page_title: Poles
section_title: Silesians
hierarchical_section_title: Poles / Ethnography / Silesians
caption_attribution_description: English: Members of "Grojcowianie" folklore group in Żywiec Beskids clothing during the festival of the Assumption of the Holy Mary in Juszczyna, 2016
context_page_description: The Poles, commonly referred to as the Polish people, are a Central European nation native to Poland who share a common history, culture, and are speakers of the Polish language.
  The population of self-declared Poles in Poland is estimated at 37,394,000 out of an overall population of 38,538,000, of whom 36,522,000 declared Polish alone. A wide-ranging Polish diaspora exists throughout Europe, the Americas, and in Australasia. Today, the largest urban concentrations of Poles are within the Warsaw and Silesian metropolitan areas.
  The ethnic Polish people are considered to be the descendants of ancient West Slavic Lechites and other tribes that inhabited the Polish territories in late antiquity. Poland's recorded history dates back over a thousand years to c. 930–960 AD, when the Western Polans – an influential tribe in the Greater Poland region – united various Lechitic clans under what became the Piast dynasty, thus creating the first Polish state. The subsequent Christianization of Poland by the Catholic Church, in 966 CE, marked Poland's advent to the community of Western Christendom.
context_section_description: In the Early Middle Ages, Silesia was inhabited by several Lechitic tribes, known from written sources under their Latinised names. The most significant tribe (which ultimately gave its name to the region) were the Sleenzane (Slenzans; Ślężanie) who lived in areas near modern Wrocław and along the Ślęza river, as well as near mount Ślęża. The Opolini (Opolans; Opolanie) lived in lands near modern Opole. The Dadodesani or Dedosize (Dyadosans; Dziadoszanie) lived in areas near modern Głogów. The Golensizi (Golensizians; Golęszyce) dwelled near modern Racibórz, Cieszyn and Opawa. The Lupiglaa (Głubczyce) probably lived on the Głubczyce Plateau, near Głubczyce. The Trebouane (Tryebovians; Trzebowianie), mentioned by the Prague Document (which describes the situation as of year 973 or earlier), occupied areas near modern Legnica. The Poborane (Bobrans; Bobrzanie) – mentioned by the same document – lived along the lower and middle course of the Bóbr river. The Psyovians (Psouane; Pszowianie) lived near Pszów, to the east of the Opolans and to the west of Kraków. Along the borderland between Lower Silesia and Lusatia, lived tribes related to modern Sorbs.
  At the turn of the 10th and 11th centuries (c. AD 1000), the total population of Silesia is estimated as around 250,000 people. By the 2nd half of the 12th century (c. AD 1150–1200) the population increased to 330,000, still in vast majority Slavic-speakers. Following the German Ostsiedlung (c. AD 1350–1400), the population of Lower Silesia was around 2/3 Slavic and 1/3 German (according to estimates by Kokot, Karol Maleczynski and Tomasz Kamusella) while Upper Silesia remained 80% ethnically Polish, with the remaining 20% split mainly between Germans and Czechs. During the following centuries cultural Germanization gradually shifted the ethnic structure of Silesia, so that by the 20th century nearly all of Lower Silesia had a German-speaking majority. But Upper Silesia remained majority Polish-speaking. There have also been Moravian and Czech communities.
  Polish Silesians can be divided into many smaller groups, such as Cieszyn Vlachs, Lachians, Silesian Gorals, Opolans and others. The oldest Polish town in the US – Panna Maria, Texas – was established by Silesians in 1854. They speak the Texas Silesian dialect of Polish.
caption: Góral women from the Beskidy Mountains  (Żywiec) in Silesia
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