The first inhabitants of the Czech lands were prehistoric fish Thats because the country at the time was covered by a prehistoric ocean  thanks to which it is possible to find some very nice fossils of trilobytes in the Czech Republic today 
Todays Czech Republic was later populated by dinosaurs of all sorts and later by neanderthals and even by mammoths The prehistoric settlement of the presentday Czech Republic by people culminated in the fourth century BC with the arrival of the Celts the first modern human inhabitants of this territory that we know of In fact the Latin name for the Czech lands Boiohaemum Bohemia is derived from the name of the Boii Celtic tribe; and the Czech name for the Moldau River which flows through the capital city of Prague is Vltava  which is said to come from the Celtic Vlt meaning wild and Va meaning water 
The Czech Celts were in part chased out of the region and in part assimilated by the next peoples to inhabit the area: the Germanic Marcomanni and Quadi tribes from the west and the Romans from the south The Romans didnt actually occupy Czech territory  they only got as far north as the Danube River which flows from Germany  through Austria along its border with Slovakia  and then over to Hungary before continuing on to Yugoslavia and so just misses the Czech lands During the Migration of Peoples  roughly from the d to the th centuries AD  Slav colonization spread westward from the Steppes of the East probably from Panonia all the way to the territory of the presentday Czech Republic and up to Poland and down again to Yugoslavia From probably the sixth century AD on the Slavic peoples settled in several waves of migration into the regions which had been conveniently abandoned by the Germanic tribes 
This is the way that it all came to be  according to popular Czech legend: Once upon a time there were three brothers: Czech Lech and Rus One day they decided to find a new place to live and so they and their tribes set out on a journey They got as far as the Dnieper River when Rus said This is the place for me and my tribe! and there the Russians stayed Czech who is known as Praotec Cech or Ancestor Czech in these parts  and Lech continued Soon they came upon a rich land overflowing with milk and honey and Czech climbed to the top of Rip hill in Bohemia and decided that this was the place for him and for his tribe Lech and his people continued their journey and settled in presentday Poland Other versions of the legend have  brothers in all with the addition of other Slav nations like the Croats who have a similar legend about  wandering brothers and some others whose names are not remembered anymore One modern interpretation of the story has the Czechs spending some time in Greece before finally heading north and settling and this would actually conveniently explain the similarities between certain Czech legends like that of Bruncviks odyssey or of Sarka and her band of women warriors with Greek ones 
Czech legend goes on to say that Cechs people were happy in the Czech lands and after a few generations and some time had passed the Slavs of Bohemia had a new leader  a guy by the name of Krok who lived at Vysehrad which means high castle and is today the site of the Czech National Cemetery Probably the most important thing about Krok were his three very beautiful daughters who were named Kazi Teta and Libuse The last of these Libuse had special powers which allowed her to see the future Kazi the oldest was a healer who knew the secrets of the plants and herbs while Teta was high priestess 
Libuses talent came in particularly handy when it came time for her to marry According to legend she inherited rule over the Czech tribes from her father Krok As ruler of the lands she was also the highest court of appeal for disputes among the people It is said that a guy who did not like one of her decisions as judge started a stink about the fact that the Czechs were ruled by a woman And so Libuse had a vision  and sent her white horse accompanied by a group of her subjects  to go out and find a guy ploughing in his field After a journey of some days the horse and the humans did indeed come upon just such a man and nobody seemed surprised at all at this  neither the humans nor the horse nor even the man himself and Przemysl Ploughman Premysl Orac in Czech came to Vysehrad and married Libuse and took over the job of ruling the unruly Czechs and he and Libuse together started the Przemyslid Dynasty which ruled over the Czech lands till the th century  
One day not long after the wedding Libuse had a vision in which she foretold of the glory of the Czech capital Standing atop Vysehrad hill she went into a trance and told her vision to the people even as the gods sent it to her She said that on the seven hills of Prague a fair city would grow the fame of which would rise to the very stars And all that she