Czech republic – economy, geography, beauty spots
Geography
The Czech Republic is a small country in Central Europe and that’s why we call it „the heart of Europe“. It has a population of about 10 million inhabitants and occupies an area of about 79000sq km.
The CR consists of three parts: Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. Our republic has four neighbours – Germany on the west, Poland on the north, Slovakia on the east and Austria on the south.
From all the sides except the south of Moravia the country is protected by mountains: the Giant Mountains (Krkonoše) on the north, the Eagle Mountains (Orlické) and the Jeseník Mountains on the north-east, the Moravian-Silesian Beskids and the White Karpats on the south-east, the Šumava and the Bohemian Forest on the south and south-west and finally the Ore Mountains (Krušné) on the north-west, which are quite destroyed with the acid rains. Natural border between Moravia and Bohemia are made by Bohemian-Moravian Highland. Other – it means central – parts of the CR are composed by many hills, plains, flats etc. The highest Czech Mountain is Sněžka in the Giant Mountains.
The longest rivers is the Vltava, which flows from the Šumava mountains and there were built cascades of dams on the Vltava River. We use this dams to made the electricity and it’s a popular place to bath (Lipno, Orlík, Slapy) The CR hasn’t any seas but one well-known river the Elbe flows from Eastern Bohemia through Germany to the North Sea. Other important rivers are Jizera, Ohře, Svitava, Svratka, Dyje, Morava and Oder.
There isn’t many lakes in our republic (e.g. the Black Lake or the Devil Lake in the Šumava) but there are the ponds in the South Bohemia near Třeboň .The biggest one is the Rožmberk. The ponds are used for breeding fish. The well-known place is also Mácha’s lake which is actually a pond and we can find it in the south near the town Česká Lípa. Bohemia and Moravia are quite rich in mineral springs and spas – Karlovy Vary, Mariánské Lázně, Františkovy Lázně, Poděbrady, Luhačovice, etc.
There are three National Parks in the CR – Šumava, Krkonoše and Podyjí – and many Nature Reservations where grow the rare flowers and live the rare animals.
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.
Population
The major nationalities living here are Czech and Moravian, but there are minority groups such as the Silesians, the Slovaks, the Romes, the Poles, the Germans, the Ukrainians and the Russians. The capital is Prague with its population about 1,2 million people.
Economy
The Czech economy, after more than 40 years under a state monopoly system, is trying to reconstruct into prosperous free market system. The most important part of our economy is engineering (cars, trams, locomotives, agriculture machines etc.). Other important branches are metallurgical and chemical industries and of course tourism. The CR is an industrial county with big reserves mainly in brown (but also in black) coal, but it haven’t got reserves of petroleum and natural gas as well as ore resources. Textile and glass industries have a long traditions as do cut glass, china and food productions.
The main items of our agriculture are wheat, maize, sugar-beat, grapes, hops and fruit. In animal production cattle-breeding and pig-beading are the most important but also fish-breading, especially capr-breeding, has a long tradition in Southern Bohemian in many ponds. The CR is world known in beer brewing. Bohemia and Moravia are quite rich in mineral springs and spas (Karlovy Vary, Mariánské lázně, Františkovy lázně, Poděbrady, Luhačovice,…). Zlín is the center of shoe indurstry. Znojmo is the center of wine district.
Beauty spots
There are many spots of great natural beauty in Czech Republic, as well as areas totally spoiled by industries. 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.
Amony the most beautiful places belong: the Czech Paradise, Czech Switzerland, rock town in Prachov rocks the Děčín walls the Boubín virgin forests, Koněprusy caves, Macocha abbys etc.
There is also a lot of old castles, such as Karlštejn, Křivoklát, Bezděz, Hluboká, Konopiště, Lednice, Zvíkov…
Among the most beautiful historic towns belong Prague, Kutná Hora, Tábor, Telč, Olomouc, Kroměříž…
- Říp – hill
- Mělník – confluence of rivers Vltava and Labe
- Pravčická brána – gate from rock
- Karlovy Vary – Carlsbad – wafer, international film festival, camp, Svatošské skály – In Loket you can find a famous rock formation Svatošské skály where you can climb or just go for a walk to Karlovy Vary. There’s a very nice nature and in the summer you can find here many people walking and riding bikes.
- Pardubice – famous horce-race, gingerbread
- America – late stone pit
- Karlštejn
- Písek – stone bridge
- Český Krumlov
- Olomouc – astronomical clock
- Terezín – concentration camp
- Bouzov – czech fairy tale movies
- Slapy – dam
- Rožnov pod Radhoštěm – open-air museum, statue Radegast
- Kutná Hora – silver mines, Cathedral of Barbara in Gothic style