The Czech Republic is a state in Central Europe. It occupied an area of 78864 sq km and has about 10,33 million inhabitants.

Our  state has a varied landscape. Bohemia is surrounded by a ring of mountains – the Šumava range, the Czech Forest, the Ore Mountains, the Jizerské Mountains, The Giant Mountains, and the Eagle Mountains. The Moravian Plain is protected on the West by Bohemian-Moravian Highland, and on the North by the wooded mountainous range of Jeseníky and Beskydy. Fertile lowlands can be found in the valleys of big rivers – the Vltava, the Elbe (flowing into the North Sea), the Oder (flowing into the Baltic Sea), and the Morava (flowing into the Danube and thence into the Black Sea).The climate is mostly continental, the warmest area being in South Moravia.

One of our most significant raw material is coal. Black coal and anthracite are to be found mainly in the Ostrava Coal Basin, but also in the area of Kladno and elsewhere. The most significant supplies of brown coal or lignite are in the North Bohemia Coal Basin and in Western Bohemia in the Sokolov Basin. There are also minor deposits of iron ore, uranium, oil etc. The rich deposit of kaolin and clay are important for the cemics and glass industries as well as abundant quarries of stone and limestone for the building industry.

The Czech Republic is traditionally an industrial country. The greatest percentage is represented by the engineering industry. Besides this there are the chemical industry, food industry, textile industry, metallurgy industry and other sorts of industry. Also the agriculture is developed enough to feed the population and be able to export its products too.

From the historical point of view our territory has been inhabited by Slavonic tribes since the 5th century A.D. The first Slavonic state was Sámo`s Empire which was founded here in 623. With the further development and uniting of Slavinic tribes, the early mighty feudal Great Moravian Empire was formed in the 9th century. After its disintegration, state activities were concentrated  in the Czech Lands where in the 9th century power was taken over bz the Czech tribe headed by P?emyslid family. The first historicallz documented Czech prince Bo?ivoj I ruled over the territory of the Czech Lands and ovetr a considerable part of Great Moravia.

The Czech princes- and later kings- played an important role in Central Europe. When P?emyslid dynasty had died out the sword in 1306 and, after several years of instability, the Czech throne went by way of a dynastic wedding to the Luxemburgs, and the Czech Kingdom became also the centre of the Holy Roman Empire mainly during the reign of Charles IV and his son Wenceslas IV. Nevertheless it was a kingdom quite independent of the Holy Roman Empire, and was ruled by the king, the most important of seven electors of the emperors. During the reign of Charles IV (1346 – 1378), Prague grew into one of largest European metropolies of that era, and was a significant centre of education, architecture and the arts. In 1348 Charles University – the oldest one in Central, Northern and Eastern Europe – was founded in Prague.

The first  part of the 15th century is marked by the Hussite Movement (1419 – 1437). It is named after Jan Hus (John Huss), profesor, dean, and later rector of Charles University. In 1415 he was tried by Church council in Constance  and burnt at the stake as a heretic. The leading representatives of the Hussite Movement were Jan Žižka and Prokop Holý. Žižka, as a Hussite leader, was never defeated. Prokop Holý, in victorious battles, fought off crusades of the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire and was also a prominent Hussite diplomat.

After the reign of King Ji?í of Pod?brady – who is known for his appeal to other European kings to make a treaty securing peace – and after the period of the rule of Jagiellonian dynasty on the Czech throne there came the period of the Hapsburg dynasty  (1526 – 1918). These rules tired to oppress the Czech nation in favour of the Germans and the Roman Catholics Church, but were not successful until the Battle on the White Mountain in 1620, followed by 300 years of endeavours to eradicate Czech statehood and national life – through germanization and the liquidation of Czech literature and culture as a whole, and re-catholicization.

Nevertheless the 19th century brought a time of national revival, so when World War I ended in 1918, the Czech nation was able to take its own hands in the newly established Czechoslovak Republic. Through this was destroyed by the German occupation (1939 – 1945), it appeared after World War II. In 1948 the power was taken over by the communists directed by Soviet Union. The “Prague Spring” in 1968 was oppressed by the invasion of the Soviet army and the “normalization” lasted about 20 years till the “velvet revolution” in 1989. The following development led to the splitting of the republic, and in 1993 two new states – the Czech Republic comprising the original countries of the Czech crown, Bohemia and Moravia, and part of Silesia, the greater part of which was lost in the 18th century during the Seven Years` War, and the Slovak Republic.
 

Ilona Kubonova - teacher
Jan Lederer, Lenka Guntherova, Lucka Plochova - students