Ethnic Czechs were calledBohemians inEnglish until the early 20th century,[17] referring to the former name of their country, Bohemia, which in turn was adapted from the lateIron Age tribe of CelticBoii. During theMigration Period, West Slavictribes settled in the area, "assimilated the remaining Celtic and Germanic populations",[citation needed] and formed a principality in the 9th century, which was initially part ofGreat Moravia, in form ofDuchy of Bohemia and laterKingdom of Bohemia, the predecessors of the modern republic.
The Czech ethnic group is part of theWest Slavic subgroup of the larger Slavic ethno-linguistical group. The West Slavs have their origin in early Slavic tribes which settled in Central Europe afterEast Germanic tribes had left this area during themigration period.[18] The West Slavic tribe of Czechs settled in the area ofBohemia during the migration period, and assimilated the remaining Celtic and Germanic populations.[19] In the 9th century theDuchy of Bohemia, under thePřemyslid dynasty, was formed, which had been part ofGreat Moravia under Svatopluk I. According tomythology, the founding father of the Czech people wasForefather Čech, who according to legend brought the tribe of Czechs into its land.
The Czechs are closely related to the neighbouringSlovaks (with whom they constitutedCzechoslovakia 1918–1939, 1945-1992). TheCzech–Slovak languages form a dialect continuum rather than being two clearly distinct languages.[20] Czech cultural influence in Slovak culture is noted as having been much higher than the other way around.[21] Czech (Slavic) people have a long history of coexistence with the Germanic people. In the 17th century, German replaced Czech in central and local administration; upper classes in Bohemia and Moravia were Germanized, and espoused a political identity (Landespatriotismus), while Czech ethnic identity survived among the lower and lower-middle classes.[22] TheCzech National Revival took place in the 18th and 19th centuries aiming to revive Czech language, culture and national identity. The Czechs were the initiators ofPan-Slavism.[23]
The Czech ethnonym (archaicČechové) was the name of a Slavic tribe in central Bohemia that subdued the surrounding tribes in the late 9th century and created the Czech/Bohemian state. The origin of the name of the tribe itself is unknown. According to legend, it comes from their leaderČech, who brought them to Bohemia. The exact etymology ofČech is uncertain, with most common derivation relating it to the rootčel- (member of the people, kinsman).[24][25][26][27] The Czech ethnonym was adopted by the Moravians in the 19th century.[28]
The population of the Czech lands has been influenced by differenthuman migrations that wide-crossed Europe over time. In theirY-DNA haplogroups, which are inherited along the male line, Czechs have shown a mix of Eastern and Western European traits. Studies on 1750 and 257 samples found out frequenices ofR1a (34.2-36.94%),R1b (24.78%-28.0%),I2 (11.3%),I1 (8.33%),E (5.1-6.63%),G (5.1%),J2 (3.5%),J1 (0-2%), andN (1.6%).[29][33][34] The haplogroup R1a is predominantly represented by its more Western Slavic clade R1a-M458 (>30%) as more Eastern Slavic clade R-M558 is in a small minority (<6%).[34][35] Based on haplotype similarity, Czechs are most similar to neighboringSlovaks, but although "a sharp genetic border was found between Poland and Germany, the frequency distribution of haplotypes in the Czech Republic and its neighbours resembles far more a smooth cline than a sharp border".[33][34] AmtDNA study of 179 individuals from Western Bohemia showed that 3% had East Eurasian lineages that perhaps entered the gene pool through admixture with Central Asian nomadic tribes in the early Middle Ages.[36]
During the 7th century, the Frankish merchantSamo, supporting the Slavs fighting against nearby settledAvars, became the ruler of the first known Slav state in Central Europe,Samo's Empire. The principalityGreat Moravia, controlled by theMoymir dynasty, arose in the 8th century and reached its zenith in the 9th (during the reign ofSvatopluk I of Moravia) when it held off the influence of the Franks. Great Moravia was Christianized, the crucial role playedByzantine mission ofCyril and Methodius. TheDuchy of Bohemia emerged in the late 9th century. In 880,Prague Castle was constructed byPrince Bořivoj, founder of thePřemyslid dynasty and the city ofPrague was established.Vratislav II was the first Czech king in 1085 and the duchy was raised to a hereditarykingdom underOttokar I in 1198.
