1.
Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
2.
Slovakia
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Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
3.
T-Mobile
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T-Mobile International AG was a German holding company for Deutsche Telekom AGs mobile communications subsidiaries. From 2003 to 2007 T-Mobile International was one of Deutsche Telekoms segments beside the segments of Broadband/Fixnet, Business Customers and Group HQ and Shared Services. T-Mobile International AG was based in Bonn, Germany and its subsidiaries operated GSM, UMTS and LTE-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico, the company had financial stakes in mobile operators in both Central and Eastern Europe. S. Globally, T-Mobile Internationals subsidiaries had a total of approximately 230 million subscribers. Germanys first mobile-communications services were radiotelephone systems that were owned and operated by the postal monopoly. It launched the analog first-generation C-Netz, Germanys first true mobile phone network in 1985, on July 1,1989, West Germany reorganized Deutsche Bundespost and consolidated telecommunications into a new unit, Deutsche Bundespost Telekom. On July 1,1992, it began to operate Germanys first GSM network, along with the C-Netz, the GSM900 MHz frequency band was referred to as the D-Netz, and Telekom named its service D1, the private consortium awarded the second license chose the name D2. Deutsche Bundespost Telekom was renamed Deutsche Telekom AG on January 1,1995 as part of two of the German communications reform. This process of continued in November 1996, when DT was privatized and had the largest European IPO at the time. That same year, DT began to brand its subsidiaries with the T- prefix, in 2002, as DT consolidated its international operations, it anglicized the T-Mobil name to T-Mobile. On July 5,2005 Deutsche Telekom transformed its structure and adopted a regional setup, where available, the local mobile businesses were combined with the respective local wireline businesses to follow the integrated business aproach. In late 2007, it was confirmed that the merger of the high-speed 3G, the merger was completed the following month, the new companys name later being announced as EE. Orange and T-Mobile continued as separate brands in the market until 2015, until 2000, T-Mobile was a shareholder of the former max. mobil. In April 2001, it acquired one hundred percent and subsequently introduced the T-Mobile brand in Austria by rebranding max. mobil. in April 2002 as T-Mobile Austria, in 2005, it acquired former competitor tele. ring from Western Wireless International. It is now used as a discount brand, tele. ring is an Austrian mobile network operator. Since it was bought by T-Mobile in 2006, it is no longer an independent company. Tele. ring is independent and now acts primarily as a discount-offer, similar to Yesss. In the past, tele. ring was known for their aggressive price-politics, T-Mobile entered the Croatian market in October 1999 when DT initially acquired a thirty-five percent interest in Hrvatski telekom, including its cell phone service provider Cronet
4.
Central Bohemian Region
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Central Bohemia is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative center is placed in the Czech capital Prague, which lies in the center of the region, the city is not, however, a part of it and creates a region of its own. The Central Bohemian Region is situated in the center of Bohemia, in terms of area it is the largest region in the Czech Republic. It occupies 11,014 km² which is almost 14% of the area of the country. It surrounds the country’s capital Prague and it borders with Liberec Region, Hradec Králové Region, Pardubice Region, Vysočina Region, South Bohemian Region, Plzeň Region and Ústí nad Labem Region. In 2011, the region counted in total 1,145 municipalities where of 26 were municipalities with a municipal office. 1,044 municipalities had less than 2,000 inhabitants,82 municipalities had a status of town. With an area of 11,014 km², the Central Bohemian Region is the largest region of the Czech Republic, the region has relatively various natural conditions. The highest point of the region is located on Tok hill in Brdy Highlands in the part of the region. The lowest point of the region is situated on the surface of the Elbe River near Dolní Beřkovice. The region is divided into two landscape types, the north-eastern part is formed by Polabí lowlands with a high share of land being used for agricultural purposes and deciduous forests. The south-western part of the region is hilly with coniferous and mixed forests, important rivers in the region are Elbe, Vltava, Berounka, Jizera and Sázava. On Vltava river, a series of nine dams were constructed throughout the 20th century, the agricultural land accounts for 83. 5% of all land in the region, which 11p. p. The highest share of the land can be found in Polabí, especially in Kolín. There are a number of parks located in the region. Křivoklátsko is the largest and most important landscape park in the region, another remarkable area is the Bohemian Karst, the largest karst area in the Czech republic where the Koněprusy Caves are located. Finally, Kokořínsko Landscape park is for a part situated in the Central Bohemian Region. As of December 31,2012 the Central Bohemian Region had 1,291,816 inhabitants and was the most populous region in the country, about 53% of the inhabitants lived in towns or cities
5.
