The Czech Republic

The Czech Republic

Geography

The Czech Republic is a small country in Central Europe. The area of the Czech Republic is almost 80,000 square kilometres. The country consists of three regions: Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. The population of the Czech Republic is about ten and a half million people. Most of these people are Czechs and Moravians. There are also Slovaks, Ukrainians, Vietnamese, Roma, Poles, and others. The capital city of the Czech Republic is Prague. The Czech Republic borders Germany, Austria, Poland, and Slovakia.

The highest mountains in the Czech Republic are the Giant Mountains (in Czech Krkonoše). They are located on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. The highest mountain in the Giant Mountains and the highest mountain in the Czech Republic is Sněžka. There are other mountain ranges in the Czech Republic, for example the Šumava, which is located in the South on the border between the Czech Republic and Germany. The longest rivers in the Czech Republic are the Vltava, the Labe and the Morava.

History

First type of state on our area was The Samo’s empire from 7th century. Samo was a French merchant. Second state was Big-Moravian imperium in 9th century and after that can we find first mention about Premyslic king dynasty, who ruled to 14th century. Next dynasty was Lucemburks with the most famous king Charles IV. During his reign Czech countries became rich and strong monarchy. It was time of progress, which ended in 15th century, when in our country ran religions conflicts. John Hus demonstrated against church and he was burnt in 1415 near Konstanz. From 16th to 20th century were Czech countries part of Austrian empire, we have Austrian kings, Austrian legislatives and German was an official language. After first world war Czech became independent, it was established new democratic state Czechoslovakia with own president Tomas Garrigue Masaryk and own government. In year 1938 Czechoslovakia get lost and Nazi’s Germany occupied our borders areas. After second world democracy ended, in our republic was established communist system. In 1968 soviet army occupied our state to year 1989, when whole nation revolted against political system and democratic government was restored. In 1993 Czechoslovakia separated in two independent and democratic states Czech republic and Slovakia.

Economy

The Czech Republic is a developed country although it is not as prosperous as most countries in Western Europe.

The largest industry in the Czech Republic is car manufacturing. The largest and most famous Czech car maker is Škoda auto. Most people in the Czech Republic work in services. The main business partner of the Czech Republic is Germany. The Czech Republic is part of the European Union and gets lots of money from it. The currency used in the Czech Republic is called the Czech crown.

Symbols

The flag of the Czech Republic is red, white, and blue. It is the same as the flag of former Czechoslovakia. There is a red stripe at the bottom, a white stripe at the top and a blue triangle on the left side of the flag. The official animal of the Czech Republic is the lion. The national anthem of the Czech Republic is a song called "Where is my home?"