The Czech Republic

THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The Czech Republic is a small inland country with the capital Prague. It consists of three historical parts:

- Bohemia - with the centre Prague
- Moravia - with the centre Brno and Olomouc
- Silesia - with the centre Ostrava

The area is about 79 000 square kilometres and there live about 10 320 000 people. Besides Czechs there live Slovaks, Poles, Ukrainians, Russians, Germans and Vietnamese.
 
GEOGRAPHY
The Czech Republic is situated in the Northern Hemisphere in the heart of Europe. It belongs to mild zone and there is a continental climate. Summers are warm and winters are cold.
Our country is surrounded by range of mountains that are our natural borders. We have for neighbours:

- Germany - on the border with Germany the Ore Mountains, the Bohemians
 Mountains and the Šumava are situated

- Poland - on the border with Poland the Jeseníky, the Eagle mountains, the
 Giant Mountains and the Jizerské mountains are situated. The Giant
 Mountains are the highest mountains with the highest peak of the
 whole country - the Snowmountain ( 1602m )

- Slovakia - on the border with Slovakia the Little Carpathians and the
 Beskydy are situated.

- Austria - on the border with Austria the Šumava
The surface is rather hilly and highlands make up most of the surface. There are the Bohemian and Moravian highland and the Central Bohemian highland.
One seventh of the surface are lowlands, for example along the Elbe river, the Morava river or the Dyje river. The Czech Republic doesn’t have any seas, but it has many navigable rivers. Thanks to the Elbe, the Morava and the Odra we can use transports of neighbouring countries. The Elbe flows throughout Germany to the North Sea. Its largest and most important tributary is the Vltava. There have been built several dams for the production of the electricity and recreation. There are Lipno, Slapy, Orlík and so on.
We are rich in lakes and ponds that are mainly in South Bohemia - the largest is Rožmberk. The mineral springs are mainly in Spa towns, which are in West Bohemia - Karlsbad.
 
HISTORY
The area of the Czech Republic has been inhabited by Slavonics since the 5th century. First state was Samoa’s Empire ( 623 ). With the development and uniting of Slavonic tribes Great Moravian Empire was founded in the 9th century. After its disintegration the rule was taken over by the Přemyslid dynasty. In 863 came here missionaries Cyril and Methodius from Salonika.
After that Přemyslids had died out by the sword ( 1306 ) the throne was taken over by Luxemburgs. The Czech Kingdom became the centre of the Holy Roman Empire mainly during the reign of Charles IV. He made Prague the centre of education, art and architecture ( Charles Bridge, University… ).
Later there was a Hussite movement with its master Jan Hus ( professor and dean ) who tried to reform the Catholic Church. He was burnt for heresy in 1415.

After the reign of Jiří of Poděbrady the Jagellonian dynasty was established on the Czech throne. But they reigned only for a short time and the throne was passed to Habsburg dynasty. The centre of culture and politics moved from Prague to Vienna and we became a part of the big Austria Empire. They oppressed the Czech nation for almost 400 years. Well known Habsburg was for example Rudolf II. who supported science and art. In 1620 there was a Battle of White Mountain. In 18th and 19th centuries there was National revival. In 1918 independent Czechoslovakia was declared and T.G. Masaryk was elected the first president. Our country went through the World War I. and World War II. Then power was taken over by the communists. In 1968 Czechoslovakia was oppressed by the invasion of the Soviet army and the normalisation lasted about another 20 years till the Velvet revolution in 1989. After this revolution the Czechoslovakia became democratic again. The Czech Republic was constituted on the 1st January 1993 when the federal republic Czechoslovakia was divided into 2 independent states. In 1999 the Czech Republic became a member of NATO. In 2004 became Czech Republic a member of EU.
 
POLITICAL SYSTEM
The Czech Republic is a democratic state and the head of state is president Václav Klaus. The state flag consists of 2 horizontal stripes ( red and white ) and a blue wedge. Our national anthem is called ,,Kde domov můj?”.
 
Political system is composed of 3 branches:
- The legislative - represented by the Parliament, which is composed of 2
chambers: The Chamber of Deputies ( 200 members )
The Chamber of Senate ( 81 members )
- The Executive - represented by the president who is elected for 5 years
term and the government (  ministers )
- The Judicial - represented by courts

ECONOMY
The Czech Republic is an industrial country. The greatest percentage is the engineering industry. The others are: chemical industry, food industry, building industry, metallurgy and energy production. The textile and glass industry have a long tradition, as do porcelain and ceramics. We make shoes, cars and motorcycles. One of our significant raw materials is coal. Black coal and anthracite are to be found in Ostrava and Kladno. Brown coal is in the North Bohemia Coal Basin and in the West Bohemia in the Sokolov Basin. There are also deposits of iron ore, uranium, oil, kaolin and clay. Kaolin and clay are important for the ceramics and glass industries. For the building industry stone and limestone are important.
The other part of economy is the agriculture. In animal production it is fish breeding, cattle breeding and pig breeding. In the lowlands there are cultivated wheat, sugar beet, sweet corn, sunflower, hop, grapes, fruits and vegetables. We are famous for beer and wine production.
 
PLACES OF INTEREST
The Czech Republic has many spots of natural beauty:
- The Bohemian Paradise - one of the oldest and most visited tourist area
- it’s known for its sandy rocks ( Prachovské skály )
- The Czech Switzerland - national park with formation of rocks, valleys and forests

- The Boubín virgin forests - one of the oldest reservations in Europe
- Bohemian Karst, the Koněprusy Caves - stalactites and stalagmites
- Moravian Karst - the biggest karst area in the Czech Republic made of

limestone, underground lakes and rivers
- Macocha abyss ( 138 m ), the Punkva Caves

- The Adršpach or Prachov Rocks - the sandstone rock towns with a number
of fantastic and romantic rock formations

- South Bohemia - it’s rolling country with coniferous and leafy trees and many lakes which originally were built for raising fish. Now they are also used fort recreation.

- Mountains - are often visited by tourists, skiers and lovers of sports. The
most favourite are the Giant Mountains ( Pec pod Sněžkou )
and the Šumava with its glacier lakes ( Čertovo )
 
The Czech Republic has a large number of spas, which have a long tradition:
Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně, Františkovy Lázně…
 
There are also many places associated with our history. Among the most beautiful historical towns belongs: Prague, Kutná Hora, Telč, Tábor, Třeboň, Český Krumlov…

Also many historical buildings, castles and ruins can be found in our republic:
Karlštejn, Křivoklát, Bezděz, Loket, Kost, Prague Castle. Czech Republic is well known because of sports - ice hockey, football, tennis, athletics and so on..