Poles

The Poles represent the northwestern branch of the Slavonic race. They speak Polish, a member of the Western Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is most closely related to Belorussian, Czech, Slovak, and Ukrainian. From the very earliest times the Poles have resided on the territory between the Carpathians, Oder River, and North Sea. Bolesl-aw I "Chrobny" or the Brave (967 - 1025) united all the Slavonic tribes in this region into a Polish kingdom, which reached its zenith at the close of the Middle Ages and slowly declined during the mid to late eighteenth century. Hostility to Polish nationalism formed a common bond between the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian governments. Thus, Poland was partitioned four times. The first partition (August 1772) divided one-third of Poland between the three above-named countries. The second partition (January 1793) was mostly to the advantage of Russia; Austria did not acquire land. In the third partition (October 1795), the rest of Poland was divided up between the three autocracies. After the defeat of Napoleon and collapse of his puppet state, the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (1807 - 1814), a fourth partition occurred (1815), by which the Russians pushed westward and incorporated Warsaw. Until then Warsaw had been situated in Prussian Poland from 1795 to 1807. Potent anti-Russian sentiment has long prevailed among the Poles who are predominantly Catholic, especially during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as evidenced by four popular uprisings against the Slavic colossus to the east: 1768, 1794, 1830 - 1831, and 1863. According to the 1890 census about 8,400,000 Poles resided in the Russian Empire.

Finally in 1918, an independent Poland was reconstituted. Later in August 1939 a pact was signed between Adolf Hitler's Germany and Josef Stalin's Soviet Union, which contained a secret protocol authorizing yet a fifth partition of Poland: "In the event of a territorial and political rearrangement of the areas belonging to the Polish state the spheres of influence of Germany and the USSR shall be bounded approximately by the line of the rivers Narew, Vistula, and San." The next month Hitler's Germany invaded Poland; the Red Army did not interfere.

After more than four decades of the Cold War, during which Poland was a Soviet "satellite" and belonged to the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, partially free elections were held in 1989. The Solidarity movement won sweeping victories; Lech Walłęsa became Poland's first popularly elected post-Communist president in December 1990. In 1999 Poland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, along with Hungary and the Czech Republic. It is scheduled to enter the European Union in 2004.

Bibliography

Connor, Walter D., and Ploszajski, Piotr. (1992). The Polish Road from Socialism: The Economics, Sociology, and Politics of Transition. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.

Hunter, Richard J., and Ryan, Leo. (1998). From Autarchy to Market: Polish Economics and Politics, 1945 - 1995. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Lukowski, Jerzy, and Zawadzki, Hubert. (2002). A Concise History of Poland. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Michta, Andrew A. (1990). Red Eagle: The Army in Polish Politics, 1944 - 1988. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press.

Snyder, Timothy. (2003). The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569 - 1999. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

—JOHANNA GRANVILLE

For the object, see Pole.

Poles
Skłodowska-Curie • Pope John Paul II • Chopin • Copernicus Wałęsa • Kościuszko • Wajda • Piłsudski
Total population
50 million (est.)[2]
Regions with significant populations
Poland 38,860,000 [3]  United States 9,385,233 [4]  Brazil 1,500,000 [5]  Canada 820,000 [6]  United Kingdom 750,000 [7]  Argentina 500,000 [8]  Belarus 400,000 [9]  Germany 290,000 [10][11]  Lithuania 250,000 [12]  Australia 150,900 [13]  Ukraine 144,130 [14]  Russia 73,000 [15]  Ireland 63,276 [16]  Latvia 57,000 [17]  Czech Republic 52,000 [18]  Italy 50,790 [19]  Kazakhstan 47,293 [20]  Netherlands 39,500 [21]  Austria 21,000 [22]  Iceland 7,000 [23]  Turkey 5,000 [24] Rest of World 1,145,000 (est.) [25]
Language(s)
Polish
Religion(s)
Predominantly Roman Catholic (+90%), with other Christian[26], Jewish, and secular minorities.
Related ethnic groups
West Slavs

Polish people, or Poles, (Polish: Polacy) are a western Slavic ethnic group of Central Europe, living predominantly in Poland. Poles are sometimes defined as people who share a common Polish culture and are of Polish descent. Their religion is predominantly Roman Catholic. The Poles can also be referred to as the inhabitants of the Republic of Poland and Polish emigrants irrespective of their ethnicity. A wide-ranging Polish diaspora exists throughout Western and Eastern Europe, the Americas and Australia.

