Encyclopedia
The
Czech Republic , a member state of the
European Union , is a
landlocked country in
Central Europe. The country has borders with
Poland to the north,
Germany to the northwest and west,
Austria to the south, and
Slovakia to the east. The historic city of
Prague , a major
tourist attraction, is its capital and largest city. Other major cities include
Brno,
Ostrava,
Zlín,
Plzen,
Pardubice,
Hradec Králové,
Ceské Budejovice,
Liberec,
Olomouc, and
Ústí nad Labem.
The country is composed of two entire historic regions,
Bohemia and
Moravia, parts of
Silesia and small sections of historic
Lower Austria.
Name
The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 suggested that the name
Czechia be an official alternative in all situations other than formal official documents and the full names of government institutions, but this has not caught on in English usage. The official website of the Czech Republic run by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not use the name
Czechia in 2006; its
Czech equivalent
Cesko is disputed by many
Czechs, but frequently used by others. The name "Czechia" is contained in a Czech legally binding standard for names of countries of the world and other geographical names as a normal equivalent of other short names ; the Czech equivalent "Cesko" has been contained in a longer version of the Dictionary of the Czech language of the Czech Academy of Sciences since the 1970s.
See Names of the Czech Republic and Czech lands.History
Archaeologists have found evidence of prehistoric human settlement in the area dating back to the
Neolithic era. In the classical era, from the 3rd century BC
Celtic migrations, the
Boii and later in the 1st century Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi settled there. During the
Migration Period of ca. the 5th century, many Germanic tribes moved westward and southward out of Central Europe. In an equally significant migration,
Slavic people from the
Black Sea and Carpathian regions settled in the area . Following in the Germans' wake, they moved southward into Bohemia, Moravia, and some of present day Austria.
During the
7th century the Frankish merchant Samo, supporting the Slavs fighting their Avar rulers, became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe. The Moravian principality arose in the 8th century .
The Bohemian or Czech state emerged in the late
9th century when it was unified by the
Premyslids. The kingdom of
Bohemia was a significant local power during the Middle Ages. It was part of the
Holy Roman Empire during the entire existence of this confederation.
Religious conflicts such as the
15th century Hussite Wars and the
17th century Thirty Years' War had a devastating effect on the local population. Bohemia later came under
Habsburg influence and became part of
Austria-Hungary.
Following the collapse of this empire after
World War I, the independent republic of
Czechoslovakia was created in 1918. This new country incorporated regions with majority
German,
Hungarian,
Polish and Ruthenian speaking populations. Although Czechoslovakia was a centralist state, it provided what was at the time rather extensive rights to its minorities. However, it did not grant its minorities any territorial political autonomy, which resulted in discontent and strong support among some of the minorities to break away from Czechoslovakia.
Adolf Hitler used the opportunity and, supported by Konrad Henlein's Sudeten German Party, gained the majority German speaking
Sudetenland through the
Munich Agreement. Poland occupied areas with Polish minority around
Ceský Tešín, while Slovakia gained greater autonomy, with the state being renamed to "Czecho-Slovakia". Eventually Slovakia broke away further in March 1939, allied to Hitler´s coalition and the remaining Czech territory was occupied by Hitler who installed the so-called
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, which was proclaimed part of the Reich and where the Protectorate President and Prime Minister were subordinate to the Nazi
Reichsprotektor . Approximately 390,000 citizens, including 83,000 Jews, were killed, executed or killed in war, and hundreds of thousand of others were sent to prisons and concentration camps or forced labour. The Czechoslovak government-in-exile and its army fighting against Nazis were acknowledged by Allies .
In 1945-6 almost the entire German minority of pre-War Czechoslovakia, about 3 million people,
were expelled to
Germany and
Austria. During this time, hundreds of thousand of Germans were held in prisons, detention camps, and used in forced labour. In the summer of 1945, there were several massacres with at least 20,000 deaths. Only 250,000 Germans who had been active in the resistance against the Nazis or were necessary for the economy were allowed to stay, though many of them emigrated later.
Czechoslovakia uneasily tried to play "bridge" between the West and East; however the strengthening Communist Party of Czechoslovakia took over in February 1948, bringing the country within the
Soviet sphere of influence. In August 1968, an invasion by
Warsaw Pact troops ended the efforts of the country's leaders to liberalize party rule and create "
socialism with a human face" during the
Prague Spring.
In November 1989, Czechoslovakia regained its political independence through a peaceful "
Velvet Revolution". On January 1, 1993, the country peacefully split in two, creating the independent Czech and
Slovak republics.
The Czech Republic joined
NATO in 1999 and the
European Union on May 1, 2004. From 1991 the Czech Republic, then
Czechoslovakia, has been a member of the
Visegrad Group.
Geography
The Czech landscape is quite varied;
Bohemia to the west consists of a basin, drained by the
Elbe and
Vltava rivers, surrounded by mostly low mountains such as the
Sudeten with its part Krkonoše, where one also finds the highest point in the country, the Snežka at 1,602
metres .
Moravia, the eastern part, is also quite hilly and is drained predominantly by the Morava river, but also contains the source of the
Oder river. Water from the landlocked Czech Republic flows to three different seas: the
North Sea,
Baltic Sea and
Black Sea.
The local
climate is temperate with warm summers and cold, cloudy, humid winters, typified by a mixture of maritime and continental influences.
Demographics
| Population of the Czech lands |
|---|
| Year | Total | Change | Year | Total | Change |
|---|
| 1857 | 7,016,531 | - | 1930 | 10,674,386 | 6.6% |
|---|
| 1869 | 7,617,230 | 8.6% | 1950 | 8,896,133 | -16.7% |
|---|
| 1880 | 8,222,013 | 7.9% | 1961 | 9,571,531 | 7.6% |
|---|
| 1890 | 8,665,421 | 5.4% | 1970 | 9,807,697 | 2.5% |
|---|
| 1900 | 9,372,214 | 8.2% | 1980 | 10,291,927 | 4.9% |
|---|
| 1910 | 10,078,637 | 7.5% | 1991 | 10,302,215 | 0.1% |
|---|
| 1921 | 10,009,587 | -0.7% | 2001 | 10,230,060 | -0.7% |
|---|
The majority of the inhabitants of the Czech Republic are
Czechs and speak
Czech, a member of the
Slavic languages. Among minorities are
Slovaks,
Germans ,
Poles ,
Roma people, and several others.
Religion
According to a 2001 census, 59 % of the country is atheist, non-believer or no-organized believer, 26.8 % Catholic and cca 2.5 % Protestant .
Politics
Politics of the Czech Republic takes place in a framework of a
parliamentary representative democratic
republic, whereby the Prime Minister is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government.
Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
Military
The Czech Armed Forces consists of Land and
Air Forces and of specialized support units. The country has been a member of
NATO since 1999. Military spending is around 1.8% of
GDP .
Administrative divisions
The Czech Republic is divided into 14 regions and the capital city
Prague . It is further subdivided into 77
districts .
Economy
One of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist states, the Czech Republic has been recovering from recession since mid-1999. Growth in 2000-2001 was led by exports to the
European Union, especially
Germany, and foreign investment, while domestic demand is reviving.
The rate of corruption remains one of the highest among
OECD countries.
Uncomfortably high fiscal and current account deficits could be future problems.
Moves to complete
banking,
telecommunications, and energy privatisation will add to foreign investment, while intensified restructuring among large enterprises and banks and improvements in the financial sector should strengthen output growth.
The Czech government has expressed a desire to adopt the
euro currency in 2010, but its introduction is only in the early planning
