The Czech Republic

The Czech Republic

History:
The first state in this territory was Samoa’s Empire. It was followed by the Great Moravian Empire. Even when the Great Moravian Empire still existed, another state formed in the region of Bohemia. It was called the Czech Crown Kingdom. In the 9th century the power was taken by the Přemyslid dynasty. Then the Czech throne went to the House of Luxembourg. Charles IV. was a Czech king and an Emperor. Under Charles IV the Czech Kingdom became the centre of the Holy Roman Empire and the city of Prague was the capital town. He founded the Prague University in 1348, built a new stone bridge over the river Vltava named after him Charles Bridge, and the castle Karlštejn. The first part of the 15th century was marked by the Hussite Movement. It is named after John Huss, rector of Charles University, who tried to reform the Catholic Church. He was burnt as a heretic. After the House of Luxembourg 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 Austrian Empire. Charles VI was the last man in the Habsburg dynasty and so his main problem was his heir. He had a child but it was a woman. So he issued a document which said that if there was no man in the Habsburg dynasty, a woman could become heir to the throne.
Marie Terezie became Empress. She was very well educated. She reformed education systems. She ruled together with her first-born son Josef II.
In 1914 the WWI began. After the WWI appeared the Czechoslovak Rebuplic with first president Tomáš Garigue Masaryk. In 1989 was the Velvet Revolution and in 1993 appeared two new states – the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Our president is Václav Klaus.

Geography:
The Czech Republic is an inland country situated in the centre of Europe and sometimes it is called the heart of Europe. It has a population of 10 million and covers an area of about 80 000 sq. km. We border with Germany, Poland, Austria and with Slovakia. The Czech Republic consists of three lands: Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. A natural border between Moravia and Bohemia is the Bohemian-Moravian Highland. The highest mountain in the Czech Republic is the Sněžka in the Giant Mountains and the longest river is the Vltava. Other important rivers are the Labe, the Jizera, the Svitava, the Svratka, the Dyje and the Morava. Our republic lies in the moderate climatic zone.

Population:
The biggest city is the capital, Prague, and it has about one million inhabitants. The other big cities are Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň or Hradec Králové. The major nationalities living here are Czech and Moravian, but there are also minority groups such as the Silesians, Roma, Poles, Germans and Russians.

Beauty spots:
There are many spots of great natural beauty in the Czech Republic. The most beautiful natural places are the Czech Pradise, the Děčín walls, Czech Switzerland, the Boubín forests, Macocha and so on. We have also some National parks and many castles. To the most interesting ones belong Karlštejn, Křivoklát, Hluboká, Lednice and of course Prague castle.

System of government:
The Czech Republic is a democratic state. Its government is divided into three branches – the legislative, represented by the Parliament, the executive, represented by the president and the government, and the judicial, represented by courts. Our Parliament consists of two chambers – the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Everybody, who is above 18 and who has Czech nationality can participate. The president is elected every five years by the Parliament, but he cannot serve more than two terms in office in a row.
Our national anthem is called Kde domov můj? (Where is my home?). Our flag consists of three colours, red, blue and white.