Polish people, or Poles, are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Central Europe. The preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland defines the Polish nation as comprising all the citizens of Poland, regardless of heritage or ethnicity. The majority of Poles adhere to Roman Catholicism.
Fragment of Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum (1073) by Adam of Bremen, containing the name "Polans": "trans Oddaram sunt Polanos"
The Polish White Eagle is Poland's enduring national and cultural symbol
Adam Mickiewicz is regarded as a national poet in Poland
Frederic Chopin plays for the Radziwiłł family, 1829 (painting by Henryk Siemiradzki, 1887)
The West Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak the West Slavic languages. They separated from the common Slavic group around the 7th century, and established independent polities in Central Europe by the 8th to 9th centuries. The West Slavic languages diversified into their historically attested forms over the 10th to 14th centuries.
Reconstruction of the Slavic temple in Groß Raden
Slavic tribes from the 7th to 9th centuries AD in Europe
