1.
Pendolino
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Pendolino is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russian Federation, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Slovakia, Switzerland and China. Based on the design of the Italian ETR401 and the British Advanced Passenger Train, it was developed and manufactured by Fiat Ferroviaria. By tilting, the train could go around curves designed for trains at higher speeds without causing undue discomfort to passengers. In Italy, various possibilities were explored, a number of prototypes were built and tested, including an automotrice derived from ALn 668 diesel car and provided with tilting seats. The first working prototype using a tilting carbody was ETR Y0160 and this was the first to be christened Pendolino. It led to the construction of a whole EMU in 1975, one was put into public service on 2 July 1976 on the Rome-Ancona line, operated by Italian State Railways. Between Roma and Ancona the train took 2 hours and 50 minutes while the trains took 3 hours and 30 minutes. The train had four cars and was considered a travelling laboratory for the new technology. The second unit was adapted for service to the wide-gauge RENFE Spanish lines. In 1982, FS retired the ETR401 from service, due the high maintenance cost, after 1988, it went around the world to demonstrate the greatness of the revolutionary technology and between 1994 and 2001 it were a chater train. In 2001 were abandoned and since 2013, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first official pendolino service, on 29 May 1988, the ETR450 became the first pendolino to enter in a high-speed regular service in the world. The project of the new train was similar to the predecessor, but it utilise many electronic parts, as the chopper. Characterized by a 9-car configuration, ETR450 could run the Rome-Milan line in four hours, at speeds up to 250 km/h. Passenger numbers increased from 220,000 in 1988 to 2.2 million in 1993, in 1994, the next generation, the ETR460, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, began service. Though plagued by technical teething problems, the ETR460 introduced several innovations, the bogie-to-body connection is extremely simple and easy to make, with clear advantages for maintenance. ETR460 keeps axle load to an low level to allow the train to negotiate curves up to 35% faster than conventional Intercity trains. ETR460 was built in only 10 units, improved versions include ETR470 for the Italo-Swiss Cisalpino company and the ETR480, used by Trenitalia under AC lines such as those in France and Switzerland. A total of 34 EMUs of the ETR 460/470/480 series were built, FIAT Ferroviaria was sold to the French Alstom company in 2000
2.
Transport
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Transport or transportation is the movement of people, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, the field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles and operations. Transport is important because it enables trade between people, which is essential for the development of civilizations, terminals may be used both for interchange of passengers and cargo and for maintenance. Vehicles traveling on these networks may include automobiles, bicycles, buses, trains, trucks, people, helicopters, operations deal with the way the vehicles are operated, and the procedures set for this purpose including financing, legalities and policies. In the transport industry, operations and ownership of infrastructure can be public or private, depending on the country. Passenger transport may be public, where operators provide scheduled services, freight transport has become focused on containerization, although bulk transport is used for large volumes of durable items. Transport plays an important part in growth and globalization, but most types cause air pollution. While it is subsidized by governments, good planning of transport is essential to make traffic flow. A mode of transport is a solution that makes use of a type of vehicle, infrastructure. The transport of a person or of cargo may involve one mode or several of the modes, each mode has its own advantages and disadvantages, and will be chosen for a trip on the basis of cost, capability, and route. Human powered transport, a form of transportation, is the transport of people and/or goods using human muscle-power. Modern technology has allowed machines to enhance human power, human-powered vehicles have also been developed for difficult environments, such as snow and water, by watercraft rowing and skiing, even the air can be entered with human-powered aircraft. Animal-powered transport is the use of working animals for the movement of people, humans may ride some of the animals directly, use them as pack animals for carrying goods, or harness them, alone or in teams, to pull sleds or wheeled vehicles. A fixed-wing aircraft, commonly called airplane, is a craft where movement of the air in relation to the wings is used to generate lift. The term is used to distinguish this from rotary-wing aircraft, where the movement of the lift surfaces relative to the air generates lift, a gyroplane is both fixed-wing and rotary-wing. Fixed-wing aircraft range from small trainers and recreational aircraft to large airliners, two things necessary for aircraft are air flow over the wings for lift and an area for landing. The majority of aircraft also need an airport with the infrastructure to receive maintenance, restocking, refueling and for the loading and unloading of crew, cargo and passengers. While the vast majority of land and take off on land, some are capable of take off and landing on ice, snow
3.
Rail transport in the Czech Republic
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Rail transport in the Czech Republic carried 162.906 million passengers and 68.37 million tonnes of cargo in the year 2009. The majority of services run nowadays are operated by the state company České dráhy. In 2009 the country had 9,420 km of standard gauge track,3,153 km of which is electrified, the network has same gauge links to all four countries bordering the Czech Republic with passenger services to all four countries in operation. Major hubs for passenger services on the network are in Prague, Ostrava and Břeclav. History of rail transport in the territory of the present day Czech Republic dates back to the Austro-Hungarian empire, the first horse-drawn railway in Europe, between České Budějovice and Linz commenced operations in 1832, and the first locomotive-hauled railway from Vienna to Břeclav opened seven years later. From 1948 until the Velvet Revolution the border crossings with Austria, following the fall of communism, the railway network was reopened to Western Europe, the first EuroCity trains operated in transitional Czechoslovakia in 1991. In the 21st century the network has undergone extensive modernisations, the company Správa železniční dopravní cesty is responsible for maintaining the infrastructure. In 2010, the Czech government proposed merging SŽDC and České dráhy to a single company, in 2011, RegioJet, a subsidiary of Student Agency, became the first company to actively compete with České dráhy on a route, launching a service between Prague and Havířov. Other private companies own exclusive rights to run services on certain lines, the Czech Republic is a member of the International Union of Railways and has the country code 54. In central Europe, Railway Wonders of the World, pp. 1454–1463 illustrated description of the railways of Czechoslovakia in the 1930s
4.
Narrow-gauge railways in the Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic formerly had a large number of narrow-gauge railways. Apart from the lines listed below, there were many non-public industrial, forest and agricultural narrow-gauge systems
5.
Prague
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Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. It is the 14th largest city in the European Union and it is also the historical capital of Bohemia. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city has a temperate climate, with warm summers and chilly winters. Prague has been a political, cultural, and economic centre of central Europe with waxing and waning fortunes during its history and it was an important city to the Habsburg Monarchy and its Austro-Hungarian Empire. Prague is home to a number of cultural attractions, many of which survived the violence. Main attractions include the Prague Castle, the Charles Bridge, Old Town Square with the Prague astronomical clock, since 1992, the extensive historic centre of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The city has more than ten major museums, along with theatres, galleries, cinemas. An extensive modern public transportation system connects the city, also, it is home to a wide range of public and private schools, including Charles University in Prague, the oldest university in Central Europe. Prague is classified as an Alpha- global city according to GaWC studies, Prague ranked sixth in the Tripadvisor world list of best destinations in 2016. Its rich history makes it a popular tourist destination, and the city more than 6.4 million international visitors annually. Prague is the fifth most visited European city after London, Paris, Istanbul, the region was settled as early as the Paleolithic age. In the last century BC, the Celts were slowly driven away by Germanic tribes, around the area where present-day Prague stands, the 2nd century map of Ptolemaios mentioned a Germanic city called Casurgis. In the following century, the Czech tribes built several fortified settlements in the area, most notably in Levý Hradec, Butovice and in the Šárka valley. The construction of what came to be known as the Prague Castle began near the end of the 9th century, the first masonry under Prague Castle dates from the year 885 at the latest. The other prominent Prague fort, the Přemyslid fort Vyšehrad, was founded in the 10th century, Prague Castle is dominated by the cathedral, which was founded in 1344, but completed in the 20th century. The legendary origins of Prague attribute its foundation to the 8th century Czech duchess and prophetess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, legend says that Libuše came out on a rocky cliff high above the Vltava and prophesied, I see a great city whose glory will touch the stars. She ordered a castle and a town called Praha to be built on the site, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the city was founded as Boihaem in c.1306 BC by an ancient king, Boyya. The region became the seat of the dukes, and later kings of Bohemia, under Roman Emperor Otto II the area became a bishopric in 973
6.
