Upper Silesia (; ; Silesian German: ''Oberschläsing''; ; ; Silesian: ''Gůrny Ślůnsk'') is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of (chronologically) Greater Moravia, Bohemia, Poland, the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburg Empire, Prussia, and later the unified German Reich. It is currently split between Poland (Opole and Silesian Voivodeships) and the Czech Republic (Czech Silesia, or the Silesian-Moravian Region).

Upper Silesia is situated in the Silesian highlands, between the upper Oder and upper Vistula rivers. The total population of the Upper Silesian Industry Area is 3,487,000.

Opole Silesia, Cieszyn Silesia, and Austrian Silesia are historical parts of Upper Silesia. The territory of Opole Silesia composes much of Opole Voivodeship.

History

At the time of Svatopluk I and King Arnulf of Carinthia in the 9th century, Silesia was a part of Greater Moravia; after its destruction in the early 10th century, it was conquered by Bohemia.

Upper Silesia was soon conquered by the newly installed dukes of the Polans and for several hundred years was part of Poland. This arrangement fell apart and, during the re-establishment of Poland under Casimir the Great, all of Silesia was specifically excluded as non-Polish land. In 1335 it came back under the rule of the Kingdom of Bohemia. Many towns were destroyed by the Mongols at the Battle of Legnica but were later rebuilt. By the 14th century, the influx of settlers into Upper Silesia stopped because of the plague. Latin, Czech and German language were used in the towns and cities and only in the 1550s (during the Protestant Reformation) did records with Polish names start to appear. The Roman Catholic Holy Roman Emperors of the Habsburg dynasty forcibly reintroduced Catholicism, led by the Jesuits.

Lower Silesia and most of Upper Silesia became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1742 during the First Silesian War. A small part remained within the Habsburg-ruled Bohemian Crown as the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia, colloquially called Austrian Silesia.

In the 19th century, Upper Silesia became an industrial area taking advantage of its plentiful coal and iron ore.

20th century

In 1919, after World War I, the eastern part (with a majority of ethnic Poles) came under Polish rule as the Silesian Voivodeship, while the mostly German-speaking western part remained part of the German Reich as the Province of Upper Silesia. From 1919-1921 three Silesian Uprisings occurred among the Polish-speaking populace of Upper Silesia; the Battle of Annaberg was fought in the region in 1921. In the Upper Silesia plebiscite of March 1921, a majority of 60% voted against merging with Poland, with clear lines dividing Polish and German communities. The exact border, the maintenance of cross-border railway traffic and other necessary co-operations, as well as equal rights for all inhabitants in both parts of Upper Silesia, were all fixed by the ''German-Polish Accord on East Silesia'', signed in Geneva on May 15, 1922. On June 20, Germany ceded, ''de facto'', the eastern parts of Upper Silesia, becoming part of the Silesian Voivodeship of Poland.

After 1945, almost all of Upper Silesia that was not ceded to Poland in 1922 was transferred to this state. A majority of the German-speaking population was expelled in accordance with the decision of the victorious Allied powers at their 1945 meeting at Potsdam. This expulsion program also included German speaking inhabitants of Lower Silesia, eastern Pomerania, Gdańsk (Danzig), and East Prussia. These German expellees were transported to the present day Germany (including the former East Germany), and they were replaced with Poles, many from former Polish provinces taken over by the USSR in the east. A good many German-speaking Upper Silesians were relocated in Bavaria. A small part of Upper Silesia stayed as part of Czechoslovakia as Czech Silesia.

The expulsions of German-speakers did not totally eliminate the presence of a population that considered itself German. Upper Silesia, in 1945, had a considerable number of Roman Catholic mixed bilingual inhabitants that spoke both German and Polish dialects, and their Polish linguistic skills were solid enough for them to be allowed to remain in the area. With the fall of communism and Poland joining the European Union, there were enough of these remaining in Upper Silesia to allow for the recognition of the German minority in Poland by the Polish government.

