The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a landlocked country in the heart of Central Europe, made up of the historic lands of Bohemia and Moravia. A country of rolling hills, forests, and spa towns, it has its golden-spired capital, Prague, at its centre, one of the best-preserved historic cities in Europe. With a long heritage of art, music, and learning, and a famous tradition of beer, it has reinvented itself as a prosperous democracy since the fall of communism.
The Czech lands were the core of the medieval Kingdom of Bohemia, which under Charles the Fourth made Prague a great imperial capital in the fourteenth century. The country was the cradle of an early religious reform movement led by Jan Hus, whose followers fought the Hussite Wars a century before the wider Reformation. Long ruled by the Habsburgs, the Czechs joined with the Slovaks to form Czechoslovakia in 1918, endured Nazi occupation and then communist rule, and emerged as an independent democracy.
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country of gently rolling countryside, low mountains, and forests, ringed by hills along much of its border. Bohemia, in the west, forms a basin drained by the Vltava and Elbe rivers, while Moravia lies to the east. The land has no coastline and a temperate climate, and is dotted with castles, historic towns, and famous spa resorts. Beneath the surface lie mineral springs and deposits that have long been important to the region.
The flag of the Czech Republic has two horizontal bands, white over red, with a blue triangle extending from the hoist. The white and red derive from the colours of Bohemia, while the blue triangle was added to represent Moravia and Slovakia and to distinguish the flag from that of neighbouring Poland. Originally the flag of Czechoslovakia, it was kept by the Czech Republic after the peaceful split with Slovakia in 1993.
The Czech Republic is one of the most secular countries in the world, with a very large share of the population reporting no religion. This is partly a legacy of history, from the early Hussite challenge to the Catholic Church, through the suppression of religion under communism. Among those who do profess a faith, Roman Catholicism is the largest, and the country's churches, cathedrals, and religious art remain treasured parts of its cultural heritage even in a largely non-religious society.
Czech cuisine is hearty and suited to a cool climate, built around meat, dumplings, and sauces. A classic meal is roast pork with bread dumplings and stewed cabbage, and rich goulash and various meat dishes are widely enjoyed. Above all, the Czech Republic is a nation of beer: it has among the highest rates of beer consumption per person in the world, and the city of Pilsen gave its name to the pale lager, or pilsner, style now brewed everywhere.
Czech agriculture makes good use of the country's fertile lowlands and temperate climate. Farmers grow cereals such as wheat and barley, along with sugar beet, potatoes, and oilseed rape. A crop of special importance is hops, grown in renowned regions and essential to the country's celebrated brewing industry. Livestock and dairy farming are significant too, and the sector, though a small part of a modern industrial economy, remains tied to strong local food traditions.
The golden age of Charles the Fourth and medieval Prague, and the Hussite movement that anticipated the Reformation, are landmarks of Czech history. The Defenestration of Prague in 1618, when officials were thrown from a castle window, helped ignite the Thirty Years War. In the twentieth century the country lived through Nazi occupation and communist rule, including the crushing of the reformist Prague Spring in 1968, before the peaceful Velvet Revolution of 1989 ended communism.
The Czech Republic has a population of around 10.5 million people, overwhelmingly ethnic Czechs, a West Slavic people with their own language. The society is highly secular and well educated, and the population is concentrated in cities and towns across the country, above all in the capital, Prague, a major tourist destination and cultural centre. Since the fall of communism the Czech Republic has become one of the more prosperous and stable countries of Central Europe.
