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LOCATION :
Central European plain with Baltic
coastline.
Poland became a nation in the 11th
Century and united with Lithuania in 1569. It was weakened divided
and occupied by many nations since then. One quarter of the
population died in World War II. Communist rule was impossed in 1945
but poverty and labour turmoil led to the Solidary Movement protests
and a multi-party democracy in 1989. Poland joined NATO in 1999 and
is in the process of becoming a member of the EU. All religions have
equal rights before the law, but the Roman Catholic Church exercises
its tradition pride of place in Polish society. It has been
aggressive sine 1989 in attemping to shape a state based on Catholic
principles and theology. A low level discrimination of non-Catholic
denominations is evident and Evangelicals tend to be categorized as
sectarian by the more established denominations. Warsaw is the
capital and the population 38,765,085 (in year 2000), Slavic 99.1%
and other 0.9%. Official language is Polish.
People Groups :
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