Rapid transit
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Rapid transit, also known as heavy rail, metro, subway, tube, or underground, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. The stations typically have high platforms, without steps inside the trains and they are typically integrated with other public transport and often operated by the same public transport authorities. However, some transit systems have at-grade intersections between a rapid transit line and a road or between two rapid transit lines. It is unchallenged in its ability to transport large numbers of people quickly over short distances with little use of land, variations of rapid transit include people movers, small-scale light metro, and the commuter rail hybrid S-Bahn. The worlds first rapid-transit system was the partially underground Metropolitan Railway which opened as a railway in 1863. In 1868, New York opened the elevated West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway, china has the largest number of rapid transit systems in the world. The worlds longest single-operator rapid transit system by length is the Shanghai Metro. The worlds largest single rapid transit service provider by both length of revenue track (665 miles and number of stations is the New York City Subway. The busiest rapid transit systems in the world by annual ridership are the Tokyo subway system, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, the Moscow Metro, the Beijing Subway, Metro is the most common term for underground rapid transit systems used by non-native English speakers. One of these terms may apply to a system, even if a large part of the network runs at ground level. In Scotland, however, the Glasgow Subway underground rapid transit system is known as the Subway, in the US, underground mass transit systems are primarily known as subways, whereas the term metro is a shortened reference to a metropolitan area. In that vein, Chicagos commuter rail system, serving the area, is called Metra. Exceptions in naming rapid transit systems are Washington DCs subway system the Washington Metro, Los Angeles Metro Rail, and the Miami Metrorail, the opening of Londons steam-hauled Metropolitan Railway in 1863 marked the beginning of rapid transit. Initial experiences with steam engines, despite ventilation, were unpleasant, experiments with pneumatic railways failed in their extended adoption by cities. Electric traction was more efficient, faster and cleaner than steam, in 1890 the City & South London Railway was the first electric-traction rapid transit railway, which was also fully underground. Both railways were merged into London Underground. The 1893 Liverpool Overhead Railway was designed to use electric traction from the outset, budapest in Hungary and Glasgow, Chicago and New York all converted or purpose-designed and built electric rail services. Advancements in technology have allowed new automated services, hybrid solutions have also evolved, such as tram-train and premetro, which incorporate some of the features of rapid transit systems
7.
Prague Metro
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The Prague Metro is the rapid transit network of Prague, Czech Republic. Founded in 1974, the Prague Metro now comprises three lines, serving 61 stations, and consists of a transit network 65.2 kilometres long, Prague Metro system served 589.2 million passengers in 2012, making it the fifth busiest metro system in Europe. Two types of trains are used on the lines of the Prague Metro, 81-71M. All the lines are controlled automatically from the central dispatching, the driver is responsible for opening and closing doors. The Prague Metro has three lines, each represented by its own colour on the maps and signs, Line A, Line B, there are 61 stations in total connected by nearly 66 kilometres of mostly underground railways. The metro service operates from 4-5 am until midnight, with about 110 to 200-second intervals between trains and 4-10 minutes off the rush hours, nearly 600 million passengers use the Prague Metro every year. The metro is run by the Prague Public Transit Company Co. Inc. which manages all means of transport around the city. Since 1993, this system has been connected to commuter trains and buses, together they form an extensive public transportation network reaching further from the city, called Prague Integrated Transport. Whilst the large system is zonally priced, the metro is entirely inside the central zone, many Prague Metro stations are quite large, with several entrances spaced relatively far apart. This can often lead to confusion for those unfamiliar with the system, in general the stations are well signposted even for those unfamiliar with the Czech language. In the centre is planned introduction of multilingual signs, the Prague metro is very safe. The Prague Metro system is out as a triangle, with all three lines meeting in the centre of the city at three interchange stations. Each interchange station has two halls, one hall for each line, the depth of the stations varies considerably. The deepest station is Náměstí Míru, located 52 metres under the ground, parts of the tracks in the city centre were mostly bored using the tunnelling shield. Outer parts were dug by the method and the stations are only a few metres under the surface. Part of Line B runs in a tunnel above the ground. Most stations usually have an island platform in the centre of the station hall serving both directions. The sub-surface stations have a straight ceiling sometimes supported by columns, the deep-level stations are larger tunnels with the track tunnels on each side
8.
Brno
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Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic by population and area, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the center of the South Moravian Region in which it forms a separate district. The city is also a significant administrative centre and it is the seat of a number of state authorities, including the Ombudsman, and the Office for the Protection of Competition. Brno is also an important centre of education, with 33 faculties belonging to 13 institutes of higher learning. Brno Exhibition Centre ranks among the largest exhibition centres in Europe, the complex opened in 1928 and established the tradition of large exhibitions and trade fairs held in Brno. Brno hosts motorbike and other races on the Masaryk Circuit, an established in 1930. Another cultural tradition is a fireworks competition, Ignis Brunensis. The other large preserved castle near the city is Veveří Castle by the Brno Dam Lake and this castle is the site of a number of legends, as are many other places in Brno. Another architectural monument of Brno is the functionalist Villa Tugendhat which has been included on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, one of the natural sights nearby is the Moravian Karst. The etymology of the name Brno is disputed and it perhaps comes from Old Czech brnie muddy, swampy. Alternative derivations are from a Slavic verb brniti or a Celtic language spoken in the area before it was overrun by Germanic peoples, throughout its history, Brnos locals also referred to the town in other languages, including Brünn in German, ברין in Yiddish and Bruna in Latin. The city was referred to as Brunn in English. The Asteroid 2889 Brno was named after the city, as well as the Bren light machine gun, one of the most famous weapons of World War II. In the early 11th century Brno was established as a castle of a prince from the House of Přemyslid. Brno was first mentioned in Cosmas Chronica Boëmorum dated to year 1091, seats of these rulers and thus capitals of these territories were castles and towns of Brno, Olomouc, and Znojmo. In the late 12th century, Moravia began to reunify, forming the Margraviate of Moravia, since then, until the mid of the 17th century, it was not clear which town should be the capital of Moravia. Political power was therefore divided between Brno and Olomouc, but Znojmo also played an important role. The Moravian Diet, the Moravian Land Tables, and the Moravian Land Court were all seated in both cities at once, however, Brno was the official seat of the Moravian Margraves, and later its geographical position closer to Vienna also became important
9.
Liberec
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Liberec /ˈlɪbərɛts/ is a city in the Czech Republic. Located on the Lusatian Neisse and surrounded by the Jizera Mountains and Ještěd-Kozákov Ridge, for many Czechs, Liberec is mostly associated with the citys dominant Ještěd Tower. Since the end of the 19th century, the city has been a conurbation with the suburb of Vratislavice, therefore, the total area with suburbs encompasses 150,000 inhabitants. This makes Liberec the third-largest city in Bohemia after Prague and Plzeň, Liberec was first mentioned in a document of 1348 and from 1622 to 1634 was among the possessions of Albrecht von Wallenstein. After his death it belonged to the Gallas and Clam Gallas families, the cloth-making industry was introduced in 1579. The prosperous local industry was interrupted by the Thirty Years War, the Battle of Reichenberg between Austria and Prussia occurred nearby in 1757 during the Seven Years War. Until 1918 the town was part of the Austrian monarchy, seat of the Reichenberg district, the Opera House has a spectacular main curtain designed by the Austrian artist Gustav Klimt. The neighbourhoods on the hills above the town centre display beautiful homes and streets, after the end of World War I Austria-Hungary fell apart. Reichenberg was declared the capital of the German-Austrian province of German Bohemia, on 16 December 1918 the Czechoslovak Army occupied Reichenberg and the whole province and both became part of Czechoslovakia. The Great Depression devastated the economy of the area with its textile, carpet, glass, whilst he declared fidelity to the Republic, he secretly negotiated with Adolf Hitler. The city became the centre of Pan-German movements and later of the Nazis, especially after the 1935 election, despite its important democratic mayor, Karl Kostka. The final change came in Summer 1938, after the radicalization of the terror of the SdP, whose death threats forced Kostka, most of the citys Jewish and Czech population fled to the rest of Czechoslovakia or were expelled. The important synagogue was burned down, during a rally in December 1938, Hitler laid out the future of the Hitler Youth. After World War II the town became a part of Czechoslovakia. The region was resettled with Czechs. Liberec also has a Jewish minority with a newly built synagogue, the origin of the city name was the subject of many discussions, often nationally influenced, because it was a bilingual settlement. The oldest known names of the city are German, Reychinberch and Raichmberg and it was also named Reichenberg and Rychmberg. The Czech equivalent originated as a distortion, Rychberk, Lychberk, Libercum, Liberk, in Czech, words starting with R were often dissimilated into L
10.
