Original Map Of Poland

[Jarvarious Hunsaker]

Thehistory of Poland spans over a thousand years, from medieval tribes, Christianization and monarchy; through Poland's Golden Age, expansionism and becoming one of the largest European powers; to its collapse and partitions, two world wars, communism, and the restoration of democracy.

The roots of Polish history can be traced to ancient times, when the territory of present-day Poland was inhabited by diverse ethnic groups, including Celts, Scythians, Sarmatians, Slavs, Balts and Germanic peoples. 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 first ruling dynasty, the Piasts, emerged in the 10th century AD. Duke Mieszko I, regarded as the creator of Polish statehood, adopted Western Christianity in 966 CE. Mieszko's dominion was formally reconstituted as a medieval kingdom in 1025 by his son Bolesław I the Brave, known for his military expansions. The most successful and the last Piast monarch, Casimir III the Great, presided over a period of economic prosperity and territorial aggrandizement before his death in 1370 without male heirs.

The Second Polish Republic was established in 1918 and existed as an independent state until 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland, marking the beginning of World War II. Millions of Polish citizens of different faiths or identities perished under Nazi occupation between 1939 and 1945 through planned genocide and extermination. A Polish government-in-exile functioned throughout the war, and the Poles contributed to the Allied victory through participation in military campaigns on both the eastern and western fronts. The westward advances of the Soviet Red Army in 1944 and 1945 compelled Nazi Germany's forces to retreat from Poland, which led to the establishment of a satellite communist country, known from 1952 as the Polish People's Republic. The territorial adjustments mandated by the Allies at the end of World War II in 1945 shifted Poland's geographic centre of gravity towards the west, and the re-defined Polish lands largely lost their historic multi-ethnic character. By the late 1980s, the Polish reform movement Solidarity contributed to a peaceful transition from a planned communist economy to capitalism and a liberal parliamentary democracy. This process resulted in the creation of the modern Polish state, the Third Polish Republic, founded in 1989.

In prehistoric and protohistoric times, over a period of approximately 500,000 years, the area of present-day Poland was intermittently inhabited by members of the genus Homo.[1] The earliest evidence of Homo erectus activity in the form of microlith artifacts was discovered at Trzebnica, in Lower Silesia.[2][3] It remains the oldest archeological site in the country, dating back to the Lower Paleolithic period of the Stone Age.[4] The southern regions of Poland were subsequently penetrated by sporadic groups of Neanderthals.[5] Their presence was confirmed by the stone tools unearthed in caves of the Krakw-Częstochowa Upland, a limestone formation with hills, cliffs and valleys that came to be known as the Polish Jura.[6]

The arrival of Homo sapiens and anatomically modern humans coincided with the climatic discontinuity at the end of the Last Glacial Period (Weichselian glaciation) around 10,000 BC, when Poland became warmer and habitable.[7] It allowed various groups of early humans to pass the Sudeten Mountains through the Moravian Gate and the Kłodzko Valley into Lower Silesia.[8] The Neolithic period ushered in the Linear Pottery culture, whose founders belonged to the Danubian culture and migrated from the Danube River area beginning about 5500 BC.[9] This culture was distinguished by the establishment of the first settled agricultural communities in modern Polish territory.[10] Later, between about 4400 and 2000 BC, the native post-Mesolithic populations would also adopt and further develop the agricultural way of life.[11]

Excavations indicated broad-ranging development in the New Stone Age. Most notably, the oldest samples of European cheese (5500 BC) were found in the region of Kuyavia, and a pot from Bronocice is incised with what is now believed to be the earliest-known portrayal of a wheeled vehicle (3400 BC).[12][13] Toolmaking became more advanced and material was primarily sourced from quarries and mines in the Świętokrzyskie (Holy Cross) Mountains.[14] Artifacts that originated in this mountain region were excavated as far as Moravia and near the Baltic Sea.[15] It is estimated that the UNESCO-protected neolithic flint mines at Krzemionki, one of Europe's largest, were utilised by the Funnelbeaker and Globular Amphora cultures from 3900 BC to 1600 BC.[16] The only surviving example of ancient parietal art in Poland is at a flint shaft in Krzemionki and features a linear charcoal pictogram of a female figure or deity that has been since associated with fertility.[17][18]