There is no commonly accepted definition of the Poles. According to the preamble of the Constitution of Poland, the Polish Nation consists of all citizens of Poland. However, like in most European countries, many people limit the group to native speakers of the Polish language, people that share certain views or traditions, or people who share a common ethnic background originating from Poland. As to the ethnicity, the name of the nation comes from a western Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with Poland and the Polish language. Poles belong to the Lechitic subgroup of these ethnic people. The Polans of Giecz, Gniezno, and Poznań were one of the most influential tribes of Greater Poland and managed to unite many other West Slavic tribes in the area under the rule of what became the Piast dynasty, thus giving birth to a new state. The Polish name for a Pole is Polak (male) and Polka (female).

Statistics

Estimates vary greatly, though most data suggests a total number around 50 million. There are 38 million Poles in Poland alone as well as autochthonous Polish minorities in the surrounding countries such as Germany, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus. There are some smaller minorities in other nearby countries like Moldova and Latvia. Note that there is also a Polish minority in Russia which included autochthonous Poles as well as some forcibly deported Poles. The total number of Poles in what was the former Soviet Union is estimated at 3 million^{[citation needed]}.

The term "Polonia" is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders, officially estimated at around 10-12 to 20 million. There is a notable Polish diaspora in the United States (Polish-American), Canada and Brazil (see Polish Brazilian). In the United States a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in Chicago, Detroit, New York City, and Buffalo. In recent years, since joining the European Union, many Polish people have emigrated to countries such as Ireland; where an estimated 150,000 Polish people have entered the labour market. It is estimated that three quarters of a million have in the United Kingdom.

Polish tribes

The following is the list of Polish tribes - tribes which constituted the lands of Poland in the early Middle Ages, at the beginning of the Polish state. Some of them have remained a separate ethnicity while others have been assimilated into the culture of Poland.

Mazurians (Masovians, Masurians) Polans (Polanes, Polanians) Silesians Warmiaks Pomeranians Kashubians (Cassubians) Slovincians Kociewiacy Borowiacy Bieżuńczanie Bobrzanie

Dziadoszanie Golęszyce Goplans Lędzianie Opolanie Kujawianie Pyrzyczanie Ślężanie Trzebowianie Vistulans

European Union

for ethnic Poles living abroad see Polonia

Following Poland's entry into the EU in May 2004 it is estimated that as of September 2006, 307,670 Poles have registered to work in the United Kingdom alone.^[1] Many Poles work in seasonal occupations and a large number is likely to move back and forth including between Ireland and other EU nations.

Notes

1. ^ Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions, HM Revenue & Customs and Department for Communities and Local Government, Accession Monitoring Report: May 2004-September 2006PDF, 21 November 2006, accessed 22 November 2006.
2. ^ This estimate includes people of non-primary ethnic origin. Source to be provided.
3. ^ Excel spreadsheet from Polish Central Statistical Office
4. ^ Poles in US The American Community Survey 2004PDF (468 KiB) by the US Census Bureau estimates 9,385,233 people claiming Polish ancestry.
5. ^ [1]
6. ^ List of Canadians by ethnicity
7. ^ Poles in the UK
8. ^ Poles in Argentina
9. ^ Poles in Belarus
10. ^ German text about polish migrantsPDF (886 KiB). Lists with Germanys aliens.
11. ^ 1.5 million people in Germany have a connection to the Polish language, culture and their family in Poland. Only 330,000 people in Germany has not the german citizenship (2005) [2].
12. ^ Poles in Lithuania
13. ^ Poles in AustraliaPDF (56.3 KiB)
14. ^ Poles in Ukraine
15. ^ Poles in Russia
16. ^ Poles in Ireland
17. ^ CIA World Factbook
18. ^ >http://wtd.vlada.cz/files/rvk/rnm/zprava_mensiny_2001_en.pdfPDF
19. ^ Poles in Italy
20. ^ [3]PDF (87.2 KiB)
21. ^ Poles in NetherlandsPDF (162 KiB)
22. ^ Poles in AustriaPDF
23. ^ [4]
24. ^ [5]
25. ^ Poles around the World (>polonia > statystyka)
26. ^ The various denominations ordered by size: Eastern Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, Lutheran, Pentecostal, and the Polish Catholic Church.

See also

List of Poles Polonia Pole, Hungarian, two good friends List of Polish Jews Polish Americans Polish British Polish Australians Polish Canadians Polish Brazilians

Polish Germans Polish minority in the Czech Republic Polish minority in Lithuania Polish minority in Romania Polish minority in the Soviet Union Demographics of Poland Genetic history of Europe Haplogroup R1a1 (Y-DNA) Name of Poland (etymology of the demonym)

External links

• History of Polish war veterans being admitted to Canada after World War II
• Federation of Poles in Great Britain
• Polonia Świata (Free Poles - Polonia Directory)
• Polish Heritage Trust of New Zealand
• Polacy w Wielkiej Brytanii, Polish Community in the UKbe-x-old:Палякі

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