Poland By: Due:

Introduction Poland is located in Europe. Germany, the Czech Republic,Slovakia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and the Baltic Sea surround it. Warsaw is the capitol of Poland and also the largest city. My great grandmother was from Poland and the reason why I am doing this report on Poland.

Geography Poland is divided into four zones:  The north is the marshes and the dunes of the Baltic sea  The south is a stretch with thousands of lakes.  The center of Poland is the lowlands. This is the agriculture area.  The mountains and highlands to the south, is the forth and smallest zone. It includes Sudety mountains and the Carpathian ranges.

Interesting fact 1 Polish is the official language EXAMPLES pieniądze-money Hokej – hockey Polska - Poland Szkoła – school babcia – grandma dziadzio - grandpa

Interesting Fact 2 They have been invaded by many countries. In 1795, four years after it wrote Europe’s first constitution, it was invaded and divided between Prussia, Austria, and Russia In 1939, during World War II, Russia invaded from the west and Germany invaded from the east

Interesting fact 3 Poland drafted Europe's first modern constitution, in 1791, which is the second oldest in the world after that of United States of America. However, Poland now has an entirely new constitution, which was drawn up in 1997(because of all the invasions we talked about earlier).

Place to Visit 1 The Tatra Mountains are located in western Carpathian mountain range and is a great place to visit because it is a great place for skiing and there's a beautiful scenery.

Place to Visit 2 This, the Baltic sea, is a great place to visit because it is the largest water body in the world.

Place to Visit 3 These “great lakes of Poland” also called the Great Masurian Lakes are located in the northern part of Poland are a great place to visit because they are remnants of the ice age.

Economy 1 Money called zloty (zuoty) Consist of coins in 1, 2, & 5 and bill denominations of 10, 20, 50, 100 & 200 An interesting fact about polish paper money is that it contains a special mark, a distinctive embossed shape identifying the value of the bank note to assist the blind and partially-sighted.

Economy 2 Poland’s economy is based on agriculture. Important products include grains, sugar beets, oilseed, potatoes, and pork, as well as dairy products. It makes up 15% of the economy. Poland also has a strong industrial sector and tourism is growing rapidly.

The Food 1 Osceypek Cheese Osceypek is a smoked cheese made of salted sheep milk exclusively in the Tatra Mountains region of Poland.

The Food 2 Obiad is the main meal. It consists of soup, meat or fish, salad, and potatoes.

The Food 3 Many families spend much of their income on food. Gardens often supply a large portion of a rural family's food.

My Family My family still tries to carry on some Polish traditions, like a big Easter feast, Swieconka. You can see the decorated table, which is blessed with holy water.

Conclusion As you can see Poland is a great country. It has a lot of fun places to visit and a lot of interesting food. I hope I get to go there one day. It looks like a great place to visit over the summer break!

References       Bailey, Donna, Poland, 1989  “Poland.”, CultureGrams Online Edition. ProQuest,2012. Web. Dec 2012.