Jump to content

Polish people: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
restore previous version. Find reliable sources.
Silar (talk | contribs)
571 edits
rvv origin. sources
Line 162: Line 162:


==Exonyms==
==Exonyms==
Among the [[exonym]]s not native to the Polish people or language are: лях (''lyakh'') used in [[East Slavic languages]].
⚫
Among the [[exonym]]s not native to the Polish people or language are: лях (''lyakh'') used in [[East Slavic languages]]. Today, the word ''Lachy'' is used by Eastern Slavs as synonyms for "Poles" and "Poland". The foreign exonyms include also: [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] ''Lenkai'', [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] ''Lengyelek'' and [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''Leh'' (now considered obsolete and replaced by ''Polonya'').<ref name=Lehistan>{{tr icon}} [[:tr:Lehistan|Lehistan]] in Turkish Wikipedia</ref> The former became the basis for Poland exonyms in a number of other [[Middle East]]ern languages, including: {{lang-hy|Լեհաստան}} ''Lehastan''; {{lang-fa|لهستان}} ''Lehestân''; {{lang-tg|لهستان}} ''Lahestan'').
From later forms Lachy (''sneaky'') "Lechi autem dicti fuerunt Polonii eo, quod magis deceptionibus et calliditate in bellis utebantur, quam ciribus"<ref>[[Karol Szajnocha]]. Dzieła. p. 131 op. cit. Chronica principum Poloniae'. Hrsg. von Gustav Adolf Stenzel. 1835, Wrocław, . I. 2, 39; see also [[Wincenty Kadłubek]] Kronika polska "dano mu imię Lestko(''Lech, Lach''), to jest przebiegły, ponieważ więcej nieprzyjaciół zniszczył przebiegłością niż siłą."</ref>
⚫
Today, the word ''Lachy'' is used by Eastern Slavs as synonyms for "Poles" and "Poland". The foreign exonyms include also: [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]] ''Lenkai'', [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] ''Lengyelek'' ("soldiers and mercenaries"<ref>Poloni in linguario hungarico dicuntur Langel, id est milites stipendiarii, militares, pugnatores optimi." in: [[Karol Szajnocha]]. Dzieła. str. 131 op. cit. Hipolit Kownacki. Kronika węgierska i czeska. Warszawa 1823. IV. V.</ref>) and [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''Leh'' (now considered obsolete and replaced by ''Polonya'').<ref name=Lehistan>{{tr icon}} [[:tr:Lehistan|Lehistan]] in Turkish Wikipedia</ref> The former became the basis for Poland exonyms in a number of other [[Middle East]]ern languages, including: {{lang-hy|Լեհաստան}} ''Lehastan''; {{lang-fa|لهستان}} ''Lehestân''; {{lang-tg|لهستان}} ''Lahestan'').
{{see also|Lechites}}
{{see also|Lechites}}


Revision as of 09:35, 23 February 2012

This article is about the Polish people. For the physical object and other uses, see Pole.
Polish people
(Polacy)




File:Czeslaw Milosz, 1986.jpg
Jadwiga • Copernicus • John III Sobieski • Kościuszko
Mickiewicz • Chopin • Sienkiewicz • Conrad

