Poland-Lithuania

The Federal Republic of Poland-Lithuania Republika Federalna Polska-Litwa
Motto: "Bóg, Honor, Ojczyzna"
Anthem: Gaude, Mater Polonia
Capital		Warsaw
Largest		Kiev
Official languages		Polish, Lithuanian, Latin, English
Recognised national languages		Latvian, Estonian, Belorussian, Ruthenian
Recognised regional languages		Hebrew, Yiddish
Demonym		Polish
Government		Federal presidential constitutional republic
-	President	Karolina Kligenberg
-	Majority Leader	Ignacy Pokorny (PCDP)
-	Majority Whip	Sándor Armand (PCDP)
Legislature		Sejm
-	Upper house	Senate
-	Lower house	Sejm
Establishment
-	Kingdom of Poland	1025
-	Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania	1 July 1569
-	Federal Republic	1 August 2014
Area
-		9,629,091 km2 3,717,813 sq mi
-	Water (%)	3.07%
Population
-	2014 estimate	91.2 million
-	2015 census	92,960,000
-	Density	88.6/km2 34.2/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2015 estimate
-	Total	$8.959 trillion
-	Per capita	$96,380.60
GDP (nominal)		2015 estimate
-	Total	$4.413 trillion
-	Per capita	$47,478.13
Gini		23.5 low
HDI		0.985 very high
Currency		euro (EUR)
Time zone		PST (Polish Standard Time) (UTC+5)
Date format		dd-mm-yyyy
Drives on the		right
Calling code		+27
Internet TLD		.pl

The Federal Republic of Poland-Lithuania (Polish: Republika Federalna Polska - Litwa/Lithuanian: Federacinė Respublika Lenkija-Lietuva/Latin: Foederalis Reipublicae Poloniae et Lithuaniae) is a federal parliamentary republic located in the European Union.

History

Historians have postulated that throughout Late Antiquity, many distinct ethnic groups populated the regions of what is now known as Poland. The ethnicity and linguistic affiliation of these groups have been hotly debated; the time and route of the original settlement of Slavic peoples in these regions have been the particular subjects of much controversy.

The most famous archeological find from the prehistory and protohistory of Poland is the Biskupin fortified settlement (now reconstructed as a museum), dating from the Lusatian culture of the early Iron Age, around 700 BC. Before adopting Christianity in 960 AD, the people of Poland believed in Svetovid, the Slavic god of war, fertility, and abundance. Many other Slavic nations had the same belief

Mieszko II Lambert (c. 990–1034) King of Poland and Duchess Matilda of Swabia. Earliest known contemporary depiction of a Polish ruler. Poland began to form into a recognizable unitary and territorial entity around the middle of the 10th century under the Piast dynasty. Poland's first historically documented ruler, Mieszko I, accepted baptism in 966 and adopted Catholicism as the new official religion of his subjects. The bulk of the population converted in the course of the next few centuries. In 1000, Boleslaw the Brave, continuing the policy of his father Mieszko, held a Congress of Gniezno and created the metropolis of Gniezno and the dioceses of Kraków, Kołobrzeg, Wrocław.

As he writes in his chronicl of Gallus Anonymus, capitals Polish Piast dynasty during the reign of former Wrocław, Kraków and Sandomierz ("Boleslaus vero, in Wratislaw, et in Cracovia, et in Sandomir, sedes regni principales obtinuat").

In 1109, Bolesław III Wrymouth defeated the King of Germany Henry V in the Battle of Hundsfeld. In 1138, Poland fragmented into several smaller duchies when Bolesław III Wrymouth divided his lands among his sons. In 1226, Konrad I of Masovia, one of the regional Piast dukes, invited the Teutonic Knights to help him fight the Baltic Prussian pagans; a decision which led to centuries of warfare with the Knights. In the middle of 13th-century the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty (Henry I the Bearded and Henry II the Pious, ruled 1238–1241) almost succeeded in uniting the Polish lands, but the Mongols devastated the country and won the Battle of Legnica where Duke Henry II the Pious died (1241). In 1320, after a number of earlier unsuccessful attempts by regional rulers at uniting the Polish dukedoms, Władysław I consolidated his power, took the throne and became the first King of a reunified Poland. His son, Casimir III (reigned 1333–1370), has a reputation as one of the greatest Polish kings, and gained wide recognition as a protector of trade. He extended his kingdom to 250% of its initial size. Casimir also extended royal protection to Jews.

