26 POLSKA
Geopolitics, in fact, throws very little light on the specific problems of Polish
History. It is relevant to the history of the modern power game in Eastern
Europe. But it does not explain the more fundamental problems of why in the
first place Poland was weak, when Prussia and Muscovy were strong, or why
Russia devoured Poland, instead of Poland devouring Russia. It cannot illum-
inate the main characteristics of Polish life and institutions.
When Vidal de la Blanche in his famous 'Tableau de la France' concluded that
France was characterized by variety, he was guilty of a Gallicism. For variety
can be discerned in the physiognomy of most countries, and especially in those
which are constructed from numerous, distinct provinces, each with a life and a
past of its own. This was certainly true in the case of historic Poland whose
unity proved weaker, than the centrifugal tendencies of its many regions. (See
Map 1.)
The heartland provinces of predominantly Polish settlement are situated
between the Odra and Vistula Rivers. It was here that one branch of the Western
Slavs first established itself in the seventh and eighth centuries, and as Polanie,
(Polanians) or 'people of the open fields', engendered the forebears of the nation
who are now known as Poles. Their country, Polska, centred on the lakeland
region round Gniezno, was later called Wielkopolska or 'Greater Poland' to dis-
tinguish it from the southerly extension of their realm into Malopolska or
'Lesser Poland'.
Wielkopolska (Polonia Maior) is drained by the River Warta flowing west-
wards into the Odra with the water from more than a thousand lakes. It is open
country, with broad expanses of meadowland in the valleys separated by rolling
tracts of forest. Its soils are fertile, especially on the black earth of its eastern
reaches. In early times, both agriculture and communication were easy. Apart
from Gniezno, the main cities were Poznan, founded in the tenth century as a
riverbank fortress, and ancient Kalisz, mentioned by Ptolemy. The population
has a quite undeserved reputation for stolid, humourless efficiency.
Malopolska (Polonia Minor), centred on Cracow, backs against the sub-
alpine ridge of the Carpathians. In addition to the high Tatras of Podhale in the
south, it carries several upland chains - the Beskidy in the west, the limestone
peaks of the Cracovian Jura and the Holy Cross Range in the north, the
Roztocza in the east. In between the hills, lie long stretches of fertile lowland
among them the Podgorze region, and the valleys of the Vistula and the San. The
gorale (Highlanders) are akin to the Slovaks on the other flank of the mountains,
to the former Ukrainian Hutsul and Bojko clans of the Bieszczady, and to the
Romanian mountaineers to the east. The hills are rich in minerals, including
iron, salt, oil, and now uranium. The lowlands are eminently suitable for
cultivation. The southern valleys produce fruit and wine. The cities —
Cracow, Sandomierz, Lublin, Kielce - are among the most ancient in Poland. In