1) CZECH REPUBLIC - History & Famous personalities

A) History
 4th century B.C. – Celts, The Celtic Boii tribe (=kmen Bójů) – gave the country its name Bohemia (=Čechy)
 Celtic were late replaced with the Germanic tribe (100 A.D.)
 7th century – SLAVONIC PEOPLE- first Slavonic state = SAMO’S EMPIRE –623 - the Frankish merchant (=kupec)
Samo became the ruler (=vládce) of Slavonic (=slovanský) state
 year 833 – was created GREAT MORAVIA EMPIRE
 year 863 – the Byzantine Christian missionaries Constantin and Methodius came to Moravia – introduced
SLAVIC LITURGY
 (Roman Catholic Church (= katolická církev) expanded and became decisive in the course of the history of
Bohemia and Moravia)
 9th century – dynasty of Přemyslovid – 1306 died out by the sword
 Year 950 – Germans overshowed and Bohemia became part of the HOLY ROMAN EMIRE (=sv. Říše římská)
 14th century – Golden age to our country – Bohemia = famous and rich, Charles IV. 1355 became emperor
(=císař) od Holy roman empire
 15th century – the Hussite Movements (John hus, John Žižka)
 19th century -Czech industry (=průmysl) grew up – the textile, sugar, iron(=železo) industry
 1914 -1918 = Worl War I. – the defeat of Austria – Hungary = foundation of an independent state of
CZECHOSLOVAKIA – October 28, 1918 – first president T.G.M.
 1939 – MUNICH CONFERENCE (THE MUNICH AGREEMENT= MNICHOVSKÁ DOHODA) (GB, FR.,IT ,CZK – but
without the presence agreed to sacrifice the state Czechoslovakia and allowed A. hitler’s Germany to annex
certain parts of the country
 1939- 1945 – WORLD WAR II. – during this war Czech was was occupied by the Germans
 1968 – THE PRAGUE SPRING
 1989 - THE VELVET REVOLUTION – Czechoslovakia was ruled (=Byla vladnuta) by the COMMUNIST PARTY,
during the era of Communist Party rule. Thousand od Czechoslovaks faced political persecution (= čelit polit.
Pronásledování), and some were even tortured (= mučit) to death
 November 17, 1989 – the end of communism – country became a parliamentary republic - freedom
 January 1, 1993 – Czechoslovakia was peacefully SPLITED into two independent states: Czech and Slovak
republic – Our first president = Václav Havel
 Czech Republic joined OECD (1994), NATO (1999) and EU (2004)

Further = dále
Tribe = kmen
Split into = rozdělit se
B) Famous personalities

 CHARLES IV. = one of the most important rulers of the country, he made Prague the imperial capital, encouraged new
construction in the city – Charles bridge and in 1348 established Charles University (one of the oldest universities in
Europe)
 T.G.M. = first president of Czechoslovakia, supported democratic policies during WWI, philosopher, sociologist
 VÁCLAV HAVEL = first president of Czech republic
 BEDŘICH SMETANA = nationalist composter, is well-known for his symphonic poem Vltava (The Moldau) from the cycle
My Country
 JAROMÍR JÁGR = has second most points in NHL (national hockey league), after Gretsky
 KAREL ČAPEK = writer, known for introducing he word ROBOT in his play r.u.r.
 MARTINA NAVRÁTILOVÁ = world-famous tennis player
 ESTER LEDECKÁ = is professional Czech snowboarder, 2018 in winter Olympic games in Pyeongchang WON TWO GOLD
MEDALS IN snowboarding and in skiing = first person who win two medals at the same winter Olympic games
 2)The Czech Republic – Places of Interest, GEOGRAPHY

 CR lies in Central Europe (it’ s called heart of Europe)

 Population of 10,3 milion
 Four neighbour states: Poland, Germany, Slovakia, Austria
 The country consists of three main regions: Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia(=SLEZKO)
 Doesn’t have any seacoast
 River: Elbe- largest and leads/flowing into the North sea and has source in Giant mountains(=Krkonoše) ,most important
tributary (=přítok) of Elbe is Vltava(Moldau), the Oder, the Morava
 Huge dams (=přehrady) have been built on Vltava, fot exemple Lipno, Orlík or Slapy
 CR has two large lakes Černé and Čertovo in the Šumava mountains
 The terrain of our country is rather hilly – Šumava range, the Czech forest, the Jizerské mountains, the Eagle mountains,
the Giant mountains, jeseníky, Beskydy
 Climate: is mostly continental, the warmest area being in South Moravia
 The highest peakis Sněžka – 1602 m. in the Giant mountains
 Raw materials – coal(úhlí) … black coalis founs mainly in the Ostrava but also in Kladno
 Industry: brewery industry, textile industry, glass industry
 Much of the area is protected as a national reserve
 Steams- potoky, gorge – rokle, privemal forest – prales, swamp – bažina, karst caves (kras. Jeskyně) – Koněprusy caves,
moravian karst,
 The historical centre of česky krumlov, kutná hora – silver mining, castle karlštejn close to city beroun and this castlis
famous as a treasury for the crown jewels, gothic křivoklat castle,