什麼是捷克共和國

捷克語作Ceská Republika。

以前與斯洛伐克合稱捷克斯洛伐克共和國（Czechoslovakia Republic, 1918～1992）。

中歐共和國，面積78,866平方公里。人口約10,269,000（2001）。首都︰布拉格。捷克人佔全國人口的9/10，斯洛伐克人是最大的少數民族。語言︰捷克語（官方語）。宗教：天主教和新教。貨幣︰捷克克朗（Kc）。內陸捷克共和國地形主要是波希米亞高地，海拔900公尺。羣山環繞波希米亞高原。摩拉瓦河俗稱摩拉維亞走廊，將波希米亞高地與喀爾巴阡山脈分開。林地為捷克地形特徵，全面大部地區為温和的海洋性氣候。自共產主義瓦解後，經濟已開始私有化，大部分以市場為導向。政府形式是多黨制共和國，兩院制。國家元首是總統，政府首腦為總理。

1918年以前，今捷克共和國的歷史在很大程度上是波希米亞史。同年，通過波希米亞和摩拉維亞與斯洛伐克的聯合，一個獨立的捷克斯洛伐克共和國誕生了。第二次世界大戰後，捷克斯洛伐克處於蘇聯的勢力之下，自1948～1989年由共產黨政府統治。1968年逐漸開放的政治情勢被蘇維埃入侵打壓下來（參閲Prague Spring）。1989～1990年共產黨統治垮台後，在斯洛伐克人中間出現了分裂主義情緒，於是捷克人與斯洛伐克人於1992年達成協議將其聯邦國家解散。1993年1月1日捷克斯洛伐克和平地解體，由兩個新的國家取代，即捷克共和國及斯洛伐克；摩拉維亞地區仍在捷克境內。1990年代末，捷克共和國成為歐洲聯盟會員，1999年進入北大西洋公約組織。

Czech Republic

formerly (1918-92), with Slovakia,CzechoslovakiaRepublic, central Europe. Area: 30,450 sq mi (78,866 sq km). Population (1999 est.): 10,289,621. Capital: Prague. Czechs make up nine-tenths of the population; Slovaks are the largest minority. Language: Czech (official). Religion: Roman Catholicism, Protestantism. Currency: koruna. The landlocked Czech Republic is dominated by the Bohemian Massif, a ring of mountains rising to 3,000 ft (900 m) to encircle the Bohemian Plateau. The Morava River valley, known as the Moravian Corridor, separates the Bohemian Massif from the Carpathian Mountains. Woodlands are a characteristic feature of the Czech landscape; most regions have a moderate oceanic climate. The economy has been privatized since the collapse of communism and is now largely market-oriented. It is a multiparty republic with two legislative houses; its head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. Until 1918, the history of what is now the Czech Republic was largely that of Bohemia. In that year the independent republic of Czechoslovakia was born through the union of Bohemia and Moravia with Slovakia. Czechoslovakia came under the domination of the Soviet Union after World War II, and from 1948 to 1989 it was ruled by a communist government. Its growing political liberalization was suppressed by a Soviet invasion in 1968 (see Prague Spring). After communist rule collapsed in 1989-90, separatist sentiments emerged among the Slovaks, and in 1992 the Czechs and Slovaks agreed to break up their federated state. On January 1, 1993, the Czechoslovakian republic was peacefully dissolved and replaced by two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with the region of Moravia remaining in the former. In the late 1990s the Czech Republic started membership talks with the European Union, and in 1999 it entered NATO.