Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a country of Central Europe. It is bordered in the North and in the East by the Poland, in the South-East by the Slovakia, in the South and in the West by the Austria and in the Ouest by the Germany. Its area is of 78 864 km². Its capital is Praha.

The Czech Republic is one of the two independent States, the other being the Slovakia, descended from the separation of the Czechoslovakia, the 1^st January 1993.

History

The Czech Republic is formed of the old provinces of Bohemia and of Moravia, parts of the Holy Roman-German Empire, then of the Austrian Empire from 1526 to 1918.

After the dismemberment of the Austria-Hungary Empire in the end of the World War I, the Czechs become independent within a country which equally includes the slovak regions of the Empire. But it disappears when the nazi germany annexes the Bohemia and the Moravia.

Reconstituded in 1945, the Czechoslovakia becomes a sphere of influence of the USSR during the Cold War. The communist régime is overthrown in November 1989 at the time of the "velvet revolution", which goes the Czech opponent Václav Havel (1936, -) to the presidency of the Czechoslovakian republic.

In July 1992, always opposited to economic and economic reforms to much brutal, the slovaks deputies voted, within their Parliament, in favour of the sovereignty of their Republic with 113 votes against 24. All along of the automn, the Czechs and the Slovaks discuss of the terms and conditions of their separation. In November 1992, the federal Parliament voted the dissolution of the federal Republic from the 31^st December 1992 on and the 1^st January 1993, the Czech Republic and the Slovakia became two independent States.

Geography

Extending on the historic regions of the Bohemia, of the Moravia and of the Silesia, the Czech Republic is divided in seven administrative regions :
              1 - Western Bohemia
              2 - Northern Bohemia
              3 - Central Bohemia
              4 - Southern Bohemia
              5 - Eastern Bohemia
              6 - Southern Moravia
              7 - Northern Moravia

Praha is the biggest town of the country. It is followed by Brno, industrial town of Southern Moravia which owns a long cultural tradition, and by Ostrava, principal town of the Northern Moravia, in the frontier with the Poland, in the heart of an important industrial conurbation.

The Czech Republic offers a relief relatively uneven and high : the essential of the territory has an altitude superior to 500 m and the country is truly surrounded by a whole of mountains from hercynian origin.

In the Noth West extend the Piedmont and Southern hillsides of the Metallifere Mountains, prolonged by the Elbsandst mountains, and marking the frontier with the Germany. These mountain masses are interrupted of basins and of plateaus, such the one of Dupov. In the South West, this frontier goes by the high lands of the Forest of Bohemia, the Šumava which includes a part of the mountain masses of the Bohemian forest. In the North of the country, the Giants Mountains form a part of the frontier with the Poland. The Eastern extremity of the Sudetes overlooks the czech part of the Silesia, closed by the Door of Moravia, where flows the Oder bound for the Polish territory. In the South East of the country, the recent frontier with the Slovakia follows the axle of the White Carpathians, forming themselves with the Little Carpathians the Western extremity of the vast circle segment drawn by the range of the Carpathians in Central and Eastern Europe.

Surrounded by these different mountain masses, the Bohemia Basin and the high lands of Bohemia and Moravia compose the central part of the country. The Bohemia is drained by the Elbe and its affluents, the Vltava and the Ohre. The low lands of Moravia, where flows the Morava, are in the East. The Elbe and the Oder permit a connection with the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The country counts others streams among which the Orava, the Luznice, the Jihlava, the Sázava and the Svratka.

Nature

The climate of the Czech Republic is temperate, of type continental with cold winters and warm summers. The average temperatures vary strongly according to the altitude and are between -2°C in January and 27°C in July. The annual precipitations, submissive to the accidents of the relief, are generally included between 450 and 1 030 mm for the highest regions.

The forests, which cover 36% of the country, are essentially composed of persistent leaves species. Among the deciduous trees, one finds the oak, the beech, the birch, the poplar and the willow.

The fauna includes stags, hares, pheasants and bears, put in peril by the pollution, all like the vegetation.

Politics

The country is member of many international organizations, which the United Nations, the UNESCO and the Concil of Europe, as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Bank for Reconstruction Development (EBRD). The Czech Republic has applied for the entry in the European Union in January 1996. The negociations have been opened in 1998. Member since the 1^st May 2004, the Czech Republic participates in the Visegrad group and in the Central European Initiative (CEI). The Czech leaders have signed the Partnership for Peace the 10^th February 1994 and wish join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as soon as possible.

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