The Czech republic

Maturitní téma z anglického jazyka

Gymnázium F. X. Šaldy

Hana Kyselová

4.A

The Czech Republic is situated in the centre of Europe and sometimes it is called a heart of the Europe. It has a population of 10 million people and covers an area about 80,000 sq km.

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

The Czech Republic is a member of European Union (associate membership February 1, 1995), European security and Co-operation Organisation (January 1, 1993), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and development (December 12, 1995), united nations (January 19, 1993), European Council (June 30, 1993), North Atlantic Co-operation Council (January 1, 1993), West European Union (May 9, 1994).

Geography:

The Czech borders are the oldest one in the Europe. We border with Germany in the west with nature border made by the Ore Mountains, the Czech Forest and Šumava range. The border with Poland are made by the Jizera Mountains, the Giant Mountains the Eagle Mountains and the Jesenik Mountain range. Border with Austria are made by the Dyje river and the border with Slovakia are made by the Morava river and White Karpat hills. The Czech Republic consists of three lands: Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Natural border between Moravia and Bohemia are made by Bohemian-Moravian Highland. The biggest mountain in Czech Republic is Sněžka (1612m) in Giant Mountains and the longest river is Vltava. Other important rivers are Labe, Jizera, Ohře, Svitava, Svratka, Dyje, Morava and Oder. At the southern Moravia the fertile lowlands can be found. Our republic lies in the Temperate Zone. We haven't a sea. There are the warmest areas in Southern Moravia and the coldest area in the Giant Mountains. The average annual rainfall is about 600cm.

Climate

Because of its position in central Europe, the Czech Republic has both continental and oceanic climate. It means quite warm - but not hot - summers and mild - but rainy - winters. Big parts of the CR - mainly in border belt and around the big cities - are devastated by an air pollution and the acid rains from the chemical factories and heating plants or spoiled by industry (e.g. the Most area). Ecology policy is one of the biggest problem in the CR.

History:

First state in this territory, inhabited by Slavonic tribes was Samoa's Empire. Than The Big Moravia Empire followed. It was very famous and the capital was probably situated in the southern Moravia near the village Mikulčice. Even when the Great Moravia still existed, another state formed at the region of Bohemia. It was called Czech Crown Kingdom. In 9^th century the power was taken by Přemyslid dynasty. When the Přemyslid dynasty died out by the sword, the Czech throne went by way of a dynastic wedding to the Luxembourg. Under Charles IV. the Czech Kingdom became the centre of the Holy Roman Empire and the Prague was the capital. Charles IV. built in Prague the second oldest stone bridge in our republic, establish an archbishop there and founded Charles University, the oldest one in the middle Europe. The first part of the 15^th century is marked by the Hussite Movement. It is named after John Huss, rector of Charles University and preacher, who tried reform Catholic Church. He was burnt at the stake as a heretic. After the reign of Jiří of Poděbrady, who is known for his appeal to other European kings to make a treaty securing peace, Jagiellonian dynasty was established on the Czech throne. But they reigned only for a short time and the throne was passed to Habsburg dynasty. The centre of culture and politic moved from Prague to Vienna and we became a part of big Austria Empire. They oppressed Czech nation for almost 400 years. They tried to re-catholic and germanise; they also tried to liquidate Czech literature. Then the WWI began. Austria lost this war and it was split into five states. One of them was new established Czechoslovak Republic with our first president Tomáš Garigue Masaryk. This state was destroyed by the German occupation and it appeared again after WWII. But the power was taken over by the communists directed by the Soviet Union. In 1968 the Czechoslovakia was oppressed by the invasion of the Soviet army and the “normalisation” lasted about another 20 years till the “velvet revolution” in 1989. The following development led to the splitting of the republic and in 1993 two new states appeared - the Czech republic and the Slovak Republic. Our president is Václav Klaus who came after Václav Havel.

