Czechs
Comenius, Jan Hus, Frantisek Palacky, Jan Evangelista Purkinje, Charles IV, Alfons Mucha, Vratislav II, Bedrich Smetana Comenius • Jan Hus • František Palackı • Jan Evangelista Purkyně Charles IV • Alfons Mucha • Vratislaus II of Bohemia • Bedřich Smetana
Total population
over 12 million
Regions with significant populations
Czech Republic: 10,235,455 (July 2006 est.)  United States: 1,258,450[1]  Brazil: 518,000[2]  Canada: 79,915 (2001) The template is . Please use instead. This usage is deprecated. Please replace it with {{tdeprecated|Czechs|Country}}. '''The template is deprecated. Please use instead. : 20,000-50,000  Slovakia: 46,000  Argentina: 38,000  Austria: 20,000  Switzerland: 20,000  Ukraine: 11,000  France: 10,731 (1990)  Croatia: 10,510 (2001)  Ireland: 5,278[3]  Israel: 8,000  Sweden: 7,175 (2001)  Bulgaria: 436  United Kingdom: 6,000  Spain: 5,622 (2006)  Russia: 5,000~6,000  Netherlands: 3,500  Romania: 3,339 (2002)  Poland: 3,000  South Africa: 2,300  Serbia: 2,211 (2002)  Mexico: 2,000 600~1,000[4] in the Czech Republic include Moravians: 380,474 (2001) Silesians: 10,878 (2001)
Languages
Czech
Religions
Non-religious 59%, Roman Catholic 26.8%, Protestant 2.1%, other 3.3%, unspecified 8.8%[5]
Related ethnic groups
other West Slavs

Czechs (Czech: Češi) are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs live also in Slovakia, Austria, U.S., Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries. They speak the Czech language, which is closely related to the Slovak language.

Among the ancestors of the Czechs are ancient Slavic tribes who inhabited the regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia from the 6th century onwards.

The most successful and influential of all Czech kings was by far Charles IV (Karel IV), who also became the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. The Luxembourg dynasty represents the heights of Czech (Bohemian) statehood territorial and influence as well as advancement in many areas of human endeavors.

Many people, most notably the religious reformist Jan Hus and the warlord Jan Žižka from the 1400s, are considered national heroes and many national legends and stories concern their lives.

There are also ancient folk stories about the Czech people, such as the Forefather Čech, who according to legend brought the tribe of Czechs into its land or Přemysl, the Ploughman, who started the dynasty that ruled for 400 years until 1306.

The Czech people also take much pride in saints who benefited the Czech culture, most notably St. Wenceslaus (Václav) patron of the Czech nation, St. Vitus (Vít) (whom has a cathedral named after him in Prague: see St. Vitus Cathedral), St. John of Nepomuk (Jan Nepomuckı), St. Prokop, St. Adalbert (Vojtěch), St. Ludmila, and St. Agnes of Bohemia (Anežka Česká).

See also

• List of Czechs
• Demographics of the Czech Republic
• The Greatest Czech

Further reading

• Hroch, Miroslav (2004). "From ethnic group toward the modern nation: the Czech case". Nations and Nationalism 10 (1/2): 95-107. 

References