The second half of the 13th century was a period of advancingGerman immigration into theCzech lands. The number of Czechs who have at least partly German ancestry today probably runs into hundreds of thousands.[42] TheHabsburg Monarchy focused much of its power on religious wars against the Protestants. While these religious wars were taking place, the Czech estates revolted against Habsburg from 1546 to 1547 but were ultimately defeated.[43]
Defenestrations of Prague in 1618, signaled an open revolt by the Bohemian estates against the Habsburgs and started theThirty Years' War. After theBattle of White Mountain in 1620, all Czech lands were declared hereditary property of the Habsburg family. The German language was made equal to the Czech language.
Czech patriotic authors tend to call the following period, from 1620 to 1648 until the late 18th century, the "Dark Age". It is characterized by devastation by foreign troops;Germanization; and economic and political decline. It is estimated that the population of theCzech lands declined by a third.[44]
The 18th and 19th century is characterized by theCzech National Revival, focusing to revive Czech culture and national identity.
Since the turn of the 20th century, Chicago is the city with the third largest Czech population, afterPrague andVienna.[45][46]
TheWarsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 was followed by a wave of emigration, unseen before and stopped shortly after in 1969 (estimate: 70,000 immediately, 300,000 in total),[50] typically of highly qualified people.
Tens of thousands of Czechs had repatriated fromVolhynia andBanat after World War II. Since the 1990s, the Czech Republic has been working to repatriateRomania andKazakhstan's ethnic Czechs.[51][52]
Many people are considered national heroes and cultural icons, many national stories concern their lives.Jan Hus was a religious reformist from the 15th century and spiritual father of theHussite Movement.[55]Jan Žižka andProkop the Great were leaders of hussite army,George of Poděbrady was a hussite king.Albrecht von Wallenstein was a notable military leader during the Thirty Years' War. Theteacher of nationsJan Amos Komenský is also considered a notable figure in Czech history.[56]Joseph Radetzky von Radetz was an Austrian general staff during the later period of the Napoleonic Wars.Josef Jungmann is often credited for expanding the modern Czech language, and preventing its extinction.[57] The most famous Czech historian wasFrantišek Palacký, often-called "father of nation".
Czech musicians also played an important role in the development of European music.Jan Václav Antonín Stamic in 18th-century contributed to the creation ofClassicism in music[66] by innovations of compositional forms and the founding of theMannheim school. Similarly,Antonín Rejcha's experiments prefigured new compositional techniques in the 19th century.[67] The influence of Czech musicians expanded beyond the borders of theEuropean continent, whenAntonín Dvořák created a newAmerican classical music style, using the richness of ethnic music of that country during his mission in theUS. The contribution ofAlois Hába tomicrotonal music in the 20th century must be also mentioned.
The Czech Republic first entered theEurovision Song Contest in2007. Czech performer qualified for the grand final for the first time in2016 when singerGabriela Gunčíková finished in 25th place. In2018 the singerMikolas Josef reached the 6th place in the contest being the best result of the Czech Republic until today.