Skłodowska-Curie • Piłsudski• Tarski • Rejewski
Sendler • Miłosz • Pope John Paul II • Wałęsa
Total population
ca. 60 million (est.)[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Poland 36,983,720 [2][3]
2 United States10,977,235[4]
2 Germany2,000,000 - 3,000,000[1][5][6]
2 Brazil1,500,000[7]
2 Israel1,250,000[8]
2 Canada984,565[9]
2 United Kingdom500,000 - 1,000,000[1][10]
2 Argentina500,000[11]
2 Belarus294,549[12]
2 Lithuania212,800[13]
2 Ireland200,000[14]
2 Australia78,340[15]
2 Ukraine144,130[16]
2 Norway120,000[17]
2 Italy109,018[18]
2 France90,000[19]
2 Russia73,000[20]
2 Czech Republic51,968[21]
2 Latvia44,783[22]
2 Netherlands39,500[23]
2 Kazakhstan34,057[24]
2 South Africa30,000[25]
2 Sweden27,518[26]
2 Austria21,000[27]
2 Iceland10,540[28]
2 Denmark5,300[29]
2 Moldova4,174[30]
2 Romania3,671[31]
2 Finland3,000[32]
2 Estonia2,200[33]
2 Armenia1,000[34]
300[34]
Rest of world1,200 (est.)[35]
Languages
Polish
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholicism, also Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Judaism.
Related ethnic groups
related ethno-linguistic people group: Czechs, Slovaks, Sorbs
The state flag of Poland as used by Polish government and diplomatic authorities
Part of a series on the
Culture of Poland
History
People
Languages
Traditions
Mythology
Cuisine
Festivals
Religion
Art
Literature
Music and performing arts
Media
Sport
Monuments
Symbols

The Polish people, or Poles (Polish: Polacy [pɔˈlat͡sɨ]; singular: Polak), are a nation indigenous to Poland. They speak the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe. The Polish word for a Polish person is "Polak" (masculine) and "Polka" (feminine).

The preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland defines the Polish nation as comprising all the citizens of Poland. Poland's inhabitants live in seven major historic regions: Wielkopolska, Małopolska, Mazovia, Pomerania, Warmia, Mazury and Silesia. A wide-ranging Polish diaspora exists throughout Europe (Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Belarus, Lithuania and Ukraine), the Americas (the United States, Brazil and Argentina) and Australia. Chicago, in the United States, has the world's largest urban Polish population after Warsaw.[36]

Over a thousand years ago, the Polans of Giecz, Gniezno and Poznań — an influential tribe in Wielkopolska — succeeded in uniting Lechitic tribes under what became the Piast dynasty,[37] thus giving rise to the Polish state.

Proto-European lineage

Polish people show the characteristic R1a genes of a common Paleolithic male ancestorship at a frequency of 55.9-56.4%. This lineage includes haplotype Eu19 distinguished by M17 lineage. Its frequency increases eastward from south-western France and reaches a maximum in Poland, Hungary, and west Ukraine.[38] They were not racially homogeneous, but composed of mixtures of the types, according to Czekanowski, with a few trivial exceptions. Before 1939 the inhabitants of Poland were divided between four distinct types — the Nordic, Alpine, Mediterranean and Armenoid neighbors or brothers. Some of these types centred around Western Poland, Masovia, Pomerania, Volhynia and Greater Poland. The Mediterranean and Alpine types were mainly represented in Silesia and Lesser Poland.[39]

As a result of genocide on Polish lands, evacuation, repatriation, and expulsion during and after World War II, and territorial changes which were assigned by the Big Three allies to Poland after World War II.[40] as well as the ensuing mass migrations and border shifts, "the population of Poland became one of the most ethnically homogeneous in the world," according to Encyclopædia Britannica. "In addition, minority ethnic identity was not cultivated publicly until after the collapse of communism in 1989."[41] The CIA World Factbook defines the ethnic composition of Poland as being 96.7% Polish with 0.4% Germans, 0.1% Belarusians, 0.1%, Ukrainians, and 2.7% other and unspecified (2002 census).[42] The present-day homogeneity contrasts with the World War II period, informs the U.S. Department of State: "when there were significant ethnic minorities - 4.5 million Ukrainians, 3 million Jews, 1 million Belarusians, and 800,000 Germans." The majority of Poland's Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Most Germans left ahead of the Nazi-Soviet front, while most Ukrainians and Belarusians remained in territories incorporated into the USSR. "Small Ukrainian, Belarusian, Slovakian, and Lithuanian minorities reside along the Polish borders, and a German minority is concentrated near the southwest city of Opole."[43]

