Czech Republic
Template:PAGEBANNER:Myslivny bozi dar lake banner.jpg Water reservoir near Myslivny in the Ore Mountains.
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The 
Czech Republic (/ˈtʃɛk 
listen);[9] Template:Lang-cs [ˈtʃɛskaː ˈrɛpublɪka] ( listen)),[10] also known by its short-form name, Czechia[11] (/ˈtʃɛkiə/ ( listen); in Czech: Česko [ˈtʃɛsko] ( listen)), is a landlocked country in Central Europe bordered by 
Germany to the west, 
Austria to the south, 
Slovakia to the east and 
Poland to the northeast.[12] The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres (30,450 sq mi) with a mostly temperate continental climate and oceanic climate. It is a unitary parliamentary republic; its capital and largest city is Prague, with 1.3 million residents. Other major cities are Brno, Ostrava and Pilsen. The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union (EU), NATO, the OECD, the United Nations, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe.
It is a developed country[13] with an advanced,[14] high income[15] export-oriented social market economy based in services, manufacturing and innovation. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development.[16] The Czech Republic is a welfare state with a "continental" European social model, a universal health care system, tuition-free university education an is ranked 14th in the Human Capital Index.[17] It ranks as the 6th safest or most peaceful country and is one of the most non-religious countries in the world,[18] while achieving strong performance in democratic governance.
The Czech Republic includes the historical territories of Bohemia,[19] Moravia, and Czech Silesia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire. After the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire,[20][21] becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Besides Bohemia itself, the king of Bohemia ruled the lands of the Bohemian Crown, he had a vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor, and Prague was the imperial seat in periods between the 14th and 17th century. In the Hussite Wars of the 15th century driven by the Protestant Bohemian Reformation, the kingdom faced economic embargoes and defeated five consecutive crusades proclaimed by the leaders of the Catholic Church.
Contents
Geography[edit]
The Czech Republic lies mostly between latitudes 48° and 51° N (a small area lies north of 51°), and longitudes 12° and 19° E.
The Czech landscape is exceedingly varied. Bohemia, to the west, consists of a basin drained by the Elbe (Template:Lang-cs) and the Vltava rivers, surrounded by mostly low mountains, such as the Krkonoše range of the Sudetes. The highest point in the country, Sněžka at 1,603 m (5,259 ft), is located here. Moravia, the eastern part of the country, is also quite hilly. It is drained mainly by the Morava River, but it also contains the source of the Oder River (Template:Lang-cs).
Water from the landlocked Czech Republic flows to three different seas: the North Sea, Baltic Sea and Black Sea. The Czech Republic also leases the Moldauhafen, a 30,000-square-metre (7.4-acre) lot in the middle of the Hamburg Docks, which was awarded to Czechoslovakia by Article 363 of the Treaty of Versailles, to allow the landlocked country a place where goods transported down river could be transferred to seagoing ships. The territory reverts to Germany in 2028.
Phytogeographically, the Czech Republic belongs to the Central European province of the Circumboreal Region, within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the territory of the Czech Republic can be subdivided into four ecoregions: the Western European broadleaf forests, Central European mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, and Carpathian montane conifer forests.
There are four national parks in the Czech Republic. The oldest is Krkonoše National Park (Biosphere Reserve), and the others are Šumava National Park (Biosphere Reserve), Podyjí National Park, Bohemian Switzerland.
The three historical lands of the Czech Republic (formerly the core countries of the Bohemian Crown) correspond almost perfectly with the river basins of the Elbe (Template:Lang-cs) and the Vltava basin for Bohemia, the Morava one for Moravia, and the Oder river basin for Czech Silesia (in terms of the Czech territory).
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Climate[edit]
The Czech Republic mostly has a temperate oceanic climate, with warm summers and cold, cloudy and snowy winters. The temperature difference between summer and winter is relatively high, due to the landlocked geographical position.[22]
Within the Czech Republic, temperatures vary greatly, depending on the elevation. In general, at higher altitudes, the temperatures decrease and precipitation increases. The wettest area in the Czech Republic is found around Bílý Potok in Jizera Mountains and the driest region is the Louny District to the northwest of Prague. Another important factor is the distribution of the mountains; therefore, the climate is quite varied.
