled by its neighbours. Unable to defend itself in its weaked political and military state, Poland was partitioned which ended up with Poland being entirely erased from the world map, and its land divided up between Russia, Prussia and Austria. Unsurprisingly, the Poles weren't too happy about the disappearance of the their country and attempted to rebel against their rulers several times. Things began to look a bit better for Poland an 1087 when Napoleon recreated a Polish state, but in 1815 after the Napoleonic wars, Poland was shared out among its neighbours again. Russia got the east of the country, and although it was supposedly a relatively autonomous kingdom, Russia effectively annexed it and reduced the freedoms of the country and its people. During WWI, the Allies decided Poland should be reconstituted, and in 1918 it regained its independence.

The well known bit... WWII. On the 1st September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, promptly followed by the Soviet Union who made their invasion on the 17th September, thus Poland was under attack from both East and West. Warsaw fell on the 2nd October 1939, and Poland was again divided into two zones - the eastern provinces under the control of the Soviet Union and the western provinces under German rule.Over 6 million Polish citizens died during WWII - over 20% of the population. And 90% of the fatalities were non-military, largely due to deliberate actions taken by the Germans and Soviets. At the end of the war, Poland's land borders were shifted westwards, and the country emerged 20% smaller than it had previously been, forcing the migration of millions of people. During the war, Poland was the location of the main Nazi death camps, and during the holocaust, 3,000,000 out of 3,300,000 Polish Jews were killed.

More recently... after WWII, the Soviet Union instituted a communist government in Poland. Conditions were notoriously poor across most of the Eastern Bloc. There were chronic shortages of food and material good, poverty was rife, and draconian government and abuse common. Communist oppression persisted into the 1980s, but resistance was growing. The shipyards of Gdansk and Gdynia were the birthplace of and independent trade union 'Solidarnosc' (Solidarity) which grew in strength and became a political force in its own right. In 1989, it triumphed in parliamentary elections and overthrew the Communist Party.

Present day politics... Poland has undergone enormous changes since Solidarity and the fall of Communism. Huge changes have taken place in industry, tourism, education and more fundamental areas such as human rights and free speech. Currently Poland defines itself as a liberal democracy, with a President as head of state. It's government is centred around the Council of Ministers which is lead by the Prime Minister. The current Prime minister is Jaroslaw Kaczynski and the president, his identical twin brother Lech Kaczynski (no I'm not making this up!!!), although recent political scandals have unsettled the government and interim elections are likely. Poland joined the EU in May 2005, and is currently undergoing economic reforms to enable it to adopt the Euro to replace the zloty as its national currency in 2012/2013.