In the first half of the 16th century, the historian Marcin Kromer in his work De Situ Polonia; et gente Polona (dedicated to King Henry III of France), wrote: "colors for faces of Polish people (peasants) were white, yellowish or whitish hair, handsome figure, with average height"[44]

The research conducted in 1955 had shown that 55% of Poles have light hair (16-12 scale of Fischer–Saller), and about 72% have light eyes (A-P scale of Fischer–Saller).[45] By the end of the 20th century, heights averaged at 178 cm (5'10") for 20-year-old males, and 166 cm (5'5") for 20-year-old females.[46]

Further information: Prehistory and protohistory of Poland and History of Poland during the Piast dynasty

Statistics

Polish people are the sixth largest national group in European Union.[47] Estimates vary depending on source, though available data suggest a total number of around 60 million people worldwide (with roughly 21 million living outside of Poland, many of whom are not of Polish ethnicity, but Polish nationals).[1] There are almost 39 million Poles in Poland alone. There are also Polish minorities in the surrounding countries including Germany, and indigenous minorities in the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Belarus. There are some smaller indigenous minorities in nearby countries such as Moldova and Latvia. There is also a Polish minority in Russia which includes indigenous Poles as well as those forcibly deported during and after World War II; the total number of Poles in what was the former Soviet Union is estimated at up to 3 million.[48]

The term "Polonia" is usually used in Poland to refer to people of Polish origin who live outside Polish borders, officially estimated at around 10 to 20 million. There is a notable Polish diaspora in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. France has a historic relationship with Poland and has a relatively large Polish-descendant population. Poles have lived in France since the 18th century. In the early 20th century, over a million Polish people settled in France, mostly during world wars, among them Polish émigrés fleeing either Nazi occupation or later Soviet rule.

In the United States a significant number of Polish immigrants settled in Chicago, Ohio, Detroit, New York City, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and New England. The highest concentration of Poles in the United States is in New Britain, Connecticut. The majority of Polish Canadians have arrived in Canada since World War II. The number of Polish immigrants increased between 1945 and 1970, and again after the end of Communism in Poland in 1989. In Brazil the majority of Polish immigrants settled in Paraná State. The city of Curitiba has the second largest Polish diaspora in the world (after Chicago) and Polish music, dishes and culture are quite common in the region.

In recent years, since joining the European Union, many Polish people have emigrated to countries such as Ireland, where an estimated 200,000 Polish people have entered the labour market. It is estimated that over half a million Polish people have come to work in the United Kingdom from Poland. Since 2011, Poles have been able to work freely throughout the EU and not just in the UK, Ireland, Denmark and Sweden where they have had limited rights since Poland's EU accession in 2004. The Polish community in Norway has increased substantially and has grown to a total number of 120,000, making Poles the largest immigrant group in Norway.

Before World War II many Polish Jews became followers of Zionism and subsequently emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine. Following the Holocaust, the vast majority of surviving Polish Jews moved to Israel. Poland is the largest single place of origin of Israeli Jews.

(for ethnic Poles living abroad see Polonia, for those living and working in the United Kingdom see Polish British)

Culture

The culture of Poland has a history of 1000 years.[49] Located in Central Europe, its character developed as a result of its geography at the confluence of fellow Central European cultures (German, Western Ukrainian, Czech and Austrian) the Western European cultures (French and Dutch), Southern European cultures (Italian and Turkish), Northern European cultures (Lithuanian, Swedish and Danish) and Eastern European cultures (East Ukrainian and Russian) along cultural influence of the Jewish culture. Confluences were conveyed by immigrants (Jewish, German and Dutch), political alliances (with Lithuania, Hungary, Saxony, France and Sweden), conquests of the Polish state (Ukraine and Latvia) or conquerors of the Polish lands (Tsardom of Russia, Kingdom of Prussia and the Habsburg Monarchy, later on Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary).

