Geography
Geographic characteristics
Poland is a predominantly lowland country located, for the most part, on the northern European plain. The country’s average elevation is only about 175 m (about 575 ft) above sea level, but there are elevations as high as 2499 m (8199 ft) in the Tatra Mountains in the south of the country. The country is divided into a number of parallel physiographic regions that run from east to west. There is a stark contrast between the northern portion of the country and the south.
Climate
According to allcitycodes.com, Poland has a continental climate with an annual thermal amplitude that is accentuated as one advances towards the east, where they can exceed 20 ° C of difference. The average temperature in summer is 15 to 25 ° C, while in winter it is below 0 ° C. The rains, which range between 500 and 600 mm per year in the western areas, decrease towards the east and increase in the southern mountains.
Ground
The soils are made up of sands and clays from the glacial remains, while the mountainous areas are made up of limestone rocks.
Flora and fauna
The forests cover 29.4% of the area of Poland, 80% of them spruce or pine. A few forests in the northeast contain ancient and rare species, such as dwarf birch and lappish willow, which are unique to Europe. Much of Poland’s forests have been cut down to create farms or have been damaged by pollution.
Wildlife Poland is a limited range, since most of the animals wild are common in other parts of Europe, although there are species that are absent or extremely rare to find in Europe as chamois, lynx, the bobcat and the moose. The European bisonis preserved in the Bialowieza National Park, which crosses the border with Belarus.
Hydrography
Two large rivers cross the Polish territory from South to North. The Vistula River, with 1047 km, is the longest river in Poland, it rises between the western Beskids and the Sudetenland, it runs through the Krakow region to continue through Lublinand then crosses Warsaw and then in Bydgoszcz, heading north and emptying into the Baltic near Gdańsk. The other great river is the Oder that is born in the Czech Republic and is 912 km long. It crosses the Silesia region (passing through the city of Wroclaw) and then enters German territory and in its final section forms the border between Poland and Germany to flow into Szczecin, border city with the German territory.
Due to the eminently flat relief, the territory has a large number of lakes and swamps. The course of the rivers is slow and in their advance towards the mouth they present many curves and changes of orientation. The lake area of Mazuria stands out to the Northeast, which has a large group of lakes linked together by rivers and channels and where Sniardwy Lake is located, the largest in Poland with 113 km2.
Coasts
The coast of Poland is not very rugged, with extensive sandy areas behind which are marshes, such as the one near the mouth of the Vistula and that is separated from the Baltic by a tongue of sand that reaches and enters Russian territory from Kaliningrad. In the northern part is the Hel peninsula, which is a long and narrow stretch of sand that juts out into the Baltic and is currently one of the seaside tourist destinations in Poland.
Economy
Poland is a country in the process of solid development that belongs to the European Union.
Farming
Slightly less than 20% of the workforce works in agriculture, a sector characterized by the predominance of small farms and their limited mechanization. The main crops are cereals (rye, wheat, barley and oats). The potato also occupies an important place in the country’s agriculture, being the second European producer after Russia. Industrial plants such as sugar beet, rapeseed, flax and hemp are also cultivated.
Cattle raising
In the livestock it occupies an important place the pig, which provides more than half of the meat production the country, partly dedicated to export. Sheep farming has suffered a setback in favor of cattle, dedicated mainly to milk production. Poultry also occupy an important place in the diet. Likewise, the fishing sector plays an increasingly notable role (hake and herring). The most prominent fishing ports are Gdynia and Swiniouscie, which have canning industries.
Natural resources
The country has various mineral deposits. Of great importance are the coal deposits whose reserves are estimated at 63.5 billion metric tons. It also has more than 12.9 billion metric tons of lignite. There are also small reserves of oil and natural gas. The copper, the sulfur, the zinc and lead are among the minerals of largest reserve.
Currency
The zloty, divided into 100 groszy, is the basic unit of currency.