The education of Polish society was a goal of rulers as early as the 12th century, and Poland became one of the most educated countries in Europe. The library catalogue of the Cathedral Chapter of Kraków dating back to 1110 shows that in the early 12th-century Polish intellectuals had access to European literature.

Casimir III realized that the nation needed a class of educated people, especially lawyers, who could codify the country's laws and administer the courts and offices. His efforts to found an institution of higher learning in Poland were finally rewarded when Pope Urban V granted him permission to open the University of Kraków.

The Golden Liberty of the nobles began to develop under Casimir's rule, when in return for their military support, the king made serious concessions to the aristocrats, finally establishing their status as superior to that of the townsmen, and aiding their rise to power. When Casimir died in 1370 he left no legitimate male heir and, considering his other male descendants either too young or unsuitable, was laid to rest as the last of the nation's Piast rulers.

Poland also became a magnet for migrants. Germans settled in the towns; the Jewish community began to settle and flourish in Poland during this era; the same applies in smaller number to Armenians. The Black Death which afflicted most parts of Europe from 1347 to 1351 affected Poland less severely.

After the rule of Casimir, Poland began to acquire other lands far away from its center, including Lithuania, Ruthenia (Ukraine), and eventually the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, though incorporated many through wars. This period of unrest and warring feudal lords led to the split of power away from the monarch to the feudal lords, resulting in many battles for control over the whole of the nation. The most powerful family was the Kligenberg family, descendants from Teuton knights, who established control over Warsaw, and eventually all of the Kingdom of Poland, first as economic ventures only, but then in terms of real political power from the 14th to the 16th centuries, culminating in their rise to Royal Family status.

The Commonwealth was officially formed on 1 July 1569, through the Treaty of Warsaw, unifying the crowns of Poland, Lithuania, and Ruthenia into one seat of power. Warsaw became one of the more important thrones in all of Europe. The Kligenberg family's first monarch on this throne was Stefan I, who ruled from 1569-1607. The Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania, or simply known to the rest of Europe as the Commonwealth of Poland, did not go without some internal struggles at first, particularly as a multi-ethnic imperial state, but the issues were solved with steady reforms, resulting in a constitutional monarchy, where the monarch held real power, but was forced to share it with the legislature.

Since that democratization, finally realized in 1765, and semi-autonomy granted to Ruthenia and Lithuania, the Commonwealth has lived in harmony, growing in economic strength. August 1, 2014 begins a new era in the Polish government, now a federal republic, ending nearly one thousand years of a monarchy.

Geography

Poland-Lithuania's climate is best described as temperate, and its vast territory makes its environment varied in many different aspects.

There are generally four seasons in Poland: spring, summer, autumn and winter. Spring fluctuates, and usually begins in mid-March. Summer is in its full swing by June, and temperatures can reach up to 102 F in the southern Poland/northern Ruthenia. Autumn begins around late August, and temperatures moderate themselves around 60 F. Winter approaches in October, and can get as cold as an average high of 20 F, especially in Belarus, southern Poland, Ruthenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Precipitation falls all year round, but is most heavy in the summer.

Poland is noted for its clear skies and diverse ecosystems. It contains vast forests, both coniferous and deciduous, as well as mountain ranges, lake districts, a desert, marshlands, rolling pastures and hills, and coasts. The most famous mountains are the Carpathian Mountains, the highest of those the Tatra Mountains on the natural border between Poland and Slovakia.

