Czech Republic

Czech Republic Population and cities

Population

Population

According to Countryaah website, the Czech Republic has about 10.5 million residents.

Ethnic composition

The majority of the population consists of Czechs (90.1%) and Moravia (3.7%), followed by Slovaks (1.8%), Poles (0.5%), Germans (0.4%) as well as members of other nationalities such as Vietnamese and Ukrainians (1%).

In the 2000 census, 11,716 people stated to be Roma. Official estimates, however, assume around 200,000 to 300,000 Roma (around 2 - 3% of the population) who immigrated mainly from Slovakia.

Religious affiliation

As of 1950 there were no official statistics on the religious composition of the population.

It was not until 2000 that the question of religion was included again in the census. According to this, almost 60% of the population describe themselves as atheists, approx. 32% stated to be religious.

The largest church in the Czech Republic is the Roman Catholic Church, with about 2.7 million believers.

About 240,000 believers profess Protestantism, which is represented in the Czech Republic by the Evangelical Church of the Bohemian Brothers and the Czechoslovak Hussist Church.

The Orthodox Church with around 20,000 members and Judaism with 3,000 members (mainly in Prague) also have a long history in the Czech Republic.

National language

The official language is Czech, one of the oldest languages in Europe. Closely related to it is the Slovak language, which was also the official language before the two countries separated. The Polish, Ukrainian and Hungarian languages spoken by the minorities living in the Czech Republic are also important. As a tourist, you get along very well with English - which is spoken by the younger generation with preference - and with German - which the older generation in particular speaks.

Capital and other cities

The capital of the Czech Republic is Prague (Praha) with around 1.2 million residents.

Other larger cities are:

Brno (Brno) with around 379,000 residents,

Ostrau (Ostrava) with around 319,000 residents,

Pilsen (Plzen) with around 166,000 residents

Olomouc (Olomouc) with around 103,000 residents

Reichenberg (Liberec) with around 100,000 residents.

Česky Krumlov

Telč

Czech Republic: geography

National borders

The Czech Republic borders four countries:

• Poland with a length of 762 km,
• Austria with a length of 466 km,
• Germany with a length of around 810 km,
• the Slovakia m in length 252nd

General

Defined by DigoPaul, the Czech Republic is a landlocked country with no access to a sea. The country consists of Bohemia in the east and Moravia and Silesia in the west. Due to its peripheral mountains, it has a topographically clear structure: It consists of several basin landscapes of the Bohemian Massif, which are surrounded or divided by mountains. That is why they say in Upper Austria, for example, "I'm going into Bohemia" - and not across.

The Bohemian Forest (Czech: Šumava) lies on the south-west border of the Czech Republic, and the Ore Mountains in the north-west. To the southeast of the Ore Mountains, the Bohemian Central Mountains spread out on both sides of the Elbe. The highest mountain range in the country is the Giant Mountains in the north.

Bohemia and Moravia are separated from each other by the low Bohemian-Moravian Altitude (600 to 800 m). Moravia has shares in the Subcarpathian Mountains in the east and in the Vienna Basin in the south. Its eastern border with the Slovak Republic is formed by the Beskyden and White Carpathians, the southern border with Lower Austria is formed by the Thaya River.

Area and land use

The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 km².

Thereof:

• Forest

  Around 34% of the country is forested. Some of the forests are badly damaged by the environment, as a result of which logging has suffered severe losses in the past.

• Meadows and pastures

  The agricultural area covers around 5 million hectares = 50,000 km². About 20% of this is used as meadow or pasture land.

• Arable land and fields

  Of the approximately 5 million hectares of agricultural land, 75% is used as arable land or fields. Mainly grain is grown, especially wheat, brewing and feed barley and maize. Sugar beet, rapeseed, flax, hops, wine and vegetables are also grown.

• Wetlands

  There are several smaller swamps in the Bohemian Forest.