Major cities and towns

(All in Poland unless otherwise indicated; population figures are for 1995)

Katowice (354,200)

Ostrava (320,000) - Czech Republic (eastern districts, Cieszyn Silesia)

Bytom (227,600)

Gliwice (214,000)

Zabrze (201,600)

Bielsko-Biała (196,307)

Ruda Śląska (166,300)

Rybnik (144,300)

Tychy (140,900)

Opole (130,600) - the historical capital of Upper Silesia

Chorzów (125,800)

Jastrzębie Zdrój (103,500)

Havířov (85,000) - Czech Republic

Mysłowice (80,000)

Siemianowice Śląskie (78,100)

Kędzierzyn-Koźle (70,700)

Tarnowskie Góry (67,200)

Piekary Śląskie (67,200)

Żory (66,300)

Racibórz (65,100)

Karviná (64,200) - Czech Republic

Opava (62,000) - Czech Republic

Świętochłowice (59,600)

Wodzisław Śląski (50,500)

Nysa (49,000)

Mikołów (38,900)

Cieszyn (37,300)

Orlová (35,900) - Czech Republic

Czechowice-Dziedzice (35,600)

Pszczyna (34,600)

Kluczbork (26,900)

Lubliniec (26,900)

Český Těšín (26,300) - Czech Republic

Krnov (25,400) - Czech Republic

Rydułtowy (24,100)

Łaziska Górne (23,000)

Bohumín (22 894) - Czech Republic

Bieruń (22,100)

Pyskowice (21,900)

Strzelce Opolskie (21,900)

Literature

H. Förster, B. Kortus (1989) "Social-Geographical Problems of the Cracow and Upper Silesia Agglomerations", Paderborn. (Bochumer Geographische Arbeiten No. 51)

Krzysztof Gwozdz (2000) "The Image of Upper Silesia in geography textbooks 1921-1998", in: Boleslaw Domanski (Ed.), Prace Geograficzne, No. 106, Institute of Geography of the Jagiellonian University Kraków. pp. 55–68

Rudolf Carl Virchow. "Report on the Typhus Epidemic in Upper Silesia." (1848) Am J Public Health 2006;96 2102-2105.

Excerpted from: Virchow RC. Collected Essays on Public Health and Epidemiology. Vol 1. Rather LJ, ed. Boston, Mass: Science History Publications; 1985:204–319.

Notes

See also

Silesia

Silesian Autonomy Movement

Lower Silesia

Middle Silesia

Silesian Interurbans

Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union

Upper Silesian Industrial Area

Upper Silesian Coal Basin

Wojciech Korfanty

External links

Silesian Autonomy Movement

Silesian Digital Library

Silesian Tourism Portal

Category:Geography of Silesia Category:Historical regions in Poland Category:Historical regions in the Czech Republic

zh-min-nan:Siōng Silesia bg:Горна Силезия cs:Horní Slezsko da:Øvre Schlesien de:Oberschlesien es:Alta Silesia eo:Supra Silezio fr:Haute-Silésie lb:Uewerschlesien lt:Aukštutinė Silezija nl:Opper-Silezië no:Øvre Schlesien nn:Øvre Schlesien pl:Górny Śląsk pt:Alta Silésia ro:Silezia Superioară ru:Верхняя Силезия szl:Gůrny Ślůnsk sv:Övre Schlesien uk:Верхня Сілезія zh:上西里西亞

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Group	Polish people ''(Polacy)''
Population	ca. 60 million (est.)
Popplace	36,983,720
Region1
Pop1	8,977,235
Ref1
Region2
Pop2	1,500,000 - 2,000,000
Ref2
Region3
Pop3	1,500,000
Ref3
Region4
Pop4	1,250,000
Ref4
Region5
Pop5	984,565
Ref5
Region6
Pop6	900,000
Ref6
Region7
Pop7	500,000 - 560,000
Ref7
Region8
Pop8	500,000
Ref8
Region9
Pop9	294,549
Ref9
Region10
Pop10	212,800
Ref10
Region11
Pop11	200,000
Ref11
Region15
Pop15	78,340
Ref15
Region12
Pop12	144,130
Ref12
Region13
Pop13	120,000
Ref13
Region14
Pop14	100,000
Ref14
Region16
Pop16	78,305
Ref16
Ref
Region17
Pop17	73,000
Ref17
Region18
Pop18	51,968
Ref18
Region19
Pop19	50,960
Ref19
Region20
Pop20	50,000
Ref20
Region23
Pop23	34,057
Ref23
Region22
Pop22	39,500
Ref22
Region24
Pop24	30,000
Ref24
Region25
Pop25	67,518
Ref25
Region26
Pop26	21,000
Ref26
Region27
Pop27	10,540
Ref27
Region28
Pop28	5,300
Ref28
Region29
Pop29	4,174
Ref29
Region30
Pop30	3,671
Ref30
Region31
Pop31	3,000
Ref31
Region33
Pop33	2,200
Ref33
Region34
Pop34	1,000
Ref34
Region34
Pop35	300
Ref35
Region36	Rest of world
Pop36	1,200 (est.)
Ref36
Languages	Polish
Rels	Predominantly Roman Catholicism, also Eastern Orthodoxy, Protestantism and Judaism.
Related-c	related ethno-linguistic people group: Czechs, Slovaks, Sorbs }}

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of Poland as used by Polish government and diplomatic authorities The Polish people, or Poles ( ; singular: ''Polak''), are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the 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.