There are two major rivers in the nation, though many smaller rivers exist. The first major river is the Vistula River, which goes through the centre of the country, snaking its way through Warsaw. The second, and the longest, is the Dnieper River, which flows from southern Poland's largest city, Krakow, through to Ruthenia, passing through Kiev, before reaching Halsberg and running through to Thurston.

Much of central Poland and parts of Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, and Estonia are highly dense forest, made up of a mixed fauna of trees and plants, though coniferous tress dominate the more northern landscapes.

Demographics and Culture

• 39% Polish
• 23% Ruthenian (Ukrainian)
• 21% Belorussian
• 10% Lithuanian
• 3% Latvian
• 2% Estonian
• 2% Jewish

Poland-Lithuania is a multi-ethnic nation, with each group proud of their cultural heritage. The defined nature of Poland's many ethnic groups caused several clashes in the 1970's and 1980's, culminating in the Minsk riots and the Kievan Uprising. Since then, a government policy of tolerance has fostered what has become a special harmony between all the peoples of Poland-Lithuania. Polish people are perhaps some of the most tolerant people in the European Union, despite their Catholic upbringing, and the mixture of cultures and diasporas has been such over a long period of time, starting in the 18th Century.

Language

Language in Poland-Lithuania has been going through a homogenization somewhat, as many ethnic groups speak their language less and less as their predominant language. The largest ethnic group who have retained their language are the Ruthenians who speak Ukrainian, and maintain pockets of every major city where there is at least some Ukrainian spoken. German, English, and Latin are not represented as languages even though the government publishes material in those because they are languages foreign to Poland, influenced by Davishire, Imperial Prussian State, and the Catholic Church.

Language has been a key component to the new harmony in Poland, as Polish is taught across all schools, but in some constituent nations, it is the secondary language of the people, or even third. However, many of the other languages of the nation and the European Union are taught.

Culture

It is hard to define culture in Poland-Lithuania, because its culture is so varied depending upon constituent nation and even voivodeship at times. The dominant cultures present in the Commonwealth are: Polish, Lithuanian, Ruthenian, and Belorussian.

As the name suggests, Poland and Lithuania are the two most prominent cultures, and wealthier constituent nations. Polish culture has evolved into a much more modern outlook, and the territory that would make up Poland by itself is surprisingly homogenized with the exception of the Warsaw and Krakow regions, two of the largest and most affluent cities in the Commonwealth. Poland has contributed many scientific and artistic achievements in the European Union.

Poland is the birthplace of many distinguished personalities, among which are: Mikołaj Kopernik, Fryderyk Chopin, Maria Skłodowska Curie, Tadeusz Kościuszko, Kazimierz Pułaski, Józef Piłsudski, Lech Wałęsa and Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyła). Great Polish painter Jan Matejko devoted his monumental art to the most significant historical events on Polish lands, along with the playwright, painter and poet Stanisław Wyspiański. Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz (Witkacy) was an example of a Polish avant-garde philosopher and author of aesthetic theories.

Polish literature dates back to the 12th century and includes many famous poets and writers such as Mikołaj Rej, Jan Kochanowski, Adam Mickiewicz, Bolesław Prus, Juliusz Słowacki, Witold Gombrowicz, Stanisław Lem, Kornel Makuszyński, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Władysław Reymont, Czesław Miłosz. Polish Joseph Conrad was a notable author of works in English.

Many world famous Polish movie directors include Academy Awards winners Roman Polański, Andrzej Wajda, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Janusz Kamiński, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Agnieszka Holland. Actresses known outside of Poland, include Helena Modjeska and Pola Negri.

