Poland is a country in East-Central Europe with an area of 312,679 square kilometres (120,726 sq.

mi.), and mostly temperate climate.[1] Generally speaking, Poland is an almost unbroken plain
reaching from the Baltic Sea in the north, to the Carpathian Mountains in the south. Within that plain,
terrain variations run in bands east to west. The Baltic coast has two natural harbors, the larger one
in the Gdask-Gdynia region, and a smaller one near Szczecin in the far northwest. The
northeastern region also known as Masurian Lake District with more than 2,000 lakes,[2] is densely
wooded, sparsely populated. To the south of the lake district, and across central Poland a vast
region of plains extends all the way to the Sudetes on the Czech and Slovak borders southwest, and
to the Carpathians on the Czech, Slovak and Ukrainian borders southeast. The central lowlands had
been formed by glacial erosion in the Pleistocene ice age. The neighboring countries are Germany
to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east,
and Lithuania and the Russianexclave of Kaliningrad to the northeast.

The country extends 876 kilometers from north to south and 689 kilometers from east to west, at an
area of 564,5897 square kilometers including inland waters. The average elevation is 173 meters,
and only 3% of Polish territory, along the southern border, is higher than 500 meters. The highest
elevation is Mount Rysy, which rises 2,499 meters in the Tatra Range of the Carpathians, 95
kilometers south of Krakw. About 60 square kilometers along the Gulf of Gdask are below sea
level.

Topographic regions[edit]
Poland is traditionally divided into five topographic zones from north to south.
The largest, the central lowlands or "Polish Plain" (Polish: Ni Polski or Nizina Polska), is narrow in
the west, then expands to the north and south as it extends eastward. Along the eastern border, this
zone reaches from the far northeast to within 200 kilometers of the southern border. The terrain in
the central lowlands is quite flat, and earlier glacial lakes have been filled by sediment. The region is
cut by several major rivers, including the Oder(Odra), which defines the Silesian Lowlands in the
southwest, and the Vistula (Wisla), which defines the lowland areas of east-central Poland.
To the south of the lowlands are the lesser Poland uplands, a belt varying in width from 90 to 200
kilometers, formed by the gently sloping foothills of the Sudeten and Carpathian mountain ranges
and the uplands that connect the ranges in southcentral Poland. The topography of this region is
divided transversely into higher and lower elevations, reflecting its underlying geological structure. In
the western section, the Silesia-Krakw Upthrust contains rich coal deposits.
Further information: List of mountains in Poland
The third topographic area is located on either side of Poland's southern border and is formed by the
Sudeten and Carpathian ranges. Within Poland, neither of these ranges is forbidding enough to
prevent substantial habitation; the Carpathians are especially densely populated. The rugged form of

the Sudeten range derives from the geological shifts that formed the later Carpathian uplift. The
highest elevation in the Sudeten is nieka(1,602 meters) in the Karkonosze Mountains. The
Carpathians in Poland, formed as a discrete topographical unit in the relatively recent Tertiary Era,
are the highest mountains in the country. They are the northernmost edge of a much larger range
that extends into the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Romania. Within Poland the
range includes two major basins, the Owicim and Sandomierz, which are rich in several minerals
and natural gas.
To the north of the central lowlands, the lake region includes primeval forests - one of the last
remaining in Europe and much of Poland's shrinking unspoiled natural habitat. Glacial action in this
region formed lakes and low hills in the otherwise flat terrain adjacent to Lithuania and the Baltic
Sea. Small lakes dot the entire northern half of Poland, and the glacial formations that characterize
the lake region extend as much as 200 kilometers inland in western Poland. Wide river valleys divide
the lake region into three parts. In the northwest, Pomeraniais located south of the Baltic coastal
region and north of the Warta and Note rivers. Masuria occupies the remainder of northern Poland
and features a string of larger lakes. Most of Poland's 9,300 lakes that are more than 10,000 square
metres in area are located in the northern part of the lake region, where they occupy about 10% of
the surface area.
The Baltic coastal plains are a low-lying region formed of sediments deposited by the sea. The
coastline was shaped by the action of the rising sea after the Scandinavian ice sheet retreated. The
two major inlets in the smooth coast are the Pomeranian Bay on the German border in the far
northwest and the Gulf of Gdask in the east. The Oder River empties into the former, and the
Vistula forms a large delta at the head of the latter. Sandbars with large dunes form lagoons and
coastal lakes along much of the coast.