Ethnic Poles are considered to be the descendants of the ancient West Slavic Lechites and other tribes that inhabited the Polish territories during the late antiquity period.

The Polish endonym Polacy is derived from the Western Polans, a Lechitic tribe which inhabited lands around the River Warta in Greater Poland region from the mid-6th century onward.

[46] The tribe's name stems from the Proto-Indo European *pleh₂-, which means flat or flatland and corresponds to the topography of a region that the Western Polans initially settled.

Among other foreign exonyms for the Polish people are Lithuanian Lenkai; Hungarian Lengyelek; Turkish Leh; Armenian: Լեհաստան Lehastan; and Persian: لهستان (Lahestān).

[52] In the 9th and 10th centuries the tribes gave rise to developed regions along the upper Vistula (the Vistulans),[52] the Baltic Sea coast and in Greater Poland.

The ultimate tribal undertaking (10th century) resulted in a lasting political structure and the creation of a Polish state.

The geographical distribution of the Polish language was greatly affected by the border changes and population transfers that followed the Second World War – forced expulsions and resettlement during that period contributed to the country's current linguistic homogeneity.

Officially, the national and state symbol is the white-tailed eagle (bielik) embedded on the Coat of arms of Poland (godło).

In 1364, King Casimir the Great founded the Kraków Academy, which would become Jagiellonian University, the second-oldest institution of higher learning in Central Europe.

[63] People of Polish birth have made considerable contributions in the fields of science, technology and mathematics both in Poland and abroad,[64] among them Vitello, Marie Skłodowska–Curie, Rudolf Modrzejewski, Rudolf Weigl, Bronisław Malinowski, Stefan Banach, Stanisław Ulam, Leonid Hurwicz, Benoit Mandelbrot and Alfred Tarski.

Poland's folk music, especially the mazurka, krakowiak and polonaise, were popularized by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin, and they soon spread across Europe and elsewhere.

[65] Latin songs and religious hymns such as Gaude Mater Polonia and Bogurodzica were once chanted in churches and during patriotic festivities, but the tradition has faded.

Renowned novelists who gained much recognition abroad include Joseph Conrad (wrote in English; Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim), Stanisław Lem (science-fiction; Solaris) and Andrzej Sapkowski (fantasy; The Witcher).

Also, Poland for centuries was a refuge to many Jews and to Armenians, who became an important part of Polish society and similarly developed their own unique cultures.

Popular everyday foods in Poland include pork cutlets (kotlet schabowy), schnitzels, kielbasa sausage, potatoes, coleslaw and salads, soups (barszcz, tomato or meat broth), pierogi dumplings, and bread rolls.

Traditional Polish cuisine is hearty and Poles are one of the more obese nations in Europe – approximately 58% of the adult population was overweight in 2019, above the EU average.

Roman Catholics live all over the country, while Orthodox Christians can be found mostly in the far north-eastern corner, in the area of Białystok, and Protestants in Cieszyn Silesia and Warmia-Masuria regions.