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    • Main contributor: Jan Seidl
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    View from the Castle to the Old Town of Znojmo, Czechia.

    Czechia, officially the Czech Republic, is a landlocked Central European country with a population of about 10.5 million. It is a parliamentary republic with a strong industrial economy. Its capital is Prague, and borders Austria, Germany, Poland, and Slovakia. The country was formed in 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia and is a member of the European Union. The Czech Republic consists of the historical territories of Bohemia and Moravia, plus a small part of Silesia.

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    History of CzechiaHistory of Czechia

    Protest rally at Wenceslas Square, Prague, Czechoslovakia during the Velvet Revolution in 1989
    Protest rally at Wenceslas Square, Prague, Czechoslovakia during the Velvet Revolution in 1989.

    Czech history starts with Slavic tribes in the sixth century, which were followed by the Great Moravia empire in the ninth century. Under the Premyslid and Luxembourg dynasties, the region was a stronghold of the Kingdom of Bohemia before spending centuries as a member of the Habsburg Monarchy. during the fall of the communist administration in 1989 and the creation of Czechoslovakia during World War I, the peaceful "Velvet Divorce" from Slovakia in 1993 marked the beginning of the contemporary Czech Republic.

    The regions of CzechiaThe regions of Czechia

    Winter on Charles Bridge, Prague.
    Winter on Charles Bridge, Prague.

    The capital city of Prague and thirteen regions (Czech: kraje, singular kraj) have made up the Czech Republic since 2000. These regions are:

    • Prague
    • Central Bohemian
    • South Bohemian
    • Plzeň
    • Karlovy Vary
    • Ústí nad Labem
    • Liberec
    • Hradec Králové
    • Pardubice
    • Vysočina
    • South Moravian
    • Olomouc
    • Moravian-Silesian

    Each region has a regional governor and an elected regional legislature. The mayor and city council in Prague carry out the assembly's and the president's duties. In an administrative reform in 1999, the earlier seventy-six districts (okresy, singular okres) and three "statutory cities" (excluding Prague, which had special status) lost most of their significance; they nonetheless serve as territorial divisions and the locations of several state administrative departments.

    Municipalities, or obce, are the smallest administrative units. There are 6,254 municipalities in the Czech Republic as of 2021. Municipalities also include towns and cities. Prague's capital city serves as both a municipality and a region.

    Researching family history in CzechiaResearching family history in Czechia

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    Birth record of Bohumil Hanč.

    There are various types of records available to help trace ancestry in Czechia. These include vital records, church records, census records, land and property records, and newspaper records. Vital records are especially valuable and can provide information on births, marriages, and deaths. Partial censuses have been taken in Czechia since 1753; however, the first modern and standardized census was conducted in 1869, with a new one being taken every 10 years since then. Czech census records can be accessed at MyHeritage or by getting in touch with the appropriate Czech National Archives or Regional Archives. While succeeding censuses were more detailed, earlier records, such as the 1651 census, were frequently head counts for taxes or religious purposes. You must get in touch with the district archives depending on the person's place of residence at the time of the census for documents dating back to 1921 and beyond.

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    APA citation (7th Ed.)

    Jan Seidl. (2023, July 6). *Czechia*. MyHeritage Wiki. https://www.myheritage.com/wiki/Czechia