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Travel to Czech Republic — Unbiased reviews and
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National name: Ceska Republika
President: Václav Klaus (2003)
Prime Minister: Mirek Topolánek
(2006)
Current government officials
Land area: 29,836 sq mi (77,276 sq km);
total area: 30,450 sq mi (78,866 sq km)
Population (2008 est.): 10,220,911
(growth rate: 0.0%); birth rate: 8.8/1000; infant mortality rate:
3.8/1000; life expectancy: 76.6; density per sq km: 132
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Prague, 1,378,700 (metro. area), 1,169,800
(city proper)
Other large cities: Brno, 376,400;
Ostrava, 317,700; Plzen, 164,900; Olomouc, 102,900
Monetary unit: Koruna
Language:
Czech
Ethnicity/race:
Czech 90.4%, Moravian 3.7%, Slovak 1.9%, other
4% (2001)
National Holiday:
Czech Founding Day, October 28
Religions:
Roman Catholic 27%, Protestant 2%,
unaffiliated 59% (2001)
Literacy rate: 99% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007
est.): $249 billion; per capita $24,400. Real growth rate:
5.7%. Inflation: 2.6%. Unemployment: 6.6%. Arable
land: 38.8%. Agriculture: wheat, potatoes, sugar beets,
hops, fruit; pigs, poultry. Labor force: 5.31 million;
agriculture 4.1%, industry 37.6%, services 58.3% (2003 est.).
Industries: metallurgy, machinery and equipment, motor vehicles,
glass, armaments. Natural resources: hard coal, soft coal,
kaolin, clay, graphite, timber. Exports: $113 billion f.o.b.
(2007 est.): machinery and transport equipment 52%, chemicals 5%,
raw materials and fuel 9% (2003). Imports: $109.8 billion
f.o.b. (2007 est.): machinery and transport equipment 46%, raw
materials and fuels 15%, chemicals 10% (2003). Major trading
partners: Germany, Slovakia, Austria, Poland, UK, France, Italy,
Netherlands, China, Russia (2004).
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 3,217,300 (2005); mobile cellular: 12.15 million (2006).
Radio broadcast stations: AM 31, FM 304, shortwave 17 (2000).
Television broadcast stations: 150 (plus 1,434 repeaters)
(2000). Internet hosts: 1.7 million (2007). Internet
users: 3.5 million (2006).
Transportation: Railways: total: 9,597
km km (2006). Highways: total: 127,865 km; paved: 127,865 km
(including 633 km of expressways); unpaved: 0 km (2006).
Waterways: 664 km (on Elbe, Vltava, and Oder rivers) (2004).
Ports and harbors: Decin, Prague, Usti nad Labem.
Airports: 122 (2007).
International disputes: in 2006,
Austrian public protests for the Czech Republic to close the Temelin
nuclear power plant resulted in an Austrian parliamentary motion
threatening international legal action.
Major sources and definitions
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Geography
The Czech Republic's central European landscape
is dominated by the Bohemian Massif, which rises to heights of 3,000 ft
(900 m) above sea level. This ring of mountains encircles a large elevated
basin, the Bohemian Plateau. The principal rivers are the Elbe and the
Vltava.
Government
Parliamentary democracy.
History
Probably about the 5th century A.D., Slavic tribes from the Vistula basin settled in
the region of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia. The Czechs founded the
kingdom of Bohemia and the Premyslide dynasty, which ruled Bohemia and
Moravia from the 10th to the 16th century. One of the Bohemian kings,
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, made Prague an imperial capital and a
center of Latin scholarship. The Hussite movement founded by Jan Hus
(1369?–1415) linked the Slavs to the Reformation and revived Czech
nationalism, previously under German domination. A Hapsburg, Ferdinand I,
ascended the throne in 1526. The Czechs rebelled in 1618, precipitating
the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Defeated in 1620, they were ruled for
the next 300 years as part of the Austrian empire. Full independence from
the Hapsburgs was not achieved until the end of World War I, following the
collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.
A union of the Czech lands and Slovakia was
proclaimed in Prague on Nov. 14, 1918, and the Czech nation became one of
the two component parts of the newly formed Czechoslovakian state. In
March 1939, German troops occupied Czechoslovakia, and Czech Bohemia and
Moravia became German protectorates for the duration of World War II. The
former government returned in April 1945 when the war ended and the
country's pre-1938 boundaries were restored. When elections were held in
1946, Communists became the dominant political party and gained control of
the Czechoslovakian government in 1948. Thereafter, the former democracy
was turned into a Soviet-style state.
Nearly 42 years of Communist rule ended with the
nearly bloodless “velvet revolution” in 1989. Václav Havel, a leading
playwright and dissident, was elected president of Czechoslovakia in 1989.
Havel, imprisoned twice by the Communist regime and his plays banned,
became an international symbol for human rights, democracy, and peaceful
dissent. The return of democratic political reform saw a strong Slovak
nationalist movement emerge by the end of 1991, which sought independence
for Slovakia. When the general elections of June 1992 failed to resolve
the continuing coexistence of the two republics within the federation,
Czech and Slovak political leaders agreed to separate their states into
two fully independent nations. On Jan. 1, 1993, the Czechoslovakian
federation was dissolved and two separate independent countries were
established—the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Czech Republic joined
NATO in March 1999.
In Aug. 2002, severe flooding caused 70,000
people in Prague and 200,000 nationwide to be evacuated.
President Václav Havel left office in Feb. 2003,
after 13 years as president. Over the years, Havel lost some of his
immense popularity with the Czechs, who became disenchanted with his
failings as a political leader. But internationally Havel has remained a
towering figure of moral authority and courage. In March, Václav Klaus
became the Czech Republic's second president. A conservative economist, he
and Havel often clashed. In May 2004, the Czech Republic joined the EU.
After an inconclusive election in June 2006, the political deadlock was
broken in August, with rightist Mirek Topolánek appointed prime minister.
His government resigned in October, after losing a no-confidence vote. He
formed another government in January 2007. A year later, Topolánek's
government narrowly survived another no-confidence vote.
In 2008, Parliament fails to elect a president
when incumbent Václav Klaus wins in the Senate (47-32) while Jan Svejnar
wins in the Chamber of Deputies (106-92). A victory in both houses is
necessary to be elected in the first two rounds. The second round is also
inconclusive, Klaus winning 48-31 in the Senate and Svejnar 104-94 in the
lower house. A third round, with both houses voting together and an
overall absolute majority being sufficient, is held on February 9. Klaus
wins 139 votes (one short of the 140 required) and Svejnar 113. A new vote
is scheduled for February 15. Again the first two rounds fail to produce a
winner: in the first, Klaus wins the Senate 48-32, Svejnar the Chamber
104-93; in the second, Klaus again wins 48-32 in the Senate, while Svejnar
wins the Chamber 94-93. In the third round, Klaus is elected by the whole
parliament, defeating Svejnar 141-111.
On July 8, 2008, after lengthy negotiations and much debate, the Czech Republic agreed to allow the United States to deploy on its land an antiballistic missile shield. Russia strongly objected to the accord, which views the system as a threat. U.S. officials said the shield is meant to deter an attack from Iran. Czech lawmakers must approve the deal.
See also Encyclopedia: Czech Republic.
U.S. State Dept. Country
Notes: Czech Republic
Czech Statistical Office www.czso.cz/english/angl.htm .
Information Please® Database, © 2008 Pearson Education,
Inc. All rights reserved.
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