The Czech Republic is a landlocked central European country comprising the historic regions of Bohemia, Moravia and parts of Silesia. Its capital and largest city is Prague (Praha in Czech). It is bordered by Poland, Germany, Austria and Slovakia.
Settled by Celtic and Germanic tribes since the Neolithic era, the Czech lands were under Habsburg rule from the 16th century on and were part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until its dissolution after World War I. Czechoslovakia was formed in 1918 after World War I. It was occupied by the Nazis during World War II and fared very poorly, with approximately 390,000 of its citizens being killed and hundreds of thousands of others imprisoned. There was an active Czech resistance movement and Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich was assassinated in 1942 in Prague. The occupation ended in 1945 with the arrival of Soviet and American troops; in the succeeding years, most German residents were deported to Germany and Austria. Czechoslovakia then became a Communist state from 1948 until the 1989 Velvet Revolution. At the beginning of 1993, the country peacefully split into the Czech and Slovak republics. Czech writer and dramatist Václav Havel, whose work was at one time banned from theaters, was the ninth and final president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic, serving from 1989 to 2003.
The Czech economy recovered quickly following the Communist era and is very healthy today, with tourism being a significant factor. Due to its great beauty, Prague is a very popular destination, as are Bohemian castle towns such as Ceský Krumlov. The Czech Republic is also famous for its love of puppetry and marionettes, and for originating Pilsner-style beer.