With origins in the culture of the Lechites, over time Polish culture has been greatly influenced by its ties with the Germanic, Latinate and other ethnic groups and minorities living in Poland like the Jews.[50] The people of Poland have traditionally been seen as hospitable to artists from abroad (especially Italy) and open to cultural and artistic trends popular in other European countries. Owing to this central location, the Poles came very early into contact with both civilizations - eastern and western, and as a result developed economically, culturally, and politically. A German general Helmut Carl von Moltke, in his Poland. A historical sketch (1885), stated that Poland prior to her partitions was "the most civilized country in Europe". In the 19th and 20th centuries the Polish focus on cultural advancement often took precedence over political and economic activity, experiencing severe crisis, especially during the II World War and in the coming years. These factors have contributed to the versatile nature of Polish art, with all its complex nuances.[50]

See also: Polish cuisine
John III Sobieski's coat of arms crowning the Royal Chapel in Gdańsk, 1681

Language

Polish (język polski, polszczyzna) is a Lechitic languages and the official language of Poland. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet which corresponds basically to the Latin alphabet with a few additions. Polish-speakers use the language in a uniform manner throughout most of Poland, though numerous languages, speeches and dialects coexist along the standard Polish language.

Main article: Polish language
  • The Encyclopædia Britannica says that "Lekhitic languages, also spelled Lechitic , group of West Slavic languages composed of Polish, Kashubian and its archaic variant Slovincian, and the extinct Polabian language. All these languages except Polish are sometimes classified as a Pomeranian subgroup. In the early Middle Ages, before their speakers had become Germanized, Pomeranian languages and dialects were spoken along the Baltic in an area extending from the lower Vistula River to the lower Oder River. Kashubian and Slovincian survived into the 20th century; there were still a considerable number of native speakers of Kashubian in Poland and Canada in the 1990s. The extinct Polabian language, which bordered the Sorbian dialects in eastern Germany, was spoken by the Slavic population of the Elbe River region until the 17th or 18th century; a dictionary and some phrases written in the language exist".[51]

Religion

Most Poles, by far, adhere to the Christian faith, majority belonging to the Roman Catholic Church.[52] The rest of the population consists mainly of Eastern Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, various Protestant and Judaism.[53]

See also: Religion in Poland, Roman Catholicism in Poland, and Polish National Catholic Church

Exonyms

Among the exonyms not native to the Polish people or language are: лях (lyakh) used in East Slavic languages. From later forms Lachy (sneaky) "Lechi autem dicti fuerunt Polonii eo, quod magis deceptionibus et calliditate in bellis utebantur, quam ciribus"[54] Today, the word Lachy is used by Eastern Slavs as synonyms for "Poles" and "Poland". The foreign exonyms include also: Lithuanian Lenkai, Hungarian Lengyelek ("soldiers and mercenaries"[55]) and Turkish Leh (now considered obsolete and replaced by Polonya).[56] The former became the basis for Poland exonyms in a number of other Middle Eastern languages, including: Armenian: Լեհաստան Lehastan; Persian: لهستان Lehestân; Tajik: لهستان Lahestan).

See also: Lechites

Polish tribes

The following is a list of Polish tribes—tribes which constituted the lands of Poland in the Early Middle Ages, at the beginning of the Polish state. Some of them have remained separate ethnicities while others have been assimilated into the culture of Poland.[57][58][59]

