In September 1939, the German-Soviet invasion of Poland marked the beginning of World War II, which resulted in the Holocaust and millions of Polish casualties. It regained its independence in 1918 with the Treaty of Versailles and restored its position as a key player in European politics. With the end of the prosperous Polish Golden Age, the country was partitioned by neighbouring states at the end of the 18th century. The latter led to the forming of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest and most populous nations of 16th and 17th-century Europe, with a uniquely liberal political system that adopted Europe's first modern constitution, the Constitution of. The Kingdom of Poland was founded in 1025 and in 1569 cemented its longstanding political association with Lithuania by signing the Union of Lublin. The establishment of Polish statehood can be traced to 966, when the pagan ruler of a realm coextensive with the territory of present-day Poland embraced Christianity and converted to Catholicism. However, it was the Polans who dominated the region and gave Poland its name. Throughout the late antiquity period it became extensively diverse, with various cultures and tribes settling on the vast Central European Plain. The history of human activity on Polish soil spans thousands of years. Poland also shares maritime boundaries with Denmark and Sweden. The country is bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukraine to the east, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to the south, and Germany to the west. Poland's territory extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains in the south. Warsaw is the nation's capital and largest metropolis, and other major cities include Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Poznań, Gdańsk, and Szczecin. Poland has a population of over 38 million, and is the fifth-most populous member state of the European Union. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of 312,696 km 2 (120,733 sq mi). Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe.

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