Poland (Polish: Polska), officially the Republic of Poland (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Polska), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania, and Russia (in the form of the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave) to the north. It also shares a maritime border with Denmark and Sweden. The total area of territory of Poland is 322,575 sq km [1] (124,547 sq mi; but area of administrative units is 312,863 sq km) making it the 69th largest country in the world with population over 38.5 million people concentrated mainly in large cities, including the first capital of Poland, Cracow (Polish: Kraków), and present capital, Warsaw (Polish: Warszawa). The first Polish state was born in 966. Poland became a kingdom in 1025, and in 1569 it cemented a long association with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by uniting to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth ceased to exist between 1772 and 1795. The Poles were without a state for next 123 years. Poland regained its independence in 1918 after World War I but lost it again in World War II, emerging several years later as a communist country within the Eastern Bloc under control of the former Soviet Union. In 1989 it threw off the communist yoke and became what is informally known as the "Third Polish Republic". Today, as the 6th most populated member state of the European Union, Poland is a liberal democracy made up of sixteen voivodeships (Polish: województwo). Poland is also a member of NATO, the United Nations, and the World Trade Organization. ............... Polish History in 10 minutes
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