° Bydgoszcz ° Gdansk ° Gdynia ° Krakow ° Lodz
° Warka ° Warsaw ° Wroclaw
The name of Poland comes from the name of the Polanie tribe or people tilling land. That tribe settled down in the Warta River basin, an area which was later called Wielkopolska [Great Poland]. The tribal rulers of the Polanie who later resided in the castle were called the Piasts, from the name of their legendary ancestor. Poland was conceived near the middle of the 10th century. Its golden age occurred in the 16th century. During the following century, the strengthening of the gentry and internal disorders weakened the nation. In a series of agreements between 1772 and 1795, Russia, Prussia, and Austria partitioned Poland amongst themselves. Poland regained its independence in 1918 only to be overrun by Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II.
Throughout the 10th century, the Polanie and their Piast princes conquered and consolidated their rule over other Lecithic tribes living between the Odra and Bug Rivers, the Baltic coast and the Carpathian Mountains. The Polanie conquered successively the Kujawianie tribe, whose main castle was in Kruszwica, the Mazowszanie tribe and their castle of Plock, the Ledzianie tribe and Sandomierz, and the Pomeranian tribe and their castles of Gdansk and Wolin. Toward the end of the century they seized the Wislanie tribe with their castle of Krakow, as well as the Silesian tribes with Wroclaw, Opole and Legnica.
Evans and Ruffy's Farmer's Journal, June 26, 1826
London, United Kingdom
Interest of Money.—The Bankers of Warsaw discount their own acceptances at the rate of half per cent, per month. There are but few bills, it is true, drawn on them; but when accepted they become to the acceptors a secure mode of making interest of their capital. The number of bills drawn in Warsaw is few, and the amount small; but the rate of interest on them may be considered as the best criterion of the actual worth of the use of money, when no risk is incurred. The bankers are said to find the most advantageous employment for their capitals in speculations in Russian aud Austrian fund.
The interest of money in Poland, as elsewhere, varies much, according to the necessity of the borrower, and the greediness or suspicions of the lender, as well as the nature of the security that is offered. The Jews lend small sums frequently at two per cent, per month; any sum may be easily lent at ten per cent, per annum on the security of jewels, plate, and other valuables; but this lending is viewed with distrust hy monied men. When the interest becomes due, if it is not paid, recourse must be had to the courts of law; and a judgment must be obtained before the articles pledged can be sold. The suit may be protracted for several years, whilst the high interest is accumulating; and at the period of decision, tlie sum originally lent, with tlie interest upon it, may amount to more than the value of the pledge.
In Poland I was forcibly impressed, by remarking how much the actual use of money is dispensed with in poor countries, and how much of the traffic can be carried on by barter without its intervention. It is in this kind of traffic that the lower class of the Jews are enabled to make themselves the almost indispensable agents in every transaction of buying and selling. The numbers of the country people that attend at fairs and markets, with minute quantities of commodities, excite much surplice in one who remarks the thinness of the surrounding population, whilst the number of Jews, apparently mere spectators, sauntering through such collections of peasants, seems no less extraordinary.
No paper, or any other substitute for metallic currency, circulates in the country; and the value in specie of every commodity that is produced at home, is very low; aud the productions of foreign countries, exclusive of the taxes that are imposed, very high.
Poland gained its independence in 1918 only to be overrun by Germany and the Soviet Union in World War II. It became a Soviet satellite country following the war, but one that was comparatively tolerant and progressive.