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, 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. 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.

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. 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." 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). 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."

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"

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). 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.

Statistics

Polish people are the sixth largest national group in European Union. 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). 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.

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 fall of Communism 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 is closely connected with its intricate 1000 year history Located in Central Europe, its unique 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 profoundly influenced by its interweaving ties with the Germanic, Latinate and other ethnic groups and minorities living in Poland like the Jews. 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.

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. 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".

Religion

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

Exonyms

Among the exonyms 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 ''Lenkai'', Hungarian ''Lengyelek'' and Turkish ''Leh'' (now considered obsolete and replaced by ''Polonya''). The former became the basis for Poland exonyms in a number of other Middle Eastern languages, including: Armenian Լեհաստան, ''Lehastan''; Persian, Tajik لهستان, ''Lahestan''.

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. {| cellspacing="10" |- | valign="Top" |

Masovians (Masovia, in Polish "mazowszanie")

*Mazurs (Mazurians) (Masuria, in Polish "mazurzy")

*Kurpie (in Polish "kurpiowie" or "kurpie")

Polans (Polanes, Polanians, in Polish "polanie") (Warta river basin)

*Bambrzy

Silesians (in Polish "ślązacy") (Silesia)

Warmiaks (Warmia, in Polish "warmiacy")

Pomeranians (Farther Pomerania and Pomerelia, in Polish "pomorzanie")

*Kashubians (Cassubians, in Polish "kaszubi")

*Slovincians (in Polish "Słowińcy")

*Kociewiacy

*Borowiacy

Bieżuńczanie

| style="width:5%;"| | valign="Top" |

Bobrzanie

Dziadoszanie

Golęszyce

Goplans (Kuyavia and Pomerania, in Polish "goplanie", or "goplani")

Lędzianie (Lesser Poland, in Polish "lędzianie")

*Lachy Sądeckie

Opolanie (upper Odra, Silesia)

Kujawianie

Pyrzyczanie

Ślężanie (Lower Silesia)

Trzebowianie

Vistulans (Lesser Poland, in Polish "wiślanie")

Gorals (in Polish "górale", i.e. highlanders)

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

See also

Polonization

Polonia

Karta Polaka

Polish nationality law

Demographics of Poland

List of Polish Jews

List of Polish people

Name of Poland (etymology of the demonym)

Pole, Hungarian, two good friends

Poles in Germany

Poles in Lithuania

Poles in Romania

Poles in the former Soviet Union

Polish Americans

Polish Argentine

Polish Australians

Polish Brazilians

Polish British

Polish Canadians

Polish minority in the Czech Republic

Sons of Poland

Antipolonism

Polish Jokes

References

External links

; Other:

Polish Americans

Category:Lechites Category:Ethnic groups in Poland Category:Ethnic groups in Europe Category:Ethnic groups in Russia Category:Ethnic groups in the United States *

ar:بولنديون an:Polacos be:Палякі be-x-old:Палякі bs:Poljaci bg:Поляци cv:Поляксем cs:Poláci da:Polakker de:Polen (Ethnie) et:Poolakad es:Pueblo polaco eo:Poloj fr:Polonais (peuple) gag:Poläklar ko:폴란드인 hr:Poljaci id:Bangsa Polandia os:Полякаг адæм it:Polacchi ka:პოლონელები la:Poloni lv:Poļi lt:Lenkai hu:Lengyelek mk:Полјаци nl:Polen (volk) ja:ポーランド人 no:Polakker nn:Polakkar pl:Polacy pt:Polacos ro:Polonezi ru:Поляки sah:Поляктар simple:Poles sk:Poliaci cu:Полꙗнє sl:Poljaki szl:Poloki sr:Пољаци sh:Poljaci fi:Puolalaiset sv:Polacker th:ชาวโปแลนด์ tr:Polonyalılar uk:Поляки yo:Àwọn ọmọ Pólàndì bat-smg:Lėnkā zh:波蘭人