See also: Bavarian Geographer, a list of tribes in Central Europe, composed in the 870s.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Świat Polonii, witryna Stowarzyszenia Wspólnota Polska: „Polacy za granicą” (Polish people abroad as per summary by Świat Polonii, internet portal of the Polish Association Wspólnota Polska)
  2. ^ Excel spreadsheet from Polish Central Statistical Office
  3. ^ http://www.stat.gov.pl/gus/45_4520_PLK_HTML.htm
  4. ^ USA National Census 2010. Ancestries With 100,000 or More People in 2010.
  5. ^ Template:De icon Erstmals mehr als 16 Millionen Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund in Deutschland Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland (German text about migrants in Germany)
  6. ^ Template:Pl icon Raport o sytuacji Polonii i Polaków za granicą 2009. Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych 2009. p. 177, ISBN 978-83-89607-81-2
  7. ^ Stowarzyszenie Wspólnota Polska, Strona finansowana przez SENAT RP [1] [2]
  8. ^ Article on Ynet news site, Hebrew (Google translator).
  9. ^ http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/demo26a-eng.htm
  10. ^ Template:En iconBritish Office for National Statistics, Population by Country of Birth & Nationality, Jan 2009 to Dec 2009 with imigrants for 2012
    ^ Template:En icon "UK lets in more Poles than there are in Warsaw", Steve Doughty, Daily Mail; see also: "Record numbers leave Britain as Poles head home - but new arrivals increase to half a million" by James Slack, Daily Mail, November 27, 2009. Please note: The British Office for National Statistics recorded the number of Poles who have travelled to the UK in 2006 at over 2,000,000; they are not to be mistaken for permanent residents.
  11. ^ http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2004/04/27/t-749506.htm
  12. ^ Belarus National Census 2009 (preliminary results)(in rus.)
  13. ^ [3]
  14. ^ Poles in Ireland
  15. ^ 2006 Census Community Profile Series : Australia
  16. ^ Poles in Ukraine
  17. ^ Aftenposten.no: - 120.000 polakker i Norge (Innenriks)
  18. ^ Istat.it
  19. ^ http://www.prezydent.pl/
  20. ^ Polish minority in Russia, WorldNews.com
  21. ^ Czech Republic National Census 2001 (PDF)
  22. ^ [4]
  23. ^ http://www.cbs.nl/NR/rdonlyres/CCD504EA-9D41-40C2-AE28-BFB0A51C2045/0/2005k3b15p096art.pdf
  24. ^ Kazakhstan National Census 2009
  25. ^ http://www.wspolnota-polska.org.pl/index.php?id=dubd2
  26. ^ http://www.immi.se/alfa/p.htm
  27. ^ Template:PDFlink
  28. ^ Mannfjöldi eftir fæðingarlandi 1981-2008: Pólland
  29. ^ http://www.joshuaproject.net/countries.php?rog3=DA&sf=population&so=asc
  30. ^ 2004 Moldovan census, including Transnistria
  31. ^ 2002 Romanian census.
  32. ^ http://www.helsinki.polemb.net/index.php?document=46
  33. ^ http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonia#Polacy_w_Estonii
  34. ^ a b Polonezkoy.com
  35. ^ Poles around the World (>polonia > statystyka)
  36. ^ "Sections of North Milwaukee Avenue are Main Street for Chicago's huge Polish population (the second-largest urban concentration after Warsaw's)" [in:] Chicago for Dummies by Laura Tibert 2007. p. 125; "DID YOU KNOW? Chicago, with nearly a million residents of Polish extraction, is often cited as the world's second - largest Polish city after Warsaw." [in:] Poland by Neil Wilson, Tom Parkinson, Richard Watkins, 2005, p. 33; "In 1960, Chicago claimed 700 000 residents of Polish descent, making it the American city with the largest Polish community and, after Warsaw, the second largest aggregation of urban Poles in the world." [in:] Human development by James O. Lugo, Gerald L. Hershey, 1979
  37. ^ Gerard Labuda. Fragmenty dziejów Słowiańszczyzny zachodniej, t.1-2 p.72 2002; Henryk Łowmiański. Początki Polski: z dziejów Słowian w I tysiącleciu n.e, t. 5 p.472; Stanisław Henryk Badeni, 1923. p. 270
