Poland

° Bydgoszcz ° Gdansk ° Gdynia ° Krakow ° Lodz ° Warka ° Warsaw ° Wroclaw

International Harbors

Map of Poland and Eastern Europe Abraham Ortelius Abraham Ortelius was born in 1527 in Antwerp, Belgium. He died 1598 and was buried in Antwerp and his tomb has the inscription Quietis Cultor sine bit, uxore, prole, which loosely translated means served quietly, without accusation, wife, and offspring. Abraham compiled a world atlas considered the first modern World Theatrum Orbis Terrarum published in the 1570 s. His most important achievement may be that convinced other cartographers to unify around one common pattern how to make maps of the world. In this way the work could be much more effective and new ideas could take off from a greater understanding of the whole. His works included several other cartographers works, no fewer than 87 pieces mentioned in the first edition 1570s. The number had by the year of 1601, three years after his death, grown to no less than the 183.

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.

The Great Astronomers, Johannes Hevelius

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.

Gdansk

The Harbour, Danzig, with Old Mercantile Buildings

Over the past centuries, Gdansk has always been inseparably related to the sea. Situated at the intersection of the routes running from the east to the west of Europe, as well as from the north to the south, Gdansk contributed to the development of the international trade and became a long-standing part of the Hanzeatic tradition. The city stood out against the others due to its open-minded attitude towards the world, rich amalgam of different cultural backgrounds, as well as the historical complexity that added up to the city's symbolic appearance. Gdansk continues to attract visitors by the multitude of its magnificent buildings, historical monuments, as well as picturesque streets. The city's architecture constitutes a perfect composition of various artistic stiles: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Rococo and Baroque.

Almost 75 percent of the world's amber is mined in northern Poland, much of it washing up on beaches following winter storms. Amber comes in 300 distinct shades, from yellowish-white to yellowish-black, opaque to transparent, shaped into amber clocks, amber chandeliers, amber beer steins, a model ship with delicate amber sails.

On Sept. 1, 1939 Adolf Hitler invaded this once-German city, sparking World War II. By the end of the war, nearly 80 percent of the city had been destroyed, and the main street lay in ruins. Locals stubbornly rebuilt their town with the help of detailed drawings and photographs, mostly using the original brick. Today, excursion boats ferry history buffs through shipyards to Westerplatte point, where the war's first shots were fired.

Warsaw

June 26, 1826, Evans and Ruffy's Farmer's Journal, 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 and Austrian fund.

Church of the Holy Sacramento. Warsaw
Bernardo Bellotto

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 by 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, the sum originally lent, with the 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; and the productions of foreign countries, exclusive of the taxes that are imposed, very high.

December 9, 1854, Daily Alta California, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

The 25th of November

Wednesday last being the 25th anniversary of the Polish Revolution, a few gentlemen, Polish exiles, now in this city, met together in the evening to celebrate that great and memorable event by a quiet, sociable dinner.

Twenty-five years have now rolled by since Poland raised the cry of liberty and independence ; crushed down by treason and insidious diplomacy, her spirit still remains unsubdued. Her sons scattered over the face of the earth, are ever ready, at the first signal, to unite and renew the struggle. The course of events in Europe promises the realization of their hopes. The war of of the Allies against Russia can have no successful issue, unless Poland be restored to her independence. They may fight great battles, destroy and capture Russian vessels or forts, tiny may take Sebastopol, even Cronstadt and St. Petersburg, but without the restoration of Poland they will not attain those great objects for which the war is carried on, namely, to destroy the power of Russia, and permanently restrain her ambition. This, the restoration of Poland as an independent State, can alone accomplish. It will inflict a blow more fatal than all the battles and victories of the Allies. With the independence of Poland, the Russian Colossus hurled from its pedestal would be reduced to humbler dimensions, and would cease to be dangerous to the peace and liberties of Europe.