Greater coat of arms of the Czech Republic shows symbols of historical landsBohemia,Moravia,Silesia
The Czechs live in three historical lands:Bohemia,Moravia, andCzech Silesia;[84] these regions make up the modern Czech Republic. However, the country is now divided into 14 administrative regions.[85] The local culture varies somewhat in each of the historical regions.[86]Moravians are usually more nationalistic regional patriots of Moravia, but they also speakCzech. Local dialects (such asCentral Bohemian, theChod dialect,Moravian dialects,Cieszyn Silesian, etc.) are found in various parts of the country.[87]
In 1977,Richard Felix Staar described Czechs as "tolerant and even indifferent towards religion as a rule".[91]
After theBohemian Reformation, most Czechs (about 85%) becamefollowers ofJan Hus,Petr Chelčický and other regionalProtestant Reformers. Bohemian Estates' defeat in theBattle of White Mountain brought radical religious changes and started a series of intense actions taken by the Habsburgs in order to bring the Czech population back to the Roman Catholic Church. After theHabsburgs regained control of Bohemia, Czech people were forcibly converted toRoman Catholicism. All kinds of Protestant communities including the various branches of Hussites,Lutherans andReformed were either expelled, killed, or converted to Catholicism. The Catholic Church lost the bulk of its adherents during the Communist era.
As of 2015, Pew Research Center found in that 72% of the population of Czech Republic declared to beirreligious, a category which includesatheists,agnostics and those who describe their religion as "nothing in particular", 26% wereChristians (vast majorityCatholics),[14] while 2% belonged to other faiths.
^This number is a lower estimate, as 2,742,669 people opted out declaring ethnicity in 2011, vast majority of whom were ethnic Czechs as the figure from the 2001 census would suggest, where there were 9.25 million Czechs, excludingMoravians (9.8 million with them included).
^Spal, Jaromír (1953)."Původ jména Čech" [Origin of the nameČech].Naše řeč (Our Speech) (in Czech).36 (9–10). The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic:263–267.Archived from the original on 9 December 2012. Retrieved11 October 2012.
^Underhill, Peter A. (2015), "The phylogenetic and geographic structure of Y-chromosome haplogroup R1a",European Journal of Human Genetics,23 (1):124–131,doi:10.1038/ejhg.2014.50,PMC4266736,PMID24667786
^Malyarchuk; et al. (2006). "Mitochondrial DNA Variability in the Czech Population, with Application to the Ethnic History of Slavs".Human Biology.78 (6):681–695.doi:10.1353/hub.2007.0014.PMID17564247.S2CID18334288.
^Bohemia and Poland. Chapter 20.pp 512-513. [in:] Timothy Reuter. The New Cambridge Medieval History: c. 900 – c. 1024. 2000
^The exact dating of Slavic settlement is a matter of dispute amongst scholars. See e.g. Curta ("The Slavs in Bohemia: A Response to my critics; 2009") who favours a 7th-century settlement versus Nada Profantova, who argues a 6th-century settlement
^Jaroslav Jirik "Bohemian Barbarians. Bohemia in late Antiquity", inNeglected Barbarians Brepols 2010[page needed]
^Gruner, Wolf. 2015. Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. In: Wolf Grüner & Jörg Osterloh (eds.),The Greater German Reich and the Jews: Nazi Persecution Policies in the Annexed Territories 1935–1945, pp. 99–135. Transl. Bernard Heise. New York: Berghahn, p. 103.
^Ramsden, John. 2002.The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century British Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 450.
^Rothschild, Joseph. 1974.East Central Europe between the Two World Wars. Seattle: University of Washington Press, p. 366.
^Maurice, Edmund (1908).The story of Bohemia from the earliest times to the fall of national independence in 1620;: With a short summary of later events. Fisher, Unwin.
^Mershman, Francis."St. Wenceslaus". Kevin Knight.Archived from the original on 29 September 2022. Retrieved10 February 2008.
Berger, Tilman (July 2003). "Slovaks in Czechia—Czechs in Slovakia".International Journal of the Sociology of Language (162).doi:10.1515/ijsl.2003.035.
Wiskemann, Elizabeth (1967).Czechs & Germans: a study of the struggle in the historic provinces of Bohemia and Moravia. Royal Institute of International Affairs; Macmillan.
Mastny, Vojtech (1971).The Czechs under Nazi Rule. Columbia University Press.
Hermann, Adolf Hanus (1975).A History of the Czechs. Lane, Allen.
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