Most (Most District)
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The name Most means bridge in Czech. The town, which was named after the system of bridges crossed the swamps in this area in the 10th century, is now mostly known for its heavy industry. The German name for Most is Brüx, Most lies at the heart of the northern Bohemian lignite-mining region and serves as an important industrial railway junction. During the latter half of the 20th century, Most was considered to be one of the most polluted Coal mining towns in communist Czechoslovakia, mosts other industries includes textile, ceramics, steel, and chemicals. Foreign mining operations continue to operate in the area in the 21st century, some surrounding villages are planned to be abandoned due to surface mining. However environmental conditions have improved in recent years around Most, in particular the growing of apples, the Latin Chronica Boemorum mentions a Slavic settlement below the Gnevin Castle called Gnevin Pons in 1040. Through the swamps there led a merchant route from Prague to Freiberg, the network of wooden bridges was built to provide comfortable passages through this territory. Hneva from the Hrabišic dynasty established a stronghold to protect caravans. Under this stronghold the village that would become Most developed, in 1227 Kojata, the last of the Hrabisics, passed his property to the cloister of the Knights of the Cross. Since 1238 the royal town was owned by the Přemyslids and it became a city with many churches. The Bohemian kings Otakar II, John of Luxembourg, and Charles IV all granted Most city rights, in the 14th century, due to colonization, the city became predominantly German-populated and known as Brüx. During the 15th and 16th centuries the city was hit by several fires, in around 1517, city reconstruction began the foundations of several significant facilities, including the new deans church and the Renaissance city hall. During the Thirty Years War, the city was occupied by Swedish troops, both in the early years and in the last years of the war it was captured by stratagem. In a similar manner the castle Hněvín was captured, after the Thirty Years War, the city lost much of its economic and political significance. In the second half of the 19th century industry and mining emerged, and in 1870, construction included sugar works, porcelain factory, steel works, brewery, and the founding of a city museum. In 1895 the city was affected by quicksand that swallowed several houses, in 1900 the RICO plant for dressing material was constructed. In 1901, an electric tramline linked Brüx with Kopitz up to Johnsdorf, the most modern theatre of its time within Austria-Hungary was opened in Brüx in 1911. The construction of a dam at Kreuzweg from 1911 to 1914 solved the citys problem with the supply of drinking water
11.
Olomouc
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Olomouc is a city in Moravia, in the east of the Czech Republic. Located on the Morava River, the city is the ecclesiastical metropolis, today it is an administrative centre of the Olomouc Region and sixth largest city in the Czech Republic. The city has about 100,154 residents, and its urban zone has a population of about 480,000 people. Olomouc is said to occupy the site of a Roman fort founded in the imperial period, during the 6th century, Slavs migrated into the area. As early as the 7th century, a centre of power developed in the present-day quarter of Povel. Around 810 the local Slavonic ruler was defeated by troops of Great Moravian rulers, a new centre, where the Great Moravian governor resided, developed at the gord at Předhradí, a quarter of the inner city. This settlement survived the defeat of the Great Moravia and gradually became the capital of the province of Moravia, the bishopric of Olomouc was founded in 1063. Centuries later in 1777, it was raised to the rank of an archbishopric, the bishopric was moved from the church of St. Peter to the church of Saint Wenceslas in 1141 under bishop Jindřich Zdík. The bishops palace was built in the Romanesque architectural style, the bishopric acquired large tracts of land, especially in northern Moravia, and was one of the richest in the area. Olomouc became one of the most important settlements in Moravia and a seat of the Přemyslid government, in 1306 King Wenceslas III stopped here on his way to Poland. He was going to fight Władysław I the Elbow-high to claim his rights to the Polish crown and was assassinated, with his death, the whole Přemyslid dynasty died out. The city was founded in the mid-13th century and became one of the most important trade. In the Middle Ages, it was the biggest town in Moravia, Olomouc finally lost after the Swedes took the city and held it for eight years. In 1235, the Mongols launched an invasion of Europe, after the Battle of Legnica in Poland, the Mongols carried their raids into Moravia, but were defensively defeated at the fortified town of Olomouc. The Mongols subsequently invaded and defeated Hungary, in 1454 the city expelled its Jewish population as part of a wave of anti-Semitism, also seen in Spain and Portugal. The second half of the 15th century is considered the start of Olomoucs golden age and it hosted several royal meetings, and Matthias Corvinus was elected here as King of Bohemia by the estates in 1469. In 1479 two kings of Bohemia met here and concluded an agreement for splitting the country, participating in the Protestant Reformation, Moravia became mostly Protestant. During the Thirty Years War, in 1640 Olomouc was occupied by the Swedes for eight years and they left the city in ruins, and it became second to Brno
12.
Ostrava
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Ostrava is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It is 15 km from the border with Poland, at the point of four rivers. The population was around 300,000 in 2013, Ostrava grew to prominence thanks to its position at the heart of a major coalfield, becoming an important industrial centre. Industries have been restructured, and the last coal was mined in the city in 1994. Lower Vítkovice has applied for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List, since the 1990s Ostrava has been transformed into a modern cultural city, with numerous theatres, galleries and other cultural facilities. It hosts a range of cultural and sporting events throughout the year. Among the best known are the Colours of Ostrava multi-genre music festival, the Janáček May classical music festival, Ostrava is home to two public universities, the VŠB-Technical University and the University of Ostrava. In 2014 Ostrava was a European City of Sport, the city co-hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 2004 and 2015. The city’s coat of arms features a shield with a rearing silver horse standing on a green lawn. The horse wears a saddle and a red coverlet. At the top right of the shield there is a rose with green leaves. The horse in the coat-of-arms wears no bridle, the oldest known depiction of this coat-of-arms is on a seal dating from 1426, the first coloured version dates from 1728. This explanation is supported by most modern literature, in 2008, Ostrava’s new marketing logo was unveiled. Designed by Studio Najbrt, the logo “OSTRAVA. ” is used in presentations of the city both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The three exclamation marks are meant to symbolise the dynamism, energy and self-confidence of Ostrava and its people, the light blue colour of the city’s name is based on the heraldic tradition, while the exclamation marks are a contrasting darker blue. The logo is intended to be striking, provocative and above all memorable, the first written mention of Silesian Ostrava dates from 1229, when it was described as a settlement. The first mention of Moravian Ostrava describes it as a township, Ostrava grew up on the banks of the Ostrá River, from which it took its name. This river still divides the city into two parts, Moravian Ostrava and Silesian Ostrava
13.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
14.
Highways in the Czech Republic
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Highways in the Czech Republic are no longer divided into motorways and expressways as the category of expressways has been abolished by 31 December 2015. This concerned especially the expressway R35 between Liberec and Turnov which has classified as of 1 January 2016 as a road for motorcars. The motorways are managed by the state-owned Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic – ŘSD ČR, the ŘSD currently manages and maintains 1,250 km of motorways, whose speed limit is of 130 km/h or 80 mph. The present-day national motorway network is due to be of about 2,000 km before 2030, generally said, a motorway road sign means that a toll vignette is obligatory. Only sections not subject to vignette are designated with a road sign. As of 2017, the following sections are subject to the time-based fee for motorcars up to 3. As of 1 January 2010, this also to vehicles over 3.5 tons. There is a public discussion on imposition of electronic toll for all cars. The definitive route, including a Prague ring motorway, was approved shortly after the Munich Agreement on 4 November 1938 for a speed limit of 120 km/h. However, only a construction of the route within Bohemia and Moravia was initiated and it still sporadically appears in some current Czech motorway plans. On 1 December 1938 the Nazi Germany had already initiated a construction of so-called Sudetenautobahn in the route Streitau – Eger – Carlsbad – Lobositz – Leipa a. d. The technical parameters of motorways were adjusted to those of German Reichsautobahn as Czech motorways should be integrated within the German Reichsautobahn network. The project for the first segment Prague - Lužná was ready in January 1939, the construction in Bohemia from Prague on began on 2 May 1939, with switch to right-hand traffic in Bohemia and Moravia already gone without a hitch. The motorway should have reached Brno in 1940, but building materials, the construction in the route of approx. 77 km from Prague towards Brno advanced notably when a prohibition of all civil constructions by German authorities came into force in 1942, the construction sites of the partly inaugurated construction of the Sudetenautobahn were completely abandoned, as well as that of the Breslau - Vienna motorway. The latter was, however, incorporated in some plans as a future connection motorway between Brno and the D35 motorway, the construction was solemnly inaugurated on 8 September 1967. Due to a change of parameters, some bridges finished before 1950 were replaced. The Prague - Brno motorway, initiated on 2 May 1939, reached Brno in 1980, the pace of construction of highways has always been rather slow up to the present days
15.