Economy and industry:

The most important part of our economy is engineering (machine tools, locomotives, tractors, and agricultural machines). Other important branches are metallurgical and chemical industries and tourism, textile and glass industries have a long tradition. One of our most significant raw materials 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. Because of intensive mining are these regions the most polluted ones in Czech Republic. The supplies of brown coal or lignite can be found in the Nort Bohemia Coal Basin and in Western Bohemia in the Sokolov Basin. We also hove minor supplies of iron ore, uranium and oil. Our rich deposits of kaolin and clay are important for the ceramics and glass industries as well as limestone for the building industry. Also agriculture in our republic is developed enough. The most fertile soil is in the South Moravia. Them main items grown there are wheat, sugar-beet, maize, grapes, hops and fruits. In animal production are the most important cattle-breeding and pig-breeding. Fish-breeding, especially carp-breeding can be found in South Bohemia, in the region called Třeboňsko. Bohemia and Moravia are quite rich in mineral springs and spas (Karlovy Vary, Mariánské lázně, Františkovy lázně, Poděbrady, Luhačovice,…).

The Czech cities:

The largest and capital city is Prague (1,2 million inhabitants), second largest is Brno, Karlovy Vary is the biggest and most famous of our spa towns. In 1522 a medical description of the springs and by the end of the 16^th century over 200 buildings had been built. By the 19^th century Karlovy Vary had become very well-known in central Europe and many famous people of that time visited it. There actually 12 different springs here. The best known is Vřídlo (Thermal spring) and at 72°C is the hottest. There are many buildings in different styles especially churches, because Vary were visited by many strangers, which had different religion. Other large cities are Ostrava, Plzeň, Olomouc, České Budějovice.

Places of interest

There are many spots of great natural beauty in Czech Republic, as well as areas totally spoiled by industries. South Bohemia is particularly rich in pond. The most beautiful natural places are Czech Paradise, “rock town” in Prachov rocks, the Děčín walls, Czech Switzerland, the Boubín virgin forests, Macocha abyss and so on. We have also some protected areas, some of them are really very nice (for example one of the protected are is the region near river Dyje), and National parks.

In my opinion the most spectacular and famous for visited are places, which belong to special UNICEF fond. There are the worth seeing, often very old and - in its category - quite extraordinary places and objects such as: the historical centre of Prague, the historical centre of Moravian towns Telč and Slavonice, the Chapel of St. John Nepomuck on Zelená Hora near Žďár-upon-Sázava and the natural reservation Pálava in southern Moravia.

Tourists can walk around preserved old castles or ruins such as Karlštejn, Křivoklát, Konopiště, Zvíkov, Lednice, Hluboká and many others. Worth seeing are also the old Czech monasteries and sacred buildings - e.g. the Monastery in Zlatá Koruna or the Monastery in Vyšší Brod in the southern Bohemia.

In the Czech Republic there are many famous and world-known spas too - e.g. Carlsbad, Marienbad in Western Bohemia or Luhačovice in Moravia.

Almost every city and town has its own historical centre and every Czech village in the countryside has its church or chapel built mainly in baroque style.

Important days:

8^th May - Liberation from Fascism Day

5^th July - Arrival of Slavonic Missionaries C + M (863)

6^th July - Jan Huss Burned to Death (1415)

28^th October - Czechoslovak Independent Day

State symbols:

• Large state emblem of the Czech Republic - coat of arms divided into quarters, of which the first and the fourth red part shows a silver, two-tailed lion with a golden crown and golden harness. The other two parts consist of a silver-and-red-chequered eagle with a silver crescent with clover trefoil on a blue filed and in the middle part there is the same eagle with a cross, golden crown and red harness.

• Small state emblem - red coat of arms with a silver, two-tailed lion rampant with golden crown and golden harness. State official colours of the Czech Republic - white, red and blue in the order.

• The state flag consists of an upper white stripe, a lower red stripe and a blue triangular part half of the flag's length in between the two stripes.

• The official state seal consists of the large state emblem with linden leaves on the sides surrounded by a banner.

• State anthem - the fist verse of a song composed by František Škroup for J. K. Tyl's libretto „Kde domov můj“ (Where My Homeland Is).

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