Basic Information

• Territory
• Borders
• Administrative division
• Topographical features

Territory

Poland lies in the central part of the European continent, the geometrical centre of which is near Warsaw. This is where the lines from Nordkyn in Norway to Matapan in Greece, and from Cabo da Roca in Portugal to the central Urals intersect. The boundary between the East and West European continental masses also runs through Poland.

Poland seen from satelite OrbView-2, May 2000. Source: visibleearth.nasa.gov

Poland's total surface area is 322,500 sq km (312,600 sq km of land, 1,200 sq km of inland waters, and 8,700 sq km of territorial waters). This makes it the ninth largest country in Europe, after Russia, Ukraine, France, Spain, Sweden, Germany, Finland and Norway, and the 63rd largest in the world.

Facts

Poland's territory accounts for 1.4 percent of Europe's total surface area, and for 0.23 percent of the world's land masses. Poland is 120 times bigger than Liechtenstein and 520 times bigger than Singapore. The Voivodeship of Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) is exactly the size of Belgium.

Borders

Over the centuries, Poland's territory has changed many times, but it has always comprised the basins of the Warta and Vistula Rivers, and the lands between the Carpathians and the Baltic Sea. In the 16th-18th centuries the country's area was as much as 1 million sq km. Before the Partitions (late 18th century) it was about 733,000 sq km. Partitioned and annexed by Russia, Prussia and Austria, in 1795 Poland disappeared from the map of Europe for the next 123 years. On the restoration of independence in 1918 it covered 388,000 sq km.

Today's territory of Poland was determined after the Second World War by the victorious powers, Great Britain, the USA, and the Soviet Union, as a result of the peace conferences at Yalta and Potsdam. Poland lost some 20 percent of its prewar territory. Its borders were moved north, to the Baltic coastline, Varmia and Masuria; and west, to the River Oder and the Lusatian Neisse River. In the east, the new border now ran along the Bug River. Poland gained some 100,000 sq km in the north and west (Varmia and Masuria, the Pomeranian Lake District, Ziemia Lubuska (the Lubusz Region), Lower Silesia and part of Upper Silesia), at the same time losing about 78,000 sq km of its territories in the east and north-east (the Vilnian region, Polessie, Volhynia and Podolia). As a result of those dramatic shifts, the current territory of Poland is more or less the same as it was a thousand years ago.

The country has a roughly circular shape with a characteristic narrow spit of land, the Hel Peninsula, jutting out 34 km into the Baltic Sea, with an average breadth of just 500 m. Poland's geometrical centre lies some 20 km north-east of LÃÅ‚dz. The maximum north-to-south and west-to-east distances are 649 km and 689 km respectively. The northernmost point is Cape Rozewie (54°50'N), the southernmost is Mt Opolonek in the Bieszczady Mountains (49°00'N); the easternmost is the River Bug near StrzyzÃÅ‚w (24°09'E), and the westernmost is the River Oder near Cedynia (14°08'E). In summer days are longer in the north by about an hour than in the south; and shorter by an hour in winter. Poland lies in the Central European time zone, with East European time operating in summer.

To the west, Poland has a border of 467 km with Germany, to the south with the Czech Republic (790 km) and Slovakia (541 km); to the east and north-east with Ukraine (529 km), Belarus (416 km), Lithuania (103 km) and Russia (210 km). The total length of Poland's land and sea borders is 3,496km.

Administrative division

Territorial division

In the 1990s Poland's system of administrative division was reformed in two stages. In 1990 the gmina, the primary urban and rural unit, which had been abolished in 1975, was re-introduced. In 1998 the number of voivodeships (wojewÃÅ‚dztwa), the major territorial division, was reduced from 49 to 16, the powiat was instated as an intermediate unit between the gmina and the voivodeship, and some of the administrative duties and tasks devolved from central government to the territorial and/or local authorities.

The major Polish cities are Warsaw, Lodz, Cracow (Krakow), Wroclaw, Poznan, Gdansk, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, and Lublin. The main geographical regions are Pomerania (Pomorze), Masuria (Mazury), Greater Poland (Wielkopolska), Mazovia (Mazowsze), Podlassia (Podlasie), Silesia (Slask), Lesser Poland (Malopolska), and Sub-Carpathia (Podkarpacie).