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
16.
Controlled-access highway
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A controlled-access highway is a type of highway which has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway, other similar terms include Interstate and parkway. Some of which may be limited-access highways, although this term can refer to a class of highway with somewhat less isolation from other traffic. In countries following Vienna convention, the motorway qualification implies they are forbidden for walking or parking, a controlled-access highway provides an unhindered flow of traffic, with no traffic signals, intersections or property access. They are free of any at-grade crossings with roads, railways, or pedestrian paths. Entrances and exits to the highway are provided at interchanges by slip roads, on the controlled-access highway, opposing directions of travel are generally separated by a median strip or central reservation containing a traffic barrier or grass. Elimination of conflicts with other directions of traffic dramatically improves safety and capacity, controlled-access highways evolved during the first half of the 20th century. Italy opened its first autostrada in 1924 connecting Milan to Varese, Germany began to build its first 30-kilometre autobahn controlled-access highway without speed limits in 1932 between Cologne and Bonn. It then rapidly constructed a system of such roads in anticipation of their use in the Second World War. The first North American freeways opened in the New York City area in the 1920s, Britain, heavily influenced by the railways, did not build its first motorway, the Preston By-pass, until 1958. Most technologically advanced nations feature a network of freeways or motorways to provide high-capacity urban travel, or high-speed rural travel. Many have a national-level or even international-level system of route numbering, exit is marked with another symbol. The definitions of motorway from the OECD and PIARC are almost identical, british Standards Motorway, Limited-access dual carriageway road, not crossed on the same level by other traffic lanes, for the exclusive use of certain classes of motor vehicle. ITE Freeway, A divided major roadway with full control of access and this definition applies to toll as well as toll-free roads. Freeway A, This designates roadways with greater complexity and high traffic volumes. Usually this type of freeway will be found in areas in or near the central core. Freeway B, This designates all other divided roadways with full control of access where lighting is needed, principal arterials may cross through urban areas, serving suburban movements. The traffic is characterized by high speeds and full or partial access control, other roads leading to a principal arterial are connected to it through side collector roads
17.
Limited-access road
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The degree of isolation from local traffic allowed varies between countries and regions. The precise definition of these terms varies by jurisdiction, the first implementation of limited-access roadways in the United States was the Bronx River Parkway in New York, in 1907. The New York State Parkway System was constructed as a network of high-speed roads in, the first limited access highway built is thought to be the privately built Long Island Motor Parkway in Long Island, New York. The Southern State Parkway opened in 1927, while the Long Island Motor Parkway was closed in 1937 and replaced by the Northern State Parkway, in the United States, the national Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices uses full control of access only for freeways. This definition is used by some states, some of which also restrict freeways only to motor vehicles capable of maintaining a certain speed. Some other states use controlled access to mean a higher standard than limited access, while Australias larger capital cities feature controlled-access highway networks, the smaller metropolitan areas mostly rely on limited-access highways for high-speed local traffic. In South Australia the terms expressway and freeway can be synonymous, the Southern and Northern Expressways are both controlled-access highways. However, perhaps confusingly, the Port River Expressway is a limited-access highway, dual carriageways that connect capital cities and regional centres, such as the M31 Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne, are almost all limited-access highways. In spite of this, freeway terminology is used on signage for most regional limited access highways in the state of Victoria, the Expressway Network of the Peoples Republic of China is the longest highway system in the world. The network is known as National Trunk Highway System. As of 2011, the length is 85,000 kilometres. Expressways in China are a recent addition to a complex network of roads. Chinas first expressway was built in 1988, until 1993, very few expressways existed. The network is expanding rapidly after 2000, in 2011,11,000 kilometres of expressways were added to the network. The Philippines has many expressways and highways particularly concentrated on the island of Luzon, the country currently has 6 completed and available expressways and 8 major highways including the Pan-Philippine Highway also known as Asian Highway 26. The Expressways of Pakistan are a network of multiple-lane, high-speed highways in Pakistan and they are one class lower than the countrys motorways and are usually upgraded versions of the national highways. The total length of Pakistans expressways is 260-kilometre as of November,2016, around 770-kilometre of expressways are currently under construction in different part of country. Most of these expressways will be complete between 2017 and 2020, Expressways in Taiwan may be controlled-access highways similar to National Freeways or limited-access roads
18.
Dual carriageway
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A dual carriageway is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation. Roads with two or more carriageways which are designed to higher standards with controlled access are generally classed as motorways, freeways, a road without a central reservation is a single carriageway regardless of the number of lanes. Dual carriageways have improved road traffic safety over single carriageways and typically have speed limits as a result. In some places, express lanes and local/collector lanes are used within a system to provide more capacity. A very early example of a dual carriageway was the Via Portuensis, in 1907 the Long Island Motor Parkway opened, and roughly 20% of it featured a semi-dual-carriageway design. The New York City Belt Parkway system, which was built between 1907 and 1934, also pioneered the same design, however the majority of it featured concrete or brick railings as lane dividers instead of grass medians. In 1924 the first Italian autostrada was opened running 55 km from Milan to Varese and it featured a broad road bed and did not feature lane dividers except near cities and through the mountains. The London end of the Great West Road became Britains first dual carriageway when it was opened in 1925 by King George V, in 1927 the Rome bypass was opened. It ran 92 km bypassing Rome to the east, almost the entire length featured a dual-carriageway design. In the early 1930s it was extended all the way to Naples. Most of the routing was destroyed by the Allies in the World War II. By 1930 several US and European cities had built dual-carriageway highways, in 1932 the first German autobahn opened between Cologne and Bonn. It ran 21 km and became a precedent for future highways, although it, like the first autostrada, did not feature a dual-carriageway design, it inspired the mass construction of future high-speed roadways. During the 1930s, Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union began construction of a network of dual carriageway expressways. By 1942, Germany had over 3,200 km of dual carriageway roads, Italy had nearly 1,300 km, opened to traffic in 1940, the 160-mile-long Pennsylvania Turnpike was the first rural dual carriageway built in the United States. By 1955 several states had built dual carriageway freeways and turnpikes, completed in 1994, the major highway system links all the major cities of the United States. In the UK, although the dual carriageway applies to any road with physically separated lanes. Such major dual carriageways usually have two lanes of traffic in each direction, with the lane nearest the centre being reserved for overtaking, occasionally dual carriageways have only one lane in each direction, or more than two lanes each way
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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
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Vltava