Tolerance

Poland has a great, long standing tradition of tolerance towards minorities, as well as an absence of discrimination on the grounds of religion, nationality or race. Poland has maintained a high level of gender equality, an established disability rights movement and promotes peaceful equality. Poland was the first country in the world to prohibit corporal punishment in all its forms. Poland has, throughout most of its long history, experienced only very limited immigration from abroad; this trend can be largely attributed to Poland's rejection of slavery and to a lack of overseas colonies as well as occupation of its territories during much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Despite this, the country has for a long time been regarded as having a very tolerant society, which affords equal rights to all people no matter what their ethnic background. This can be said to stem largely from the reign of King Casimir III the Great and his acceptance for Poland's Jewish community, in a time when most of Europe recessed into antisemitic moods and actions. The history of Jews in Poland exemplifies peaceful co-existence of a nation with a particular ethnic group.

Music

Poland is perhaps most well-known for its music. The folk music style that is diverse across various regions of the Imperial Commonwealth. Polish music that is by far the most famous are two dances that come from regions in Poland: the krakowiak and the mazurka. Both of these dances are vigorous and lively, and are two of the national dances of Poland, known for their feeling of joy typically. Traditional Polish music features the koza, bagpipes, tambourine, and suka (string instrument) as the core of its bands, with auxiliary instruments added. The dance that is most well known throughout the world, however, is the polonaise, a stately triple-meter dance, taken from the aristocracy of Poland.

As for art music, Poland has strong ties to the piano, as its most famous composer, Frederic (Fryderyk) Chopin, wrote primarily for the piano, greatly influencing the instrument. Each one of his compositions reflect a style that is described as "stile brillante", or a virtuoso quality with patterns, and that of an originality that has complex harmonies and counterpoint weaved into his music. Chopin's influence on the piano can be seen in other Polish composers like Franz Xaver Scharwenka, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, Maria Syzmanowska, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Peter Illyich Tchaikovsky is another world famous Polish composer, this in a more "Russian" tradition, however, and much like Chopin transformed the piano, Tchaikovsky influenced and used primarily the orchestra, though he wrote for choirs, string quartets, solo piano, and solo instruments with orchestra. He also was the most important composer of ballet music, giving the dance style its most played repertoire: "Swan Lake", "The Nutcracker" and "Sleeping Beauty".

Outside of art music, Poland has a vibrant music scene with vast genres of music spanning pop, rock, metal, electronic, techno, alternative, jazz and indie. One of the most famous pop singers in Poland is Rita Ora, an ethnically Rehcroatian singer, known for her ostensibly Nicolezian accented English. She is currently branching out internationally in terms of fame, and looks to cross over into the Inquistan markets. Another very popular singer is Ariana Grande (real name: Elisabeta Krakowszka). Rap music is dominated by Ruthenian-Polish rapper Eminem,

Sport

Poland-Lithuania is a highly competitive sporting country, with many citizens playing many sports. However, Poland happens to enjoy certain sports more than the rest, and those happen to be: football, rugby, basketball, tennis, volleyball, hockey, water polo, handball, track & field and weightlifting.

Football

Football in Poland is the most popular sport, with the Polish Premier League attracting lucrative sponsors and deals. The Polish Football Association runs the sport in Poland, and has worked very hard to promote football. The unique trait about Polish football is that both women's and men's football have been promoted equally and have nearly the same status in Poland, with the Polish Women's Premier League having nearly as much success, a rarity in the European Union. The PPL ends with a playoff system of 16 teams, vying for the Poland Cup at the end of the season, allowing for a season champion (the top finisher in the standings) and a post-season champion (winner of the Poland Cup). Youth leagues are popular, with the U-20 league attracting many international competitors.

Rugby Union

Rugby is a very popular sport in Poland, occupying Sunday afternoon and evenings across the nation with teams representing cities in the Polish Rugby Union (PRU). The Polish Rugby Union's most popular team are the Warsaw Eagles, the Kiev Lions, and the Vilnius Teutons. Rugby players are the only other athletes in Poland who achieve the same big money, celebrity status that the Premier League football players achieve. Rugby Union has its own championship, the Krakow Champions Trophy, named after the headquarters of the Rugby Union.