The Voivodeship of Lower Silesia (wojewÃÅ‚dzwto dolnoslaskie)

Area: 19,948 sq km
Population: 2,985,000
Major cities: Wroclaw, Walbrzych, Legnica, Jelenia GÃÅ‚ra, Klodzko
 

The Voivodeship of Cuiavia and Pomerania
(wojewÃÅ‚dztwo kujawsko-pomorskie) 

Area: 17,970 sq km
Population: 2,980,000
Major cities: Bydgoszcz, Torun, Wloclawek, Grudziadz, Inowroclaw
 

The Voivodeship of Lublin (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo lubelskie)

Area: 25,115 sq km
Population: 2,233,000
Major cities: Biala Podlaska, Chelm, Lublin, Zamosc
 

The Voivodeship of Lubusz (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo lubuskie)

Area: 13,985 sq km
Population: 1,019,000
Major cities: GorzÃÅ‚w Wielkopolski, Zielona GÃÅ‚ra
 

The Voivodeship of LÃÅ‚dz (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo lÃÅ‚dzkie)

Area: 18,223 sq km
Population: 2,676,000
Major cities: LÃÅ‚dz, Skierniewice, Sieradz, PiotrkÃÅ‚w Trybunalski
 

The Voivodeship of Lesser Poland (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo malopolskie)

Area: 15,141 sq km
Population: 3,204,000
Major cities: Cracow (KrakÃÅ‚w), TarnÃÅ‚w, Nowy Sacz
 

The Voivodeship of Mazovia (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo mazowieckie)

Area: 35,715 sq km
Population: 5,068,000
Major cities: Warsaw (Polish name: Warszawa), Plock, Radom, Siedlce, Ostroleka
 

The Voivodeship of Opole (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo opolskie)

Area: 9,412 sq km
Population: 1,092,000
Major cities: Opole, Kedzierzyn-Kozle
 

The Voivodeship of Sub-Carpathia (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo podkarpackie)

Area: 17,890 sq km
Population: 2,100,000
Major cities: RzeszÃÅ‚w, Przemysl, Tarnobrzeg, Krosno
 

The Voivodeship of Podlassia (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo podlaskie)

Area: 20,180 sq km
Population: 1,224,000 
Major cities: Bialystok, Lomza, Suwalki
 

The Voivodeship of Pomerania (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo pomorskie)

Area: 18,293 sq km
Population: 2,179,000
Major cities: Gdansk, Gdynia, Slupsk
 

The Voivodeship of Silesia (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo slaskie)

Area: 12,294 sq km
Population: 4,894,000
Major cities: Katowice, Czestochowa, Bielsko-Biala
 

The Voivodeship of Kielce (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo swietokrzyskie)

Area: 11,672 sq km
Population: 1,328,000
Major cities: Kielce, Skarzysko-Kamienna, Starachowice, Sandomierz
 

The Voivodeship of Varmia and Masuria
(wojewÃÅ‚dztwo warminsko-mazurskie)

Area: 24,202 sq km
Population: 1,460,000
Major cities: Olsztyn, Elblag
 

The Voivodeship of Greater Poland (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo wielkopolskie)

Area: 29,942 sq km
Population: 3,345,000
Major cities: Poznan, Leszno, Kalisz, Pila
 

The Voivodeship of Western Pomerania (wojewÃÅ‚dztwo zachodniopomorskie)

Area: 23,032 sq km
Population: 1,729,000
Major cities: Szczecin, Koszalin

Since 1990 13 Euroregions have been created along Poland's borders. These are areas of trans-border co-operation based on agreements signed by the local authorities of adjacent countries. The aims of the Euroregions are to enhance relations between neighbouring regions, develop their infrastructure, foster economic cooperation, protect the environment, and to promote tourism, and cultural and educational activities. These trans-border regional entities include the Pomeranian Euroregion (Poland, Germany, and Sweden), the Neisse Euroregion (Poland, Czech Republic, and Germany) and the Carpathian Euroregion (Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Slovakia, and Rumania).

Topographical features

Poland is a relatively low-lying country. 91.3 percent of its territory lies below 300 m above sea level. The highest point is Mt Rysy in the Tatras (2499 m), while the lowest point is located west of the village of Raczki Elblaskie (1.8 m below sea level). The highest-lying settlement is GubalÃÅ‚wka (today part of the municipality of Zakopane; 1125 m), the lowest-lying settlement is ZÃÅ‚lwiniec (1.3 m below sea level). There are three main mountain ranges in Poland: the Carpathians, the Sudetan Mountains, and the GÃÅ‚ry Swietokrzyskie (Holy Cross Mountains). The longest rivers are the Vistula (1047 km), Oder (854 km), Warta (808 km), Bug (772 km), Narew (484 km), San (443 km), Notec (388 km), Pilica (319 km), Wieprz (303 km) and the BÃÅ‚br (272 km). Poland has some 9,300 lakes with surface areas over 1 ha; they make up 1 percent of the country's territory. The largest is Lake Sniardwy (11,383 ha) in the Masurian Lake District, and the deepest is Lake Hancza (108.5 m) north of Suwalki.

Source: www.poland.gov.pl