Religion
During the communist era, no official statistics were kept on religion, though the activities of churches were financed by the government following the
nationalization
of all church property by 1949.
Atheism
was the official policy of the communist government, and the churches’ role was largely restricted to religious
rites
. Although religious freedom was restored in 1989, in the early 21st century almost nine-tenths of Czechs claimed no religious affiliation. A visit to
Czechoslovakia
by Pope
John Paul II
in April 1990 celebrated the resurgence of
Roman Catholicism
, and roughly one-tenth of Czechs are adherents of that faith. There are also
Eastern Orthodox
congregations and various small Protestant sects, of which the
Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren
is one of the most important. A significant number of Czechs are members of the national Czech church, which was founded in 1920 and took the name
Czechoslovak Hussite Church
in 1972.
Settlement patterns
Industrialization and urbanization have changed the face of the Czech traditional regions, although
Bohemia
and, to a lesser extent,
Moravia
are still recognizable entities, reflecting different national and cultural heritages. Southern Bohemia and southeastern Moravia preserve local traditions of cuisine, and residents wear folk costumes on special occasions. Traditional wooden architecture is a distinctive feature of some rural areas.
Britannica Quiz
Which Country Is Larger By Area? Quiz
Population density in the Czech Republic is high; in general,
communities
are only a few miles apart. A notable exception are some frontier areas?the low densities of which reflect the induced emigration of minorities, such as the three million
Sudeten
Germans who were expelled after
World War II
. Rural settlements are characteristically compact, but in the mountainous regions, colonized during the 13th and 14th centuries, villages straggling along narrow valleys are common. The collectivization of farmland that took place in the decades following World War II resulted in a pattern of large, regularly shaped fields, replacing the centuries-old division of land into small, irregular, privately owned plots.
Urbanization in the Czech Republic is not particularly high for an industrialized
country
, with about three-fourths of the population being urban. Even the smallest urban centres, however, usually contain some manufacturing industry.
Prague
, the national capital, has historically occupied a predominant role.
Brno
is the chief industrial and cultural city of Moravia. Other large cities include
Ostrava
, the leading coal-mining and steel centre, and
Plze?
, with old, established engineering and brewing industries.
New towns were founded both before and after World War II. Notable among prewar settlements is the Moravian valley town of
Zlin
, founded in 1923. The towns of
Havi?ov
, in the Ostrava region, and Ostrov, near
Karlovy Vary
in the west, were built since World War II.