The West Slavic and Lechitic peoples as well as any remaining minority clans on ancient Polish lands were organized into tribal units, of which the larger ones were later known as the Polish tribes; the names of many tribes are found on the list compiled by the anonymous Bavarian Geographer in the 9th century.[26] In the 9th and 10th centuries, these tribes gave rise to developed regions along the upper Vistula, the coast of the Baltic Sea and in Greater Poland. The latest tribal undertaking, in Greater Poland, resulted in the formation of a lasting political structure in the 10th century that became the state of Poland.[21].mw-parser-output .citationword-wrap:break-word.mw-parser-output .citation:targetbackground-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)[x]

Poland was established as a state under the Piast dynasty, which ruled the country between the 10th and 14th centuries. Historical records referring to the Polish state begin with the rule of Duke Mieszko I, whose reign commenced sometime before 963 and continued until his death in 992. Mieszko converted to Christianity in 966, following his marriage to Princess Doubravka of Bohemia, a fervent Christian.[27] The event is known as the "baptism of Poland", and its date is often used to mark a symbolic beginning of Polish statehood.[28] Mieszko completed a unification of the Lechitic tribal lands that was fundamental to the new country's existence. Following its emergence, Poland was led by a series of rulers who converted the population to Christianity, created a strong kingdom and fostered a distinctive Polish culture that was integrated into the broader European culture.[29]

After Bolesław III divided Poland among his sons in his Testament of 1138,[27] internal fragmentation eroded the Piast monarchical structures in the 12th and 13th centuries. In 1180, Casimir II the Just, who sought papal confirmation of his status as a senior duke, granted immunities and additional privileges to the Polish Church at the Congress of Łęczyca.[27] Around 1220, Wincenty Kadłubek wrote his Chronica seu originale regum et principum Poloniae, another major source for early Polish history.[27] In 1226, one of the regional Piast dukes, Konrad I of Masovia, invited the Teutonic Knights to help him fight the Baltic Prussian pagans.[27] The Teutonic Order destroyed the Prussians but kept their lands, which resulted in centuries of warfare between Poland and the Teutonic Knights, and later between Poland and the German Prussian state. The first Mongol invasion of Poland began in 1240; it culminated in the defeat of Polish and allied Christian forces and the death of the Silesian Piast Duke Henry II the Pious at the Battle of Legnica in 1241.[27] In 1242, Wrocław became the first Polish municipality to be incorporated,[27] as the period of fragmentation brought economic development and growth of towns. New cities were founded and existing settlements were granted town status per Magdeburg Law.[32] In 1264, Bolesław the Pious granted Jewish liberties in the Statute of Kalisz.[27][33]

After the Polish royal line and Piast junior branch died out in 1370, Poland came under the rule of Louis I of Hungary of the Capetian House of Anjou, who presided over a union of Hungary and Poland that lasted until 1382.[27] In 1374, Louis granted the Polish nobility the Privilege of Koszyce to assure the succession of one of his daughters in Poland.[27] His youngest daughter Jadwiga (d. 1399) assumed the Polish throne in 1384.[35]

In the Baltic Sea region, Poland's struggle with the Teutonic Knights continued and culminated in the Battle of Grunwald (1410),[36] a great victory that the Poles and Lithuanians were unable to follow up with a decisive strike against the main seat of the Teutonic Order at Malbork Castle. The Union of Horodło of 1413 further defined the evolving relationship between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.[36][38]

The Nihil novi act, adopted in 1505 by the Sejm, transferred most of the legislative power from the monarch to the Sejm.[36] This event marked the beginning of the period known as "Golden Liberty", when the state was ruled in principle by the "free and equal" Polish nobility. In the 16th century, the massive development of folwark agribusinesses operated by the nobility led to increasingly abusive conditions for the peasant serfs who worked them. The political monopoly of the nobles also stifled the development of cities, some of which were thriving during the late Jagiellonian era, and limited the rights of townspeople, effectively holding back the emergence of the middle class.[41]

The Commonwealth, subjected to almost constant warfare until 1720, suffered enormous population losses and massive damage to its economy and social structure. The government became ineffective in the wake of large-scale internal conflicts, corrupted legislative processes and manipulation by foreign interests.[improper synthesis?] The nobility fell under the control of a handful of feuding magnate families with established territorial domains. The urban population and infrastructure fell into ruin, together with most peasant farms, whose inhabitants were subjected to increasingly extreme forms of serfdom. The development of science, culture and education came to a halt or regressed.[51]

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