Basketball

Poland, and in particular the Baltic peoples in Poland (Latvians, Estonians, Lithuanians), show a great skill for basketball, and Poland maintains a National Basketball League (NBL) and a men's and women's national team. The national teams are some of the best in the European Union.

Tennis

Despite Poland-Lithuania hosting the POLSAT Warsaw Open, the last Grand Slam in tennis, this sport has not had as many successful players. At the professional level, Agnieszka Radwanska, Stanislas Wawrinka, Urszula Radwanska, and Jerzy Janowicz fly the flag for Poland, with Radwanska being ranked as high as No. 2 in the world. Stanislas Wawrinka recently became the No. 3 ranked men's player in the world. Tennis is still rising in Poland-Lithuania, and will continue to do so with the success of Polish players, particularly at their home Grand Slam.

Government

Legislature

Sejm of the Polish Commonwealth

• Name: Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Sejm of the Polish Commonwealth)
• Conventional Name: Sejm
• Party in Power: PCDP
• Structure: Unicameral legislature
• Seats: 648 (8 from each vovoideship)
• Election: Universal vote, FPTP

The Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej (Sejm of the Polish Commonwealth) is made up of 620 members, called przedstawiciele, or reperesentatives. The przedstawiciele are elected from województwa (voivodeships/provinces), one from a district in that voivodeship. The system to elect the Sejm is mixed member proportional, where there are two choices in each vovoideship: favored candidate and favorite party. Half of the votes in each vovoideship are given to the "first past the post" winner, while the others are adjusted to better represent the poll numbers and will of the people. From there, the przedstawiciele are sent to the Sejm, where they carry out the daily governance. The Sejm can:

• Write laws regarding regular life
• Regulate commerce
• Declare war
• Create bureaucracy that helps regulate commerce
• Ratify treaties
• Amend the constitution
• Override Presidential veto with a super majority

The President of the Polish Republic

The President of the Polish Republic is the head of state and head of government of Poland-Lithuania. The President is an office that has replaced the historical role of the monarch of the Polish Commonwealth, effective since 1 August 2014. The President of the Polish Republic is the most powerful politician in the nation, and one of the most powerful in Eastern Europe. The President has been issued the following powers based on the 1 August 2014 constitution:

• Nominate judges to the Supreme Court
• Nominate senior officials of government
• Declare war
• Conduct police actions
• Issue Executive Orders
• Enforce laws
• Veto laws
• Take no action regarding laws
• Appoint ambassadors
• Head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Indirectly guide the Sejm

Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of the Federal Republic of Poland-Lithuania will have appellate jurisdiction on constitutional matters, and original jurisdiction in matters regarding the federal government.

Politics

Federal Politics

National politics in Poland-Lithuania have recently gone under a radical change after the transition from monarchy to federal republic, and as such, the party structure is changing. These are the five major parties across the nation who are able to amass enough support to get elected to the Sejm. Traditionally, the Polish Socialist Party hadn't received much gains (due to their former hardline socialist, almost Marxist approach), but in recent elections, the PPS has taken advantage of the disintegration of predecessor parties to the current. However, the Christian Democrats look to regain the more conservative factions of Poland-Lithuania, and with the support of the Catholic Church via endorsement. The Liberal Alliance is the newest, lumping together independents who didn't fit in the Sejm. The 2014 Sejm and Polish Senate elections will prove to be important as it will either return the nation to a status quo or a continuing evolution in Polish politics

Provincial politics

Poland-Lithuania not only has a federal government, but provincial governments. Many of the federal parties have branches in each one of the provinces. The provinces in the Federal Republic were former nations united by the crown. Provinces generally have a legislature (a parliament of some sort) and an executive, but it can vary. For example, Estonia does not have an executive in any capacity and relies on the President of the Polish Republic to validate or veto laws. The legislatures of the provincial governments are populated with regional parties that have strong support, particularly in Hungary and Ruthenia.