• Mountains

  Around 11.5% of the country is taken up by mountains. 4.5% of the area is flat, with hills (around 50%) and mountainous areas (34%) in between.

National borders

The Czech Republic borders four countries:

• Poland with a length of 762 km,
• Austria with a length of 466 km,
• Germany with a length of around 810 km,
• the Slovakia m in length 252nd

Longitude and latitude

The Czech Republic extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal time

In the Czech Republic, Central European Time (CET) applies without summer time, i.e. the same time as in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in Prague

Prague lies at a northern latitude of around φ = 50 °.

If the sun is at the tropic, i.e. at δ = 23.5 °, summer begins in Prague on June 21. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

50 ° = (90 ° - h) + 23.5 °

so:

This is the highest level above the horizon that the sun has in Prague during the year.

mountains

Schneekoppe

The highest mountain in the Czech Republic is Schneekoppe in the Giant Mountains with a height of 1,602 m. This is where the Elbe originated.

Other high mountains:

• Plechý (dt. Plöckenstein) in the Bohemian Forest with a height of 1,378 m
• Klínovec (German Wedge Mountain) in the Ore Mountains with a height of 1,244 m
• Lysá hora (dt. Kahlberg) in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids with an altitude of 1,325 m
• Jedlová (German Tannenberg) in the Lusatian Mountains with an altitude of 774 m

Rivers

Thanks to the main European watershed, which is located on the territory of the Czech Republic, it is also known as the roof of Europe: While the Bohemian waters flow into the Elbe and with it into the North Sea, Moravian waters mainly flow into and into the Black Sea via the Danube a smaller part over the Oder into the Baltic Sea.

Although the largest amount of water is discharged through the Elbe, the Vltava is the longest river that only flows in the Czech Republic. Most of the numerous dams and dams in the country are located in its course, for example the Stechovice dam with the greatest difference in altitude of 19.6 m or the Orlicka damwith the largest amount of water of 720 million m³. The Czech record for the largest flooded area is held by the Lipno dam in the south of the Czech Republic, which with its 4,870 ha = 48.7 km² water surface is also one of the most popular sports and recreational areas. The division of the Czech waters by the watershed prevents effective inland waterway traffic. Only the Vltava and Elbe can be used in the Czech Republic by ships with a gross weight of 1,000 t. The smaller rivers are used all the more enthusiastically by water sports enthusiasts. There is a suitable infrastructure for renting boats (canoes, rafts and kayaks, including a pick-up service) and at camping sites.

Vltava

The longest river in the country is the Vltava with a length of around 440 km. It rises from

other rivers:

Elbe

The Elbe flows through the Czech Republic and Germany and has a total length of 1,144 km. It arises. On her way to the North Sea she read through the following cities. Its mouth is near Cuxhafen, where it flows into the North Sea.

Some other larger rivers in the Czech Republic are

• March with a length of 358 km
• Thaya with a length of 285 km
• Iser with a length of 170 km
• Eger with a length of 291 km

Lakes

Schwarzsee

There are only a few natural lakes in the Czech Republic. The largest natural lake is the Schwarzsee (Cerne jezero) with an area of 18.47 ha = 0.18 km².

Lipno Reservoir

The largest reservoir in the Czech Republic is the Lipno Reservoir (also called the Bohemian Sea) with an area of around 49 km². A Czech specialty are the numerous ponds, which are indispensable for fishing, sport and recreation. The south alone has more than 5,000 ponds, including the largest in the country with 489 hectares, the Rozmberk. A popular bathing place is the Machovo jezero with an area of 295 ha = 29.5 km².

Mineral springs

There are numerous mineral springs in the Czech Republic. The former Czechoslovakia had 3,000 springs, spread over 176 spring areas with an estimated 30 million m³ of water per year. The most famous are the springs of Karlovy Vary (about 2,000 l/min). For therapeutic purposes, springs with hot gases and healing peat are used, such as the healing spring in Marianske Lazne (Marienbad).