  38. ^ Semino, A; Passarino G, Oefner PJ, Lin AA, Arbuzova S, Beckman LE, De Benedictis G, Francalacci P, Kouvatsi A, Limborska S, Marcikiae M, Mika A, Mika B, Primorac D, Santachiara-Benerecetti AS, Cavalli-Sforza LL, Underhill PA (2000). "The Genetic Legacy of Paleolithic *** sapiens sapiens in Extant Europeans: A Y Chromosome Perspective" [5](PDF). Science 290 (5494): 1155–59. doi:10.1093/molbev/msi185. PMID 15944443 .
  39. ^ Jan Czekanowski. Antropologia polska w międzywojennym dwudziestoleciu 1919-1939. 1948. Syntetyczna mapa antropologiczna Polski, Czekanowski. 1920.
  40. ^ An explanation note in "The Neighbors Respond: The Controversy Over the Jedwabne Massacre in Poland", ed. by Polonsky and Michlic, p.466
  41. ^ Britannica Online: Travel & Geography: Poland. Ethnic groups. Retrieved July 2003 2008
  42. ^ The CIA World Factbook: Poland.
  43. ^ Background Notes: Poland - U.S. Department of State
  44. ^ "Lud polski kolor twarzy ma jasny, włosy żółtawe lub białawe, postać przystojną, średni wzrost" [in:] Tomasz Święcicki. Opis starożytnej Polski. p. 46, op. cit. "Polonia sive de situ, populis, moribus, magistratibus et republica regni Polonici libri duo." [citation needed]
  45. ^ Stanisław Górny. Zdjęcie antropologiczne Polski. Materiały i prace antropologiczne. Polskie Towarzystwo Antropologiczne. 1972. Nr.84
  46. ^ Wiadomości statystyczne, 2006. t. 51, edit. 7-12 p. 80.[citation needed]
  47. ^ NationMaster.com 2003-2008. People Statistics: Population (most recent) by country. Retrieved 2008-01-25.
  48. ^ Gil Loescher, Beyond Charity: International Cooperation and the Global Refugee Crisis, published by the University of Oxford Press US, 1993, 1996. ISBN 0195102940. Retrieved 12-12-2007.
  49. ^ Adam Zamoyski, The Polish Way: A Thousand Year History of the Poles and Their Culture. Published 1993, Hippocrene Books, Poland, ISBN 0-7818-0200-8
  50. ^ a b Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland, 2002–2007, AN OVERVIEW OF POLISH CULTURE. Access date 12-13-2007.
  51. ^ [6]. Retrieved July 2003 2008
  52. ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pl.html
  53. ^ Template:Pl icon Kościoły i związki wyznaniowe w Polsce. Retrieved on June 17, 2008.
  54. ^ Karol Szajnocha. Dzieła. p. 131 op. cit. Chronica principum Poloniae'. Hrsg. von Gustav Adolf Stenzel. 1835, Wrocław, . I. 2, 39; see also Wincenty Kadłubek Kronika polska "dano mu imię Lestko(Lech, Lach), to jest przebiegły, ponieważ więcej nieprzyjaciół zniszczył przebiegłością niż siłą."
  55. ^ Poloni in linguario hungarico dicuntur Langel, id est milites stipendiarii, militares, pugnatores optimi." in: Karol Szajnocha. Dzieła. str. 131 op. cit. Hipolit Kownacki. Kronika węgierska i czeska. Warszawa 1823. IV. V.
  56. ^ Template:Tr icon Lehistan in Turkish Wikipedia
  57. ^ Raymond Breton, National Survival in Dependent Societies: Social Change in Canada and Poland, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1990, p. 106,ISBN 0886291275 Google Books
  58. ^ John Blacking, Anna Czekanowska, Polish Folk Music: Slavonic Heritage - Polish Tradition - Contemporary Trends, Cambridge University Press, 2006, p. 3, ISBN 0521027977 Google Books
  59. ^ Jerzy Strzelczyk [in:] The New Cambridge Medieval History, Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 521-522 ISBN 0521364477 Google Books; Robert Machray, The Problem of Upper Silesia, G. Allen & Unwin ltd. 1945, p. 13 Google Books; Paul Wagret, Helga S. B. Harrison, Poland, Nagel, 1964, p. 231. Google Books
Wikimedia Commons has media related to People of Poland.
Other

Template:Link FA

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Polish_people&oldid=478399879"