16 Interesting Facts About Poland

Nowhere in Europe does history feel as alive and contemporary as it does in Poland, a country that’s a virtual living history museum. Cities such as Warsaw, Gdansk, and Wrocław were flattened in World War II; now, they’ve been restored to their former beauty and are brimming with culture and energy. Most of the Places of Poland are terra incognita but the conditions are getting better and country is getting charming, tourist attracting, and getting much more genuine than you might find in better-known destinations. Let us know some more intriguing facts about this land of West Slav, Poland.image: c7.staticflickr.com

1. Land of Polans

The Name ‘Poland’ is derived from a West Slavic tribe of Polans (Polanie) that inhabited the basin of Warta river, the historic Greater Poland region in the 8th century. The origin of the name Polanie itself derives from the western Slavic word pole that means field.
source: wikipedia

2. The First Polish Ruler

In the history the first Polish ruler recorded was Mieszko, about A.D. 963. In 966, Mieszko adopted Christianity, making Poland the easternmost country within the orbit of Latin culture.
source: facts.randomhistory.com

3. One of the Last Primeval Forests: Białowieża Forest

  The 380,000-acre (150,000-hectare) Białowieża Primeval Forest in Poland is Europe’s last ancient forest and home to 800 European bison, Europe’s heaviest land animals. The forest has been counted in the UNESCO world heritage site and an EU Natura 2000 Special Area of Conservation.
source: facts.randomhistory.com, image: wildpoland.com

4. One of the Oldest Salt Mine in Operation: Wieliczka Salt Mine

  The Wieliczka Salt Mine is situated in the town of Wieliczka in southern Poland. The mine produced table salt continuously until 2007. Nowadays about 1.2 million people visit the Wieliczka Salt Mine annually.
source: wikipedia, image: whc.unesco.org

5. Country of Marie Curie

                                                      The Great Scientist and Nobel Prize Winner Marie Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland on November 7, 1867. She moved to Paris in early 1880 and married a Frenchman Pierre Curie in 1895. With her husband, she discovered the elements polonium (Po), named after her native Poland, in the summer of 1898 and, soon thereafter, radium (Ra). She won a second Nobel Prize in 1911 for her research in the isolation of pure radium. She was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize and first person and woman to win the Nobel Prize twice.
source: facts.randomhistory.com, image: www.kvarkadabra.net

6. Country of One of the Greatest Astronomers

                              Poland is the country of Nicolaus Copernicus and Johannes Hevelius. Nicolaus Copernicus was the first person to propose that the Earth is not the centre of the Universe and Johannes Hevelius was the first person to publish the first exact map of the Moon.
source: www.slavorum.org

7. Polish Diaspora

Polish Diaspora is one of the largest Diaspora in the World. Around 20 million people of Polish ancestry living outside Poland. Most of the people of polish ancestry living in United States, Germany, France, Canada, UK etc. About 10 million polish are living in US, 2.5 million in Germany.
source: wikipedia

8. First Constitution in Europe

First Constitution in Europe was taken accepted in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a dual monarchy comprising Poland and Lithuania. The constitution of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the first in Europe, and second in the World.
source: www.slavorum.org

9. Biggest Amber Exporter in the World

Poland is the world’s biggest Amber Exporter in the World. Amber is fossilized tree resin, which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry.
source: www.slavorum.org

10. Polish Founder of Fashion TV

Fashion TV is an international fashion and lifestyle broadcasting television channel. Fashion TV was founded in 1997 in France by its polish born president Michel Adam Lisowski. Fashion TV is a widely distributed satellite channels in the world with 31 satellite and 2,000 cable systems.
source: wikipedia, image: www.fashiontvromania.com

11. World’s Strongest Man: Mariusz Pudzianowski

Mariusz Zbigniew Pudzianowski is polish former strongman competitor. During his career as a strongman, Pudzianowski won five World’s Strongest Man titles; more than any other athlete according to Guinness World Records. That’s why polish boasts the most winners of the World’s Strongest Man Title.
source: www.slavorum.org, image: d-nm.ppstatic.pl

12. Origin Country of Hand-Kissing

Hand-kissing is a gesture indicating courtesy, respect, admiration or even devotion by one person toward another. The practice came into being in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Spanish courts of the 17th and 18th centuries. Hand-kissing has become rare and is mostly restricted to the conservative upper class. Custom is still getting practised in Central and Eastern Europe, namely, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Russia. A hand-kiss was considered a respectful way for gentleman to greet a lady.
source: wikipedia, image: heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com

13. No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron

                                        No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron was one of 16 Polish squadrons in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War. It was not just the highest scoring of the Hurricane squadrons during the Battle of Britain but it had the highest ratio of enemy aircraft destroyed to their own lost.
source: www.rafmuseum.org.uk, image: www.polishsquadronsremembered.com

14. Mt. Kosciuszko Named After Polish

Australian tallest mountain Mount Kosciuszko is named by Polish Explorer Paul Edmund Strzelecki in 1840, in honour of the Polish national hero, General Tadeusz Kościuszko, because of its resemblance to the Kościuszko Mound in Kraków, Poland.
source: www.britannica.com

15. Polish Dubbing

When the Foreign movies are dubbed for the Polish TV, one man reads all the parts even those of women and children. Viewers hear the original English soundtrack faintly in the background.
source: www.slavorum.org

16. Polish fought in Insurrection

Poland has been invaded and fought for independence 43 times in insurrection from 1600 until 1945, long time period for independence.
source: www.slavorum.org