In courting the insincere alliance of Austria, the Western Powers have committed a fatal error. They sacrificed the cause of Poland. Russia will thus be enabled indefinitely to protract the war, and frustrate these objects. The Allies will, however, be compelled, as the effects of the protracted struggle will be more and more felt by the people of England and France, to return to their true policy, and embrace the cause of Poland. The independence of Poland is necessary to the equilibrium of Europe, and the peace of the world. It is only since that great national crime, the partition of Poland, was committed, that the preponderating power, and insatiable ambition of Russia have become so threatening. Let Poland be reconstructed; let this act of national justice be done, and France and England will at once secure that balance of power, for which they are now pouring out so much blood and treasure. Let them do this act of reparation, and the sympathies of all nations will be with their cause. The American people, we have no doubt, would also bail with joyful enthusiasm, and give aid and comfort to the deliverance of the land of Kosciusko and Pulaski.

We are not of those who believe in the sympathy of the United States with the cause of Nicholas. The people who have established the freest government the world has ever known, whose institutions are the beacon light to all the nations of the earth, whose shores are the refuge of the of pressed and down-trodden of every land such a people cannot sympathise with a despot whose cause it unjust, who is the sworn foe of all the rights and liberties of man, whose whole life has been employed to destroy every attempt made by the different nations of Europe to reform and liberalize their governments; and who, if he should succeed in his ambitious designs to take possession of Constantinople and make all Europe subservient to his will, would not hesitate to use his all powerful influence to turn the combined power of Europe against these very United States, whose prosperous career is the most eloquent demonstration of the benefits of self-government, and, therefore is a standing protest against monarchy.

January 1, 1855, Daily Alta California, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.

THE RE-CONSTRUCTION OF POLAND.

Torun, Poland.

According to certain European journals and correspondents, the reconstruction of Poland is, or was for the moment, on the political tapis, and hence it becomes an object of speculation, as it has already been at different times since the bloody catastrophe of 1831. Recently, too, a letter addressed to Louis Bonaparte has excited attention to this subject. The real author of that document is stated to be M. de Persigny, favorite and criminal accomplice of the French usurper; but the current of its ideas, its allegations, and the whole train of its reasoning, reveal the author as Prince Czartoryiski, hereditary candidate for the Polish crown, whose grandfather and granduncle, about a century ago, for an equally ambitious purpose, introduced into ancient Poland the same Russian troops and Russian influence against which the grandson now invokes the help of Europe. -- N. Y. Tribune

Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, Krakow from "Klejnoty Miasta Krakows," published 1899

Juliusza & Tondosa, Stanislawa Kossaka

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.

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1899. World's Fleet. Boston Daily Globe

Lloyds Register of Shipping gives the entire fleet of the world as 28,180 steamers and sailing vessels, with a total tonnage of 27,673,628, of which 39 perent are British.

Great Britain	10,990 vessels, total tonnage of 10,792,714
United States	3,010 vessels, total tonnage of 2,405,887
Norway	2,528 vessels, tonnage of 1,604,230
Germany	1,676 vessels, with a tonnage of 2,453,334, in which are included her particularly large ships.
Sweden	1,408 vessels with a tonnage of 643, 527
Italy	1,150 vessels
France	1,182 vessels

For Historical Comparison
Top 10 Maritime Nations Ranked by Value (2017)

	Country	# of Vessels	Gross Tonnage (m)	Total Value (USDbn)
1	Greece	4,453	206.47	$88.0
2	Japan	4,317	150.26	$79.8
3	China	4,938	159.71	$71.7
4	USA	2,399	55.92	$46.5
5	Singapore	2,662	64.03	$41.7
6	Norway	1,668	39.68	$41.1
7	Germany	2,923	81.17	$30.3
8	UK	883	28.78	$24.3
9	Denmark	1,040	36.17	$23.4
10	South Korea	1,484	49.88	$20.1
Total		26,767	87.21	$466.9