Military

Economy

Industries

Poland-Lithuania maintains a diverse selection of industries that span all aspects of life. The largest industry in Poland is the tourism industry, where nearly 30 million tourists come to Poland's many cities every year, as well as visit its national parks and ecosystems. The prominent eco-tourism in Poland-Lithuania have supported nearly 700,000 jobs. Poland is also strong in natural resources, particularly oil, natural gas, minerals, metals and logging of specific trees, though logging has since slowed. Poland also has a large information technology sector, with many international corporations housing their Eastern European operations in Kiev. LOT Polish Airlines has a large presence in the aviation industry, with its planes being built by the United Aircraft Corporation, a state-owned aviation company inside Poland-Lithuania who are building several new aircraft like Ilyushin Il-114, Ilyushin Il-96, Irkut MS-21, Sukhoi Superjet 100, Sukhoi Superjet 130, Sukhoi Su-80 and Tupolev Tu-204. They also specialize in smaller aircraft, including the Curie 83-R7 regional commercial jet.

List of metropolitan areas in Poland-Lithuania

Transportation

Transportation in Poland-Lithuania is rapidly developing. The most obvious benefactor to the transportation boom has been airports, railroads, and highways. Poland-Lithuania has several major airports, the largest being the Warsaw Chopin Airport, located in the capital. Servicing a metropolitan area of 11 million people, the Warsaw Chopin Airport handles on average 20 million passengers a year. A lot of the air traffic is regional, but increasing flights to the United Republic and Halsberg, as well as other major European destinations have been able to be scheduled out of this airport. Other cities with major airports in the Commonwealth include: Kiev (Kyiv), Krakow, Talinn, Bratislava, Budapest, Sevastopol, and Vilnius. The largest airline in Poland that services all of these airports LOT Polish Airlines (Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A.). Warsaw Chopin Airport is currently open for regional hub status for foreign airlines.

Highways

An example of traffic on Kiev's expressways

Highways in Poland are already vast, but increased infrastructure upgrades are underway, especially in the areas around Warsaw, Kiev, and Krakow as they contain the most vehicular commuters. Warsaw's ring road, the M75, is particularly overcrowded, despite it being upgraded to five lanes in every direction. Poland's highway capacity is always looking for an upgrade, as the developing nation continues to add more vehicles to the road every year. Kiev in particular is working to reduce congestion with the introduction of tolls and even the potential for a congestion tax. Traffic during peak hours can range from extending a fifteen minute trip to an hour, to nearly three hours on Kiev's Dniepersk bridge, making Kiev one of the worst commutes in the European Union

Railways

Railways and underground systems are on the rise in Poland, as what used to be only slow coach travel has now developed into several options, including high speed travel. Warsaw and Kiev are the two hubs of this PolRail high speed travel, with the new Rutheninan Express travelling from Warsaw to Kiev to Thurston in Halsberg opening in September. Regional trains connect most towns and cities, and passenger capacity is on the rise, with the PTKZ showing an increase of 4% to 97 million users of rail service in 2014. The major metropolitan areas also utilize aboveground metro or tram services for their commuters. The biggest complaint Kiev and Warsaw's citizens share is the fact that sometimes the metro system doesn't reach far enough. For now, bus service has been increased at terminus stations in the suburbs of Kiev and Warsaw at peak hours until lines can be extended further.

Airports

Poland-Lithuania has several international airports which connect Poland with the rest of the European Union:

• Fryderyk Chopin International Airport (Warsaw)
• Mikołaj Kopernik International Airport (Kiev)
• Kiev International Airport
• John Paul II International Airport (Krakow)

The largest airports are Chopin International Airport (FCIA) and Mikolaj Kopernik (MKIA), connecting the two largest economic cities in Poland to the rest of the European Union. Air travel is handled by the Polish Aviation Adminisration (PAA) and they oversee an increasingly large number of flights in and out of Poland, up to 2 million every month. Fryderyk Chopin International Airport is perhaps the busiest, with over 94 million passengers going through the system every year as the capital's largest airport, servicing both international and regional flights.