At the highest peak of Sněžka (1,603 m or 5,259 ft), the average temperature is only −0.4 °C (31 °F), whereas in the lowlands of the South Moravian Region, the average temperature is as high as 10 °C (50 °F). The country's capital, Prague, has a similar average temperature, although this is influenced by urban factors.
The coldest month is usually January, followed by February and December. During these months, there is usually snow in the mountains and sometimes in the major cities and lowlands. During March, April and May, the temperature usually increases rapidly, especially during April, when the temperature and weather tends to vary widely during the day. Spring is also characterized by high water levels in the rivers, due to melting snow with occasional flooding.
The warmest month of the year is July, followed by August and June. On average, summer temperatures are about 20 °C (36 °F) – 30 °C (54 °F) higher than during winter. Summer is also characterized by rain and storms.
Autumn generally begins in September, which is still relatively warm and dry. During October, temperatures usually fall below 15 °C (59 °F) or 10 °C (50 °F) and deciduous trees begin to shed their leaves. By the end of November, temperatures usually range around the freezing point.
The coldest temperature ever measured was in Litvínovice near České Budějovice in 1929, at −42.2 °C (−44.0 °F) and the hottest measured, was at 40.4 °C (104.7 °F) in Dobřichovice in 2012.[23]
Most rain falls during the summer. Sporadic rainfall is relatively constant throughout the year (in Prague, the average number of days per month experiencing at least 0.1 mm of rain varies from 12 in September and October to 16 in November) but concentrated heavy rainfall (days with more than 10 mm per day) are more frequent in the months of May to August (average around two such days per month).[24]
Environment[edit]
The Czech Republic ranks as the 27th most environmentally conscious country in the world in Environmental Performance Index.[25] The Czech Republic has four National Parks (Šumava National Park, Krkonoše National Park, České Švýcarsko National Park, Podyjí National Park) and 25 Protected Landscape Areas.
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Science[edit]
The Czech lands have a long and rich scientific tradition. The research based on cooperation between universities, Academy of Sciences and specialised research centers brings new inventions and impulses in this area. Important inventions include the modern contact lens, the separation of modern blood types, and the production of Semtex plastic explosive.
Science and technology[edit]
Famous scientists who were born on the territory of the current Czech Republic:
- Friedrich von Berchtold (1781–1876), botanist, an avid worker for Czech national revival.
- Wenceslas Bojer (1795–1856), naturalist and botanist.
- Ignaz von Born (1742–1791), mineralogist and metallurgist, one of founders of the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences.
- Stanislav Brebera (1925–2012), inventor of the plastic explosive Semtex in 1966.[26]
- Josef Čapek (1887–1945) and Karel Čapek (1890–1938), brothers who originated the word robot, for drama R.U.R.
- Eduard Čech (1893–1960), mathematician with significant contributions in topology.
- Václav Prokop Diviš (1698–1765), inventor of the first grounded lightning rod.
- Karel Domin (1882–1953), botanist, specialist in Australian taxonomy
- František Josef Gerstner (1756–1832), physicist and engineer, built the first iron works and the first steam engine in Czech lands.
- Gerty and Carl Cori – Nobel Prize laureates in Physiology or Medicine 1947.
- Kurt Gödel (1906–1978) logician and mathematician, who became famous for his two incompleteness theorems.
- Peter Grünberg (* 1939) Nobel Prize laureate in Physics 2007.
- Jaroslav Heyrovský (1890–1967), inventor of polarography, electroanalytical chemistry and recipient of the Nobel Prize.[27]
- Josef Hlavka (15 February 1831 – 11 March 1908), was a Czech architect, builder, philanthropist and founder of the oldest Czech foundation for sciences and arts.
