The Czech borders are the oldest ones in the Europe. We border with Germany on the west with a nature border made by the Ore Mountains, the Czech Forest and Šumava range. The border with Poland is made by the Jizerské Mountains, the Giant Mountains the Eagle Mountains and the Jeseník Mountain range. The Dyje river makes the border with Austria and the border with Slovakia is made by the Morava river and White Karpat hills. The Czech Republic consists of three lands: Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia. A natural border between Moravia and Bohemia is made by the Bohemian-Moravian Highland. The biggest mountain in the Czech Republic is Sněžka (1612m) in the Giant Mountains and the longest river is the Vltava. Other important rivers are the Labe, Jizera, Ohře, Svitava, Svratka, Dyje, Morava and Oder. In southern Moravia fertile lowlands can be found. Our republic lies in the Temperate Zone. We haven’t a sea. The warmest areas are in Southern Moravia and the coldest areas are in the Giant Mountains. The average annual rainfall is about 600cm.

Population:
The biggest city is the capital, Prague and it has about one million inhabitants. The other big cities are Brno, Ostrava, Plzeň, České Budějovice, Hradec Králové. The major nationalities living here are Czech and Moravian, but there are also minority groups such as the Silesians, Romes, Poles, Germans, Ukrainians and Russians.

Economy and industry:
The most important part of our economy is engineering (machine tools, locomotives, tractors, and agricultural machines). Other important branches are metallurgical and chemical industries and tourism, textile and glass industries have a long tradition. One of our most significant raw materials is coal. Black coal and anthracite are to be found mainly in the Ostrava Coal Basin, but also in the area of Kladno and elsewhere. Because of intensive mining these regions are the most polluted ones in the Czech Republic. The supplies of brown coal or lignite can be found in the North Bohemia Coal Basin and in Western Bohemia in the Sokolov Basin. We also hove minor supplies of iron ore, uranium and oil. Our rich deposits of kaolin and clay are important for the ceramics and glass industries as well as limestone for the building industry. Also agriculture in our republic is developed enough. The most fertile soil is in South Moravia. The main items grown there are wheat, sugar beet, maize, grapes, hops and fruits. In animal production the most important are cattle breeding and pig breeding.