Over the map of Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is situated in Central Europe. It is said that it lies in the heart of Europe. The Czech Republic is an inland country. It's area is about 79.000 square kilometres. It is located in the temperate climatic zone.
Our republic has four neighbours. In the north it borders on Poland and in the south on Austria. The shortest border is with Slovakia in the east and the longest with Germany in the west.
The Czech Republic has a population of about 10,3 million inhabitans. It consists of three parts - Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. The main ethnic groups are Czechs, Moravians and Silesians. But there are also different national minorities in our republic like Slovaks, Poles, Germans, Hungarians and Gipsies. The capital city is Prague. The population of Prague is about one million two hundred inhabitans.
The borders of our republic are formed by mountain ranges. The western border is formed by the Krušné Mountains with the highest peak Klínovec. In the Šumava Mountains in the south we can find lots of swamps and two glacial lakes - Černé and Čertovo. The Šumava Mountains are known for its virgin forest (Boubín). The Giant Mountains are the highest mountains in the Czech Republic. The highest peak, Sněžka reaches a height of 1602 metres.
The Jizerské Mountains and the Orlické Mountains form the border with Poland. On the border with Slovakia we can find other mountain ranges, for example Beskydy, Hrubý Jeseník and the Little Carpathians. Except mountains there are lots of beautiful natural places like the Czech Paradise, Prachov Rocks, Koněprusy caves, Macocha abyss in Moravian Karst, etc.
The Czech Republic is popular with tourists, because it is a beautiful country. Czech nature offers tourists a lot of interesting places, but there are also beautiful historic towns in our republic like Kutná Hora, Tábor, Telč, etc.
Visitors to our republic can visit old castles, such as Karlštejn, Křivoklát, Bezděz, Hluboká, etc. We do not have the sea, but we have many navigable rivers. The longest rivers are Vltava, Labe, Odra and Morava. Several dams have been built, for example on the river Vltava are these Lipno, Orlík and Slapy. These dams are used for the production of electricity, but also for recreation. South Bohemia is known for its large and numerous lakes (ponds). The largest pond is Rožmberk. We have a large number of baths. Baths services have a long tradition. They are visited by people from our country and from abroad. The most famous baths are Karlovy Vary, Františkovy Lázně, Mariánské Lázně, Luhačovice, etc.
The largest city in the Czech Republic is the capital Prague. Other big cities are Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň, Liberec, Hradec Králové, Ústí nad Labem, etc.
Our country is rich in minerals, especially black and brown coal. The main industrial area is located in the northern part of the country, but industry developed in the south and in the east as well. There are a lot of industrial cities and towns here. To produce energy, thermal power stations, hydroelectric power plants and nuclear power plants are used.
Other industries include metallurgy (Ostrava, Kladno) engineering (Brno, Prague), chemical industry, building industry, food industry and others. Czech beer brewing in Plzeň and wine making in South Moravia have a long tradition too. Textile and glass industries are important for export.
The lowlands are important for agriculture, because the land is very fertile here. In the lowlands sugar beet, fruits and vegetables are grown. In the more elevated areas barley and wheat are grown. In the highlands mainly potatoes, rye and oats are grown. As to the animal production cattle-breeding and pigbreeding are the most important. Fish breeding, especially carp-breeding has a long tradition in South Bohemia lakes.
The head of state of the Czech Republic is the President. He is elected for a five-year term. Nowaday the present president is Václav Havel. He was elected by the Czech National Council as the President of the Czech Republic in 1993, after Czechoslovakia split into two countries - the Czech and the Slovak Republic. Both countries adopted new constitutions.
The country is governed by the Parliament and the Government. The Prime Minister is the head of the Government. The Parliament is the supreme law-making body and the Government is the executive organ. The official language is Czech.
The state flag consists of two horizontal stripes (white and red) and a blue wedge. The national anthem is "Kde domov můj?". The music is composed by František Škroup and the lyrics is written by J.K. Tyl. The monetary unit is the Czech crown. The crown consosts of 100 hellers.