- Antonín Holý (1936–2012), scientist and chemist, in 2009 was involved in creation of the most effective drug in the treatment of AIDS.[28]
- Jakub Husník (1837–1916), improved the process of photolithography.
- Jan Janský (1873–1921), serologist and neurologist, discovered the ABO blood groups.
- Georg Joseph Kamel (1661–1706), Czech Jesuit, pharmacist and naturalist known for producing first comprehensive accounts of the Philippine flora; genus of flowering plants Camellia is named in his honour.
- Karel Klíč (1841–1926), painter and photographer, inventor of the photogravure.
- František Křižík (1847–1941), electrical engineer, inventor of the arc lamp.
- Julius Vincenz von Krombholz (1782–1843), biologist, founder of the great tradition of Czech mycology.* Johann Josef Loschmidt (1821–1895), chemist, performed ground-breaking work in crystal forms.
- Ernst Mach (1838–1916) physicist and critic of Newton's theories of space and time, foreshadowing Einstein's theory of relativity.
- Jan Marek Marci (1595–1667), mathematician, physicist and imperial physician, one of the founders of spectroscopy.[29]
- Christian Mayer (1719–1783), astronomer, pioneer in the study of binary stars.
- Gregor Mendel (1822–1884), often called the "father of genetics", is famed for his research concerning the inheritance of genetic traits.[27]
- Johann Palisa (1848–1925), astronomer who discovered 122 asteroids
- Ferdinand Porsche (1875–1951), automotive designer.
- Carl Borivoj Presl (1794–1852) and Jan Svatopluk Presl (1791–1849), brothers, both prominent botanists.
- Jan Evangelista Purkyně (1787–1869), anatomist and physiologist responsible for the discovery of Purkinje cells, Purkinje fibres and sweat glands, as well as Purkinje images and the Purkinje shift.
- Jakub Kryštof Rad (1799–1871), inventor of sugar cubes.
- Vladimír Remek was the first person outside of the Soviet Union and the United States to go into space (in March 1978).
- Josef Ressel (1793–1857), inventor of the screw propeller and modern compass.[27]
- Carl von Rokitansky (1804–1878), Joseph Škoda (1805–1881) and Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra (1816–1880), Czech doctors and founders of the Modern Medical School of Vienna.
- Heinrich Wilhelm Schott (1794–1865), botanist well known for his extensive work on aroids.
- Alois Senefelder (1771–1834), inventor of lithographic printing.
- Zdenko Hans Skraup (1850–1910), chemist who discovered the Skraup reaction, the first quinoline synthesis.
- Kaspar Maria von Sternberg (1761–1838), mineralogist, founder of the Bohemian National Museum in Prague.
- Ferdinand Stoliczka (1838–1874), palaeontologist who died of high altitude sickness during an expedition across the Himalayas.
- Karl von Terzaghi (1883–1963), geologist known as the "father of soil mechanics".
- Hans Tropsch (1889–1935), chemist responsible for the development of the Fischer-Tropsch process.
- Otto Wichterle (1913–1998) and Drahoslav Lím (1925–2003), Czech chemists responsible for the invention of the modern contact lens and silon (synthetic fiber).[30]
- Johannes Widmann (1460–1498), mathematician, inventor of the + and − symbols.
A number of other scientists are also connected in some way with the Czech lands. The following taught at the University of Prague: astronomers Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe, physicists Christian Doppler, Nikola Tesla, and Albert Einstein, and geologist Joachim Barrande.
Music[edit]
The musical tradition of the Czech lands arose from first church hymns, whose first evidence is suggested at the break of 10th and 11th century. The first significant pieces of Czech music include two chorales, which in their time performed the function of anthems: "Hospodine pomiluj ny" (Lord, Have Mercy on Us) from around 1050, unmistakably the oldest and most faithfully preserved popular spiritual song to have survived to the present, and the hymn "Svatý Václave" (Saint Wenceslas) or "Saint Wenceslas Chorale" from around 1250.[31] Its roots can be found in the 12th century and it still belongs to the most popular religious songs to this day. In 1918, in the beginning of the Czechoslovak state, the song was discussed as one of the possible choices for the national anthem. The authorship of the anthem "Lord, Have Mercy on Us" is ascribed by some historians to Saint Adalbert of Prague (sv.Vojtěch), bishop of Prague, living between 956 and 997.[32]
The wealth of musical culture in the Czech Republic lies in the long-term high-culture classical music tradition during all historical periods, especially in the Baroque, Classicism, Romantic, modern classical music and in the traditional folk music of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Since the early era of artificial music, Czech musicians and composers have often been influenced the folk music of the region and dances (e.g. the polka, which originated in Bohemia). Among the most notable Czech composers are Adam Michna, Jan Dismas Zelenka, Jan Václav Antonín Stamic, Jiří Antonín Benda, Jan Křtitel Vaňhal, Josef Mysliveček, Heinrich Biber, Antonín Rejcha, František Xaver Richter, František Brixi and Jan Ladislav Dussek in baroque era, Bedřich Smetana and Antonín Dvořák in romanticism, Gustav Mahler, Josef Suk, Leoš Janáček, Bohuslav Martinů, Vítězslav Novák, Zdeněk Fibich, Alois Hába, Viktor Ullmann, Ervín Schulhoff, Pavel Haas, Josef Bohuslav Foerster in modern classical music, Miloslav Kabeláč and Petr Eben in contemporary classical music.
Other examples of famous musicians, interpreters and conductors are František Benda, Rafael Kubelík, Jan Kubelík, David Popper, Alice Herz-Sommer, Rudolf Serkin, Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, Otakar Ševčík, Václav Neumann, Václav Talich, Karel Ančerl, Jiří Bělohlávek, Wojciech Żywny, Emma Destinnová, Magdalena Kožená, Rudolf Firkušný, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Panocha Quartet or non-classical musicians: Julius Fučík (brass band), Karel Svoboda and Erich Wolfgang Korngold (film music), Ralph Benatzky, Rudolf Friml and Oskar Nedbal (operetta), Jan Hammer and Karel Gott (pop), Jaroslav Ježek and Miroslav Vitouš (jazz), Karel Kryl (folk).
Czech music can be considered to have been beneficial in both the European and worldwide context, several times co-determined or even determined a newly arriving era in musical art,[33] above all of Classical era, as well as by original attitudes in Baroque, Romantic and modern classical music. The most famous Czech musical works are Smetana’s The Bartered Bride and Má vlast, Dvořák’s New World Symphony, Rusalka and Slavonic Dances or Janáček’s Sinfonietta and operas, above all Jenůfa.
The most famous music festival in the country is Prague Spring International Music Festival of classical music, a permanent showcase for outstanding performing artists, symphony orchestras and chamber music ensembles of the world.
References[edit]
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ https://www.czso.cz/documents/10180/20551765/170223-14.pdf
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedCzech Statistical Office - ↑ Census of Population and Housing 2011: Basic final results. Czech Statistical Office Archived 29 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved on 19 December 2012.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Country and Lending Groups. World Bank. Accessed on 3 July 2014.
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2019
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedGlobal Index of Religion and Atheism - ↑ There is no distinction in the Czech language between adjectives referring to Bohemia and to the Czech Republic; i.e. český means both Bohemian and Czech.
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ R. Tolasz, Climate Atlas of the Czech Republic, Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Prague, 2007. ISBN 80-244-1626-3, graphs 1.5 and 1.6
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ R. Tolasz, Climate Atlas of the Czech Republic, Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Prague, 2007. ISBN 80-244-1626-3, graph 2.9.
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).. Czech.cz. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 637: attempt to concatenate local 'chapter' (a table value).
- ↑ The History of Contact Lenses Archived 29 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine.. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
- ↑ The chronicles of Beneš Krabice of Veitmil – the hymn "Svatý Václave" mentioned there as old and well-known in the end of the 13th century [1]
- ↑ Dějiny české hudby v obrazech (History of Czech music in pictures); in Czech
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1 at line 379: attempt to call method 'match' (a nil value).
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