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Scientist
says that the Slavs, the ethnic group to which the Poles
belong, arrived the region between the Baltic Sea and
the Carpathian Mountains in the 6th century. Toward
the 10th century, Polanie (literally, the people of
the fields) settled on the banks of the Warta River
near present - day Poznan (Poznań). For several generations
the Polanie, under the leadership of the legendary Piast
dynasty, withstood armies of the Holy Roman Empire.
Rather than succumb to the Empire's eastward expansion,
prince Mieszko I accepted Christianity in 966. This
date is recognized as the formal birth of the Polish
state.
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