Our extensive Czech History section covers over 1200 years of the history of the Czech lands, starting with the early Slavic settlement around 6th century AD and ending with Czech Republic’s entry into the European Union.
Basic historical outline followed by more detailed descriptions of individual periods of Czech history – the Great Moravian Empire (9th century), the Premysl Dynasty (9th century – 1306), the Luxembourg Dynasty (1310 – 1437), the Hussite Revolution (1419 – 1436), The Jagiellon Dynasty (1471 – 1526), the Habsburg Dynasty (1526 – 1918), the foundation of the modern Czech nation and Independent state (from 1918).
Back to the Neolithic area, archaeologists have found out human settlements in the country. Germanic tribes of Marcomanni and Quadi settled in most parts of the Czech country in the 3rd century B.C., an advent of the Celtic migrations. Moreover, other tribes had also moved into the country. The Slavic people were also one of the many tribes settled on the lands of the Czech Republic. But then, they had not settled much in one place for they had travelled from Bohemia, Moravia, and to Austria.
Around the 5th century A.D., the Czechs founded the Bohemian Kingdom and the Premyslid dynasty. The dynasty then ruled Bohemia and Moravia from the 10th to 16th century. Furthermore, the kingdom of Bohemia had greatly manifested regional power during the Middle Ages and it was regarded as a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Prague, the capital of the state, was established by one of the Bohemian Kings, Charles IV, a Holy Roman Emperor. Prague was then the centre of Latin scholarship and imperial capital of the country.
As several kings ruled the country, King Přemysl Otakar II and Charles IV had really made their leadership and contributed a great significance to the country’s developments. Czechs had encountered the “Dark Age” and other famines. The Czech Republic was once a unitary state of Czechoslovakia but was later on split into two, through the Velvet Revolution, producing independent states of Czech Republic and Slovakia having economic reforms and privatisations. The Czech Republic is a member of the European Union (since 2004) and NATO (since 1999).
