The Czech Republic or Czechia is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The republic borders Poland to the north, Germany to the northwest and west, Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east. Historic Prague, a major tourist attraction, is its capital and largest city. It is made up of two older regions, Bohemia and Moravia, and part of the third one, Silesia.
The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 announced that the name Czechia1 (http://www.p.lodz.pl/I35/personal/jw37/EUROPE/cesko1.htm), 2 (http://www.p.lodz.pl/I35/personal/jw37/EUROPE/cesko2.htm) is to be used in all situations other than formal official documents and the full names of government institutions.
Česká republika
Czechia consists of 13 regions (kraje, singular - kraj) and one capital city (hlavní město), marked by a *:
The Czech landscape is quite varied; Bohemia to the west consists of a basin, drained by the Labe (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 Sněžka[?] at 1,602 m. Moravia, the eastern part, is also quite hilly and is drained predominantly by the Morava, but also contains the source of the Odra river. Water from the landlocked Czechia 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.
Basically one of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist states, Czechia has been recovering from recession since mid-1999. Growth in 2000-2001 was led by exports to the EU, especially Germany, and foreign investment, while domestic demand is reviving. Uncomfortably high fiscal and current account deficits could be future problems. Unemployment is gradually declining as job creation continues in the rebounding economy; inflation is up to 4.7% but still moderate.
The EU put Czechia just behind Poland and Hungary in preparations for accession in 2004, which will give further impetus and direction to structural reform. 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 majority of the inhabitants of Czechia (95%) are ethnically Czech and speak Czech, a member of the Slavic languages. Other ethnic groups include Germans (the remainder of a once larger minority), Roma, Hungarians, Ukrainians and Poles. After the 1993 division, some Slovaks remained in Czechia and comprise roughly 2% of the current population. The border between Czechia and Slovakia is open for citizens of the former Czechoslovakia.
Major denominations and their estimated percentage populations are Roman Catholic (27%), Protestant (1%), Hussites (1%), as well as a small Jewish community. A large percentage of the Czech population claim to be atheists (59%), and the remainder describe themselves as uncertain.
In 863, Slavic missionaries Cyril (Constantine) and Metoděj (Methodius) brought Christianity into the Moravian Realm (roughly the area of today's Moravia, the eastern part of the Czech Republic).
Link to this page