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It is commonly referred to as the Czech national river. The Vltava river is 430 kilometres long and drains an area about 28,090 square kilometres in size, over half of Bohemia, as it runs through Prague, the river is crossed by 18 bridges and covers 31 kilometres within the city. The water from the river was used for drinking until 1912 and it is, however, the source of drinking water in case of failures/repairs to the water supply from the Želivka and Kárané sources. The Podolí water processing plant is on standby for such cases with the section of the river upstream of the Podolí plant under the stricter. Several dams were built on it in the 1950s, the Orlík Dam supports the largest reservoir on the Vltava by volume, while the Lipno Dam in the Bohemian Forest retains the largest reservoir by area. North of Prague the Štěchovice Reservoir has been built over the site of the St Johns Rapids. The river also features numerous locks and weirs that help mitigate its flow from 1,172 metres in elevation at its source near the German border to 155 metres at its mouth in Mělník. The height difference from source to mouth is about 1,016 metres, the Vltava itself originates by a confluence of two streams, the Warm Vltava, which is longer, and the Cold Vltava, sourcing in Bavaria. Along its course, Vltava receives many tributaries, the biggest being Otava and Berounka from the left and Lužnice and its section around Český Krumlov is a very popular destination of water tourism. Both the Czech name Vltava and the German name Moldau are believed to originate from the old Germanic words wilt ahwa, in Annales Fuldenses it is called Fuldaha, from 1113 AD it is attested as Wultha. In Chronica Boemorum it is attested for the first time in its Bohemian form as Wlitaua, on the other side there is a river Ltava in Ukraine with no traces of Germanic origins. The name of a settlement on this river was mentioned in the Hypatian Chronicle in 1174, traditionally connected to the name of the city of Poltava, there are many theories describing etymology of Ltava. The Vltava basin has flooded multiple times throughout recorded history, markers have been created along the banks denoting the water line for notable floods in 1784,1845,1890,1940, and the highest of all in 2002. It left the oldest bridge in Prague, Charles Bridge, seriously weakened, Prague was again flooded in 2013. Nine hydroelectric dams have been built on the Vltava to regulate the water flow, beginning at the headwaters, these are, Lipno, Lipno II, Hněvkovice, Kořensko, Orlík, Kamýk, Slapy, Štěchovice and Vrané. One of the works of classical music by a Czech composer is Bedřich Smetanas Vltava. It is from the Romantic era of music and is a musical depiction of the rivers course through Bohemia. A minor planet 2123 Vltava discovered in 1973 by Soviet astronomer Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh is named after the river, Smetanas symphonic poem also inspired a song of the same name by Bertolt Brecht
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Elbe
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The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia, then Germany and its total length is 1,094 kilometres. The Elbes major tributaries include the rivers Vltava, Saale, Havel, Mulde, Schwarze Elster, the Elbe river basin, comprising the Elbe and its tributaries, has a catchment area of 148,268 square kilometres, the fourth largest in Europe. The basin spans four countries, with its largest parts in Germany, much smaller parts lie in Austria and Poland. The basin is inhabited by 24.5 million people, the Elbe rises at an elevation of about 1,400 metres in the Krkonoše on the northwest borders of the Czech Republic near Labská bouda. Of the numerous small streams whose waters compose the infant river, here the Elbe enters the vast vale named Polabí, and continues on southwards through Hradec Králové and then to Pardubice, where it turns sharply to the west. At Kolín some 43 kilometres further on, it bends gradually towards the north-west, at the village of Káraný, a little above Brandýs nad Labem, it picks up the Jizera. At Mělník its stream is more than doubled in volume by the Vltava, or Moldau, upstream from the confluence the Vltava is in fact much longer, and has a greater discharge and a larger drainage basin. Some distance lower down, at Litoměřice, the waters of the Elbe are tinted by the reddish Ohře, in its northern section both banks of the Elbe are characterised by flat, very fertile marshlands, former flood plains of the Elbe now diked. At Magdeburg there is a viaduct, the Magdeburg Water Bridge, from the sluice of Geesthacht on downstream the Elbe is subject to the tides, the tidal Elbe section is called the Low Elbe. Within the city-state the Unterelbe has a number of streams, such as Dove Elbe, Gose Elbe, Köhlbrand, Northern Elbe, Reiherstieg. Some of which have been disconnected for vessels from the stream by dikes. In 1390 the Gose Elbe was separated from the stream by a dike connecting the two then-islands of Kirchwerder and Neuengamme. The Dove Elbe was diked off in 1437/38 at Gammer Ort and these hydraulic engineering works were carried out to protect marshlands from inundation, and to improve the water supply of the Port of Hamburg. The Northern Elbe passes the Elbe Philharmonic Hall and is then crossed under by the old Elbe Tunnel, a bit more downstream the Low Elbes two main anabranches Northern Elbe and the Köhlbrand reunite south of Altona-Altstadt, a locality of Hamburg. Right after both anabranches reunited the Low Elbe is passed under by the New Elbe Tunnel, the last structural road link crossing the river before the North Sea. At the bay Mühlenberger Loch in Hamburg at kilometre 634, the Northern Elbe and the Southern Elbe used to reunite, leaving the city-state the Lower Elbe then passes between Holstein and the Elbe-Weser Triangle with Stade until it flows into the North Sea at Cuxhaven. Near its mouth it passes the entrance to the Kiel Canal at Brunsbüttel before it debouches into the North Sea, the Elbe has been navigable by commercial vessels since 1842, and provides important trade links as far inland as Prague
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Hamburg
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Hamburg, officially Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, is the second largest city in Germany and the eighth largest city in the European Union. It is the second smallest German state by area and its population is over 1.7 million people, and the wider Hamburg Metropolitan Region covers more than 5.1 million inhabitants. The city is situated on the river Elbe, the official long name reflects Hamburgs history as a member of the medieval Hanseatic League, a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire, a city-state, and one of the 16 states of Germany. Before the 1871 Unification of Germany, it was a sovereign state. Prior to the changes in 1919, the civic republic was ruled by a class of hereditary grand burghers or Hanseaten. Though repeatedly destroyed by the Great Fire of Hamburg, the floods and military conflicts including WW2 bombing raids, the city managed to recover and emerge wealthier after each catastrophe. On the river Elbe, Hamburg is a port and a global service, media, logistics and industrial hub, with headquarters and facilities of Airbus, Blohm + Voss, Aurubis, Beiersdorf. The radio and television broadcaster NDR, Europes largest printing and publishing firm Gruner + Jahr, Hamburg has been an important financial centre for centuries, and is the seat of Germanys oldest stock exchange and the worlds second oldest bank, Berenberg Bank. The city is a fast expanding tourist destination for domestic and international visitors. It ranked 16th in the world for livability in 2015, the ensemble Speicherstadt and Kontorhausviertel was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 2015. Hamburg is a major European science, research and education hub with several universities and institutes and its creative industries and major cultural venues include the renowned Elbphilharmonie and Laeisz concert halls, various art venues, music producers and artists. It is regarded as a haven for artists, gave birth to movements like Hamburger Schule. Hamburg is also known for theatres and a variety of musical shows. St. Paulis Reeperbahn is among the best known European entertainment districts, Hamburg is on the southern point of the Jutland Peninsula, between Continental Europe to the south and Scandinavia to the north, with the North Sea to the west and the Baltic Sea to the north-east. It is on the River Elbe at its confluence with the Alster, the city centre is around the Binnenalster and Außenalster, both formed by damming the River Alster to create lakes. The island of Neuwerk and two neighbouring islands Scharhörn and Nigehörn, in the Hamburg Wadden Sea National Park, are also part of Hamburg. The neighbourhoods of Neuenfelde, Cranz, Francop and Finkenwerder are part of the Altes Land region, neugraben-Fischbek has Hamburgs highest elevation, the Hasselbrack at 116.2 metres AMSL. Hamburg has a climate, influenced by its proximity to the coast
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Karlovy Vary Airport
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Karlovy Vary Airport is the airport of Karlovy Vary in western Bohemia. It is located in the village of Olšová Vrata,6 km southeast of the city centre and is the fourth-busiest airport in the Czech Republic, the airport handled 103,682 passengers in 2012. Plans were announced in 2011 to build a new hall at the airport. 99% of passengers using the airport in 2012 were Russian, the following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights to and from Karlovy Vary, The nearest major international airport is Prague Václav Havel Airport approx. From Karlovy Vary or Prague, The airport is 6km southeast of the centre of Karlovy Vary, turn from the road I/6 near Karlovy Vary Golf Resort and continue 3,5 km to the airport. Public transport to the airport is maintained seven times per day by city bus Nr.8
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Pardubice Airport
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Pardubice Airport is a military airport permitted to handle international civil air traffic in the city of Pardubice, Czech Republic. It is mainly used for flights to Southern Europe during the summer season, to transport Russian tourists into the Czech Republic. On 16 April 1910 Kašpar flew for the first time and as the first person in Czech lands, in later years he arranged flight exhibitions over the country, most famously his flight from Pardubice to Prague on 13 May 1911. The first flying club in the Czech lands was founded in Pardubice on 26 April 1911, the club, named Pardubice Aviation society had five hangars but during World War I its activities stopped. After the war the place held occasional flight exhibitions, since the end of 1929 the airport was used as a training place for aviation enthusiasts, expanded to 25 hectares, it was one of the largest in the country. Since 1933 the airport was used for glider training. Between 1936 and 1937 new modern facilities were built. During World War II the airport served for training of Luftwaffe pilots, toward the end of the war for combat operations, since 1950 the airport was used only for the military. A2,500 m long runway was built and a pilot training centre established. Large support military units were located next to the airport and in the city, during the 1990s the military role of the airport gradually declined. Since 1994 the airport was used as a base but in 2003 the army reduced the role of the airport to provide maintenance. In 1993 the company East Bohemian Airport a. s. aiming to open the airport for use was formed. Officially, the airport was opened for operation on 18 May 1995. Since 1 November 1996 the airport has been authorised for operation under the Instrument flight rules, citations Bibliography Journal ZPRÁVY Klubu přátel Pardubicka. Articles written by Pavel Sviták and several authors since the 1980s cover history of aviation in Pardubice
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International Road Assessment Programme
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The International Road Assessment Programme or iRAP assesses roads all over the world and aims to significantly reduce road casualties by improving the safety of road infrastructure. IRAP was formed in 2006 as an organisation for EuroRAP, usRAP and AusRAP and also to facilitate work in middle. In 2006 and 2007 four pilot studies in Malaysia, Chile, Costa Rica and these studies showed that road assessment is also helpful in developing countries. High-risk roads where large numbers are killed or seriously injured are inspected, the pilot studies have been supported by national motoring organisations, authorities and by teams that have been formed as part of EuroRAP, usRAP and AusRAP
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History of the Czech lands
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The history of what are now known as the Czech lands is very diverse. These lands have changed many times, and have been known by a variety of different names. Prior to the Battle of Mohács, the Kingdom was an independent state within the Holy Roman Empire, after that battle the Lands of the Bohemian Crown were incorporated into the Austrian Empire, and later into the aforementioned Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. These three integral Czech lands now form the boundaries of the Czech Republic, early modern humans had settled in the region by the. Several Paleolithic cultures settled here, including Acheulean, Micoquien, Mousterian, the Předmostí archaeological site near Brno is dated to between 24,000 and 27,000 years old. The figurines found here are the oldest known ceramic articles in the world, the area was settled by the Celts from 5th BC until 2nd AC and from 1st century by various Germanic tribes. Germanic towns are described on the Map of Ptolemaios in the 2nd Century and those tribes migrated to the West in 5th century and then came Slavs. The first Slavic people arrived in the 6th century, according to historian Dušan Třeštík, they advanced through the Moravian Gate valley and in the year 530 moved into Eastern Bohemia, along the rivers Labe and Vltava further into Central Bohemia. Many historians support the theory of a wave of Slavs coming from the south during the first half of the 7th century. They fought with neighboring Avars until the rise of the empire of Samo, in 623, the Slavic tribes revolted against the oppression of the Avars. During this time, the Frankish merchant Samo allegedly came to the Czech lands with his entourage, thus the Slavs adopted Samo as their ruler. So it happened that he self-founded the first Slavic empire and he married the then twelve Slavic women had with them twenty-two sons and fifteen daughters and happily ruled for 35 years. To this day, historians are searching in vain for this strongholds actual location, after Samos death, his empire seems to have disappeared, in fact, however, there never was a real state structure with solid organization. The empire was created to unite Slavs to defend against Avars and Franks, once the Avar and Frankish danger had passed, the united empire disintegrated and the fragmented territories were ruled by Samos various followers. These remnants continued their development and became the core foundation for the future Great Moravian Empire. A Slavic state Great Moravia was created by the ancestors of the Czechs, Slovaks and Poles, the Duchy of Bohemia established in the 9th century raised to a Kingdom in 1198. The country reached its greatest territorial extent and is considered as the Golden Age, ferdinand II, who ruled 1619–1637, sharply curtailed the power of the largely Protestant representative assembly known as the Bohemian Estates. He confiscated lands of Protestant nobles and gave them to his Catholic friends, the Kingdom of Bohemia officially ceased to exist in 1918 when the Czecho-Slovak Republic was declared, a merger of the lands of the Bohemian Crown, Slovakia, and Carpathian Ruthenia
27.
Unetice culture
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The Únětice culture is an archaeological culture at the start of the Central European Bronze Age, dated roughly to about 2300–1600 BC. The eponymous site for culture, the village of Únětice, is located in the central Czech Republic. Today, this culture is known from Czech Republic and Slovakia from about 1,400 sites, from Poland. The Únětice culture is known from north-eastern Austria, and from western Ukraine. The Únětice culture originated in the territories of contemporary Bohemia, at the same time the first Úněticean burial ground was unearthed in Southern Moravia in Měnín by A. Rzehak. Following these initial discoveries and until the nineteen thirties, many sites, primarily cemeteries, were identified, e. g. Němčice nad Hanou, sites in vicinity of Prague. In Germany, a barrow in Leubingen was excavated by F. Klopfleisch already in 1877. At the same time, Adlerberg and Straubing groups were defined in 1918 by Schumacher, in Poland, the first archaeologist associated with the discovery and identification of the Únětice culture was Hans Seger. Seger not only discovered several Úněticean sites and supervised pioneering excavations e. g. in Przecławice, in 1935 Kostrzewski published the first data and findings of the Iwno culture, another and contemporaneous with Únětice EBA, archaeological culture from Western Poland. In 1960 Wanda Sarnowska begun excavations in Szczepankowice near Wrocław, southwest Poland, in 1969 she published a new monograph on the Únětice culture, in which she cataloged, analysed and described assemblages deriving from 373 known EBA Úněticean sites in Poland. The first unified system based on typology of ceramics and metal artifacts for the Únětice culture in Bohemia was introduced by Moucha in 1963. This chronological system, consisting of six sub-phases was considered as valid for the Bohemian groups of the Únětice culture, the ingots are found in hoards that can contain over six hundred pieces. Axe-hoards are common as well, the hoard of Dieskau contained 293 flanged axes, thus, axes might have served as ingots as well. After about 2000 BC, this hoarding tradition dies out and is resumed in the urnfield period. These hoards have formerly been interpreted as a storage by itinerant bronze-founders or riches hidden because of enemy action. This is likely as even today weapons are hoarded underground to them from the enemy. Hoards containing mainly jewellery are typical for the Adlerberg-group, but the Adlerberg cemetery of Hofheim/Taunus, contained the burial of a male who had died from an arrow-shot, the stone arrow-head still being located in his arm. The famous Sky Disk of Nebra is associated with Central Germany groups of the Únětice culture, from a technical point of view, Úněticean graves can be divided in two categories, flat graves and barrows
28.
Boii
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The Boii were a Gallic tribe of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul, Pannonia, parts of Bavaria, in and around Bohemia, and Gallia Narbonensis. In addition the archaeological evidence indicates that in the 2nd century BC Celts expanded from Bohemia through the Kłodzko Valley into Silesia, now part of Poland and the Czech Republic. They first appear in history in connection with the Gallic invasion of north Italy,390 BC, after a series of wars they were decisively beaten by the Romans in a battle near Mutina and their territory became part of the Roman province of Cisalpine Gaul. Around 60 BC, a group of Boii joined the Helvetiis ill-fated attempt to land in western Gaul and were defeated by Julius Caesar, along with their allies. Caesar settled the remnants of that group in Gorgobina, from where they sent two thousand to Vercingetorixs aid at the battle of Alesia six years later, the eastern Boii on the Danube were incorporated into the Roman Empire in 8 AD. From all the different names of the same Celtic people in literature and inscriptions it is possible to abstract a continental Celtic segment, There are two major derivations of this segment, both presupposing that it belongs to the family of Indo-European languages, from cow and from warrior. The Boii would thus be either the people or the warrior people. The cow derivation depends most immediately on the Old Irish legal term for outsider, ambue, from Proto-Celtic *ambouios, not a cattle owner. The latter were presumably the *ambouii, as opposed to the man of status, who was *bouios, an owner, and the *bouii were originally a class. Boii would be from the o-grade of *bhei-, which is *bhoi-, such a connection is possible if the original form of Boii belonged to a tribe of Proto-Indo-European speakers long before the time of the historic Boii. If that is the case, then the Celtic tribe of central Europe must have been a final population of a linguistically diversifying ancestor tribe. Indo-European reconstructions can be made using *gʷou- cow as a basis, contemporary derived words include Boiorix and Boiodurum in Germany. According to the ancient authors, the Boii arrived in northern Italy by crossing the Alps and it remains therefore unclear where exactly the Central European origins of the Boii lay, if somewhere in Gaul, Southern Germany or in Bohemia. Polybius relates that the Celts were close neighbors of the Etruscan civilization, invading the Po Valley with a large army, they drove out the Etruscans and resettled it, the Boii taking the right bank in the center of the valley. Strabo confirms that the Boii emigrated from their lands across the Alps and were one of the largest tribes of the Celts, the Boii occupied the old Etruscan settlement of Felsina, which they named Bononia. Their possessions consisted of cattle and gold, because these were the things they could carry about with them everywhere according to circumstances. They treated comradeship as of the greatest importance, those among them being the most feared and most powerful who were thought to have the largest number of attendants and associates. The archaeological evidence from Bologna and its vicinity contradicts the testimony of Polybius and Livy on some points and it much rather indicates that the Boii neither destroyed nor depopulated Felsinum, but simply moved in and became part of the population by intermarriage
29.
Marcomanni
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According to Tacitus and Strabo they were Suebian. It is believed their name derives possibly from the Proto-Germanic forms of march and men, *Markōmanniz, the Marcomanni first appear in historical records as confederates of the Suebi of Ariovistus fighting against Julius Caesar in Gaul, having crossed the Rhine from present-day southern Germany. The exact position of their lands at this time is not known, the fact that their name existed before the Romans had territory near the Danube or Rhine raises the question of which border they lived near in order to explain their name. It has been suggested that they may have lived near the conjunction of Rhine and this was described as being within the Hercynian forest and was possibly in the region of modern Bohemia, although this is not certain. By 6 BC, their king, Maroboduus, had established a kingdom there that Augustus perceived as a threat to Rome. Before he could act, however, the revolt in Illyria intervened, eventually Maroboduus was deposed and exiled by Catualda. Catualda was in turn deposed by Vibilius of the Hermunduri the same year, around 50 AD, Vannius was himself also deposed by Vibilius, in coordination with his nephews Vangio and Sido. Tacitus, in the late 1st century mentions the Marcomanni as being under kings appointed by Rome, in the 2nd century AD, the Marcomanni entered into a confederation with other peoples including the Quadi, Vandals, and Sarmatians, against the Roman Empire. This was probably driven by movements of larger tribes, like the Goths, according to the historian Eutropius, the forces of the emperor, Marcus Aurelius, battled against the Marcomannic confederation for three years at the fortress of Carnuntum in Pannonia. Eutropius compared the war, and Aureliuss success against the Marcomanni and their allies, the comparison was apt in that this war marked a turning point and had significant Roman defeats, it caused the death of two Praetorian Guard commanders. The war lasted until Aureliuss death in 180 and it would prove to be only a limited success for Rome, the Danube river remained as the frontier of the empire until the final fall of the West. The Christianisation of the Marcomanni, at least into a Roman orthodox form of Christianity, seems to have occurred under their queen and she corresponded with Ambrose of Milan to bring about the conversion. This was the last clear evidence of the Marcomanni having a polity and it was possibly on the Roman side of the Danube by this time. Soon after, the Pannonian and Danubian area went into a period of turmoil. These Suevi were probably a mix of Suevian groups from the north of Danube and Pannonian basin such as the Marcomanni, Quadi. There, Hermeric swore fealty to the emperor in 410, bracara Augusta, the modern city of Braga in Portugal, previously the capital of Roman Gallaecia, now became the capital of the Suebic Kingdom. The Danubian area meanwhile became the core of Attila the Huns empire, one group of them managed to reform into an independent group after the Battle of Nedao in 454, like many other groups who emerged from Attilas confederation. These Suevi eventually came into conflict with the Ostrogoths, who had been on the side at Nadao
30.
Samo
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Samo founded the first recorded political union of Slavic tribes, known as Samos Empire, stretching from Silesia to present-day Slovenia, ruling from 623 until his death in 658. In 631, Samo successfully defended his realm against the Frankish Kingdom in the three-day Battle of Wogastisburg, the dates for Samos rule are based on Fredegar, who says that he went to the Slavs in the fortieth year of Chlothar II and reigned for thirty five years. The Avars first arrived in the Pannonian Basin and subdued the local Slavs in the 560s, Samo may have been one of the merchants who supplied arms to the Slavs for their regular revolts. Whether he became king during a revolt of 623–24 or during one that followed the Avar defeat in 626. A string of victories over the Avars proved his utilitas to his subjects, Samo went on to secure his throne by marriage into the major Wendish families, wedding at least twelve women and fathering twenty-two sons and fifteen daughters. The most well-documented event of Samos career was his victory over the Frankish royal army under Dagobert I in 631 or 632. Provoked to action by a violent quarrel in the Pannonian kingdom of the Avars or Huns during his ninth year, the Franks were routed near Wogastisburg, an unidentified location meaning fortress/castle of Vogast. The majority of the armies were slaughtered, while the rest of the troops fled, leaving weapons. In the aftermath of the Wendish victory, Samo invaded Frankish Thuringia several times, the Sorbian prince Dervan abandoned the Franks and placed himself and his people under Samos realm. In 641 the rebellious duke of Thuringia, Radulf, sought an alliance with Samo against his sovereign, Samo also maintained long-distance trade relationships. On his death, however, his title was not inherited by his sons, ultimately, Samo can be credited with forging a Wendish identity by speaking on behalf of the community that recognised his authority. The main source of information on Samo and his empire is the Fredegarii Chronicon. Though theories of multiple authorship once abounded, the notion of a single Fredegar is now common scholarly fare, the last or only Fredegar was the author of a brief account of the Wends including the best, and only contemporary, information on Samo. According to Fredegar, Samo a Frank by birth from the Senonian province, although he was of Frankish origin, Samo demanded that an ambassador of Dagobert I put on Slavic clothes before entering his castle. All other sources for Samo are derived from Fredegar and are more recent. The Gesta Dagoberti I regis Francorum was written in the first third of the 9th century, the Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum from Salzburg, written in 871–72, is a very tendentious source, as its name suggests. According mainly to the Conversio, Samo was a Karantanian merchant, the sources Fredegar used to compile his Wendish account are unknown. A few scholars have attacked the entire account as fictitious, but Fredegar displays a critical attitude and it is possible that he had an eyewitness in the person of Sicharius, the ambassador of Dagobert I to the Slavs
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Great Moravia
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Great Moravia, the Great Moravian Empire, or simply Moravia, was the first major state that was predominantly Slavonic to emerge in the area of Central Europe. Its core territories were located on the Morava river which gave its name to the kingdom, Morava in both Czech and Slovak refers to both the river and the land of Moravia - the medieval Margraviate of Moravia, which is now the eastern part of the Czech Republic. The kingdom saw the rise of the first ever Slavic literary culture in the Old Church Slavonic language, after the fall of Great Moravia, its core territory was gradually divided between the newly ascending Czech Kingdom and Hungarian Kingdom, the frontier was originally settled on the Morava river. After this, the Czech-Hungarian border shifted east to the White Carpathians, záhorie also boasts the only surviving building from Great Moravian times - the chapel at Kopčany just across the Morava from the archaeological site of Mikulčice. The core of Great Moravia was established, according to legend, in the early 830s, when Prince Mojmír I crossed the Morava and conquered the principality of Nitra. The former principality of Nitra was used as the údelné kniežatsvo, or the given to, and ruled by. The extent and location of Great Moravia are a subject of debate, rival theories place the heart of it either south of the river Danube or on the Great Hungarian Plain. The exact date when the Moravian state was founded is also disputed, but it occurred in the early 830s under Prince Mojmír I. Moravia reached its largest territorial extent under Svätopluk I, who ruled from 870 to 894, separatism and internal conflicts emerging after Svätopluks death contributed to the fall of Great Moravia, which was overrun by the Hungarians. The exact date of Moravias collapse is unknown, but it occurred between 902 and 907, Moravia experienced significant cultural development under Prince Rastislav, with the arrival in 863 of the mission of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Rastislav had asked the Byzantine emperor to send a teacher to introduce literacy, the brothers Cyril and Methodius introduced a system of writing and Slavonic liturgy, the latter eventually formally approved by Pope Adrian II. The language, termed Old Church Slavonic, was the ancestral language for Bulgarian. Old Church Slavonic, therefore, differed somewhat from the local Slavic dialect of Great Moravia which was the idiom to the later dialects spoken in Moravia. Later, the disciples of Cyril and Methodius were expelled from Great Moravia by King Svätopluk I, arriving in the First Bulgarian Empire, the disciples continued the Cyrilo-Methodian mission and the Glagolitic script was superseded by Cyrillic. The meaning of the name has been subject to debate, the designation Great Moravia – megale Moravia in Greek – stems from the work De Administrando Imperio written by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos around 950. The emperor only used the adjective megale in connection with the polity when referring to events that occurred after its fall, according to a third theory, the megale adjective refers to a territory located beyond the borders of the Byzantine Empire. Finally, the historian Lubomír E. Havlík writes that Byzantine scholars used this adjective when referring to homelands of nomadic peoples, Morava is the Czech and Slovak name for both the river and the country. In modern German, the land of the medieval Margraviate of Moravia is called Mähren, as the territory was inhabited by Germanic tribes before the Slavs settled there, the name is possibly of Germanic origin, with the ending -ava usually explained as coming from the Germanic -ahwa
32.
Lands of the Bohemian Crown
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Under the rule of Ferdinand I from 1526, the lands of the Boheman Crown became a constituent part of the Habsburg Monarchy. Later they passed to the Austrian Empire and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary, by the Czechoslovak declaration of independence in 1918, the remaining Czech lands became part of the First Czechoslovak Republic. The Bohemian Crown was neither a personal union nor a federation of equal members, rather, the Kingdom of Bohemia had a higher status than the other incorporated constituent countries. There were only some common institutions of the Bohemian Crown. The most important of them was the Bohemian Court Chancellery which was united with the Austrian Chancellery in 1749, the Lands of the Bohemian Crown are called země Koruny české or simply Koruna česká and České země in Czech language, the adjective český referring to both Bohemian and Czech. The German term Länder der Böhmischen Krone is likewise shortened to Böhmische Krone or Böhmische Kronländer, native names include Silesian, Korana Czeskigo Krůlestwa, Lower Sorbian, zemje Českeje krony, and Upper Sorbian, kraje Čěskeje Króny. The denotation lands of the Crown of Saint Wenceslas refers to the Crown of Saint Wenceslas, in the 10th and 11th century the Duchy of Bohemia, together with Moravia and Kłodzko Land were consolidated under the ruling Přemyslid dynasty. Duke Ottokar I gained the royal title in 1198 from the German king Philip of Swabia for his support. The regality was ultimately confirmed by Philips nephew King Frederick II in the Golden Bull of Sicily issued in 1212 and he also achieved the enfeoffment with the Upper Lusatian lands of Bautzen and Görlitz by the German king Louis IV. King Johns eldest son Charles IV was elected King of the Romans in 1346, Charles IV created the Bohemian Crown, together with the incorporated provinces in 1348. The Luxembourg dynasty reached its point, when Charles was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1355. By his Imperial authority he decreed that the united Bohemian lands should endure regardless of dynastic developments, in 1367 he purchased Lower Lusatia from his stepson Margrave Otto V of Brandenburg. With King Wenceslaus, the decline of the Luxembourg dynasty began, nevertheless, the joint rule of the Bohemian Lands outlived the Hussite Wars and the extinction of the Luxembourg male line upon the death of Emperor Sigismund in 1437. In 1479 both kings signed the Treaty of Olomouc, whereby the unity of the Bohemian crown lands was officially retained unchanged, upon the death of King Matthias in 1490, Vladislas ruled the Bohemian crown lands and the Kingdom of Hungary in personal union. Attempts by the Bohemian Protestant estates to build up an autonomous confederation dashed at the 1620 Battle of White Mountain, whereafter the administration was centralised at Vienna. In the modern era, the crown lands of Bohemia, Moravia and Austrian Silesia became constituent parts of the Austrian Empire in 1804. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Austrian Silesia with the Hlučín Region is today known as Czech Silesia, with the exception of eastern Cieszyn Silesia which passed to the Second Polish Republic in 1920. The Brandenburg Electorate, acquired by Charles IV from Margrave Otto V in 1373, Charles son Sigismund lost Brandenburg in 1415 to Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg
33.
History of Czechoslovakia
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However, the gap between cultures was never fully bridged, and this discrepancy played a disruptive role throughout the seventy-five years of the union. The Czechs had lived primarily in Bohemia since the 6th century, after 1526, Bohemia came under the control of the House of Habsburg as their scions first became the elected rulers of Bohemia, then the hereditary rulers of the country. Subject peoples all over the Austro-Hungarian empire wanted to be free from the rule of the old aristocracy and the imperial family. Although the Czechs and Slovaks speak languages that are very similar, the reason was the differing attitude and position of their overlords – the Austrians in Bohemia and Moravia, and the Hungarians in Slovakia – within Austria-Hungary. Bohemia was the most industrialized part of Austria and Slovakia was the most industrialized part of Hungary – however at different levels of development. Furthermore, the Hungarians were far more determined to assimilate the Slovaks than the Austrians were to assimilate the Czechs, despite cultural differences, the Slovaks shared similar aspirations with the Czechs for independence from the Habsburg state. In 1916, during World War I, Tomáš Masaryk created the Czechoslovak National Council together with Edvard Beneš, Masaryk in the United States, Štefánik in France, and Beneš in France and Britain worked tirelessly to secure Allied recognition. About 1.4 million Czech soldiers fought in World War I,150,000 of which died, at times they controlled much of the Trans-Siberian railway, and they were indirectly involved in the shooting of the Russian tsar and his family in 1918. Their goal was to win the support of the Allies for the independence of Czechoslovakia, the independence of Czechoslovakia was officially proclaimed in Prague on 28 October 1918 in Smetana Hall of the Municipal House, a physical setting strongly associated with nationalist feeling. The Slovaks officially joined the two days later in the town of Martin. A temporary constitution was adopted, and Tomáš Masaryk was declared president on 14 November, the Treaty of St. Germain, signed in September 1919, formally recognized the new republic. Ruthenia was later added to the Czech lands and Slovakia by the Treaty of Trianon in June 1920, there were also various border conflicts between Poland and Czechoslovakia due to the anexion of Zaolzie region. The new state was characterized by problems with its diversity, the separate histories of the Czech and Slovak peoples and their greatly differing religious, cultural. The Germans and Magyars of Czechoslovakia openly agitated against the territorial settlements, nevertheless, the new republic saw the passage of a number of progressive reforms in areas such as housing, social security, and workers’ rights. Still, the Czech lands were far more industrialized than Slovakia, most light and heavy industry was located in the German-dominated Sudetenland and most industrial concerns there were controlled by Germans and German-owned banks. Subcarpathian Ruthenia was essentially without industry, in 1929, the gross domestic product increased by 52% and industrial production by 41% as compared to 1913. In 1938, Czechoslovakia held 10th place in the world for industrial production, the Czechoslovak state was conceived as a parliamentary democracy. The constitution identified the Czechoslovak nation as the creator and principal constituent of the Czechoslovak state and established Czech, the operation of the new Czechoslovak government was distinguished by its political stability
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