Karlovy Vary
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Karlovy Vary or Carlsbad is a spa town situated in western Bohemia, Czech Republic, on the confluence of the rivers Ohře and Teplá, approximately 130 km west of Prague. It is named after Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia and it is historically famous for its hot springs. It is the most visited spa town in the Czech Republic, an ancient late Bronze Age fortified settlement was found in Drahovice. A Slavic settlement in Karlovy Vary is documented by findings in Tašovice, people lived in the close proximity of later Karlovy Vary as far back as the 13th century and they must have been aware of the curative effects of close thermal springs. Around 1350, Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor organized an expedition into the forests surrounding modern-day Karlovy Vary during a stay in Loket, on the site of a spring, he established a spa called the Horké Lázně u Lokte. The location was renamed after him once he had acclaimed the healing power of the hot springs. Charles IV granted the city privileges on 14 August 1370, earlier settlements can be also found in the outskirts of todays city. An important political event took place in the town in 1819, initiated by the Austrian Minister of State Klemens von Metternich, the decrees were intended to implement anti-liberal censorship within the German Confederation. It became more popular after railway lines to Cheb and Prague were completed in 1870, the number of visitors rose from 134 families in the 1756 season to 26,000 guests annually at the end of the 19th century. By 1911, that figure had reached 71,000, at the end of World War I in 1918, the large German-speaking population of Bohemia was incorporated into the new state of Czechoslovakia in accordance with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. As a result, the German-speaking majority of Karlovy Vary protested, a demonstration on 4 March 1919 passed peacefully, but later that month, six demonstrators were killed by Czech troops after a demonstration turned unruly. In 1938, the majority German-speaking areas of Czechoslovakia, known as the Sudetenland, after World War II, in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement, the vast majority of the people of Karlovy Vary were forcibly expelled from the city because of their German ethnicity. In accordance with the Beneš decrees, their property was confiscated without compensation, since the end of Communist rule in Czechoslovakia in 1989, and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the presence of Russian businesses in Karlovy Vary has steadily increased. In 2012, foreigners were around 7% of the population of the Karlovy Vary region, after Prague, this is the highest proportion in the Czech Republic. The largest group of foreigners were Vietnamese, followed by Germans, Russians and Ukrainians, local buses and cable cars take passengers to most areas of the city. The city can be reached from other locations by inter-city buses, the city is connected by expressway R6. International Karlovy Vary Airport is located 4.5 km south-east from the city, the city is also known for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which is one of the oldest in the world and one of Europes major film events. It is also known for the popular Czech liqueur Becherovka and the production of the glass manufacturer Moser Glass
6.
South Bohemian Region
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South Bohemia is an administrative unit of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western part of the South Bohemian Region is former Prachens, in 2011, there were 623 municipalities in the region, whereof 54 had a status of town. The region borders the regions Plzeň, Central Bohemia, Vysocina, to the south it borders Austria and Germany. Until 30 May 2001, the region was named as Budějovický kraj or Českobudějovický kraj, after its capital, thanks to its geographical location and natural conditions the region belongs to the areas where the first settlements began to appear in the distant past. In the past centuries, the South Bohemia was famous for fishpond cultivation, the region has been industrialized since the beginning of the twentieth century. Nowadays, it is a destination due to its natural. The travel industry has been recently the fastest growing industry in the region, the region was established based on the constitutional lax No. 347/97 of Collections concerning the formation of higher territorial administrative units, the region and its authorities are specified by Act No. 129-2000 of Collections concerning regions, which came into effect on the day of the regional authorities elections, as of September 2013, South Bohemias population is 636,459 and with only 63 people per 1 km² the region has the lowest population density in the whole country. 64. 2% of region’s population lives in towns or cities, one third of the inhabitants live in the five largest municipalities. Only 4% of region’s population lives in municipalities with less than 200 inhabitants, in 2011, the average age in the region is 41.2 years. Approximately 11% of inhabitants who were 15 years or older had a university degree, according to 2011 census,20. 6% of inhabitants in the region believe in god. The table below gives an overview of town and cities in the region that have more than 8,000 inhabitants, other significant towns are, Vimperk, Dačice, Kaplice, Soběslav, Sezimovo Ústí, Vodňany, Blatná, Veselí nad Lužnicí, Bechyně and Protivín. The following table provides details on the districts of the South Bohemia, South Bohemia consists of the South Bohemian Basin, České Budějovice Basin. The Bohemian Forest is a low range of mountains situated in the south-west, other highlands that can be found in the region are the Brdy Highlands, the Central-Bohemian Highlands, the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and the Novohradské Mountains. The highest elevation in the region is the 1, 378-metre high Plechý in the Bohemian Forest, the region is located in the drainage basin of Vltava river. Other significant rivers are Malše, Lužnice, Otava, Nežárka, South Bohemia is famous for its countless ponds. In the past, more than seven thousand ponds were established across the region, with its 489 ha Rožmberk is the largest one, followed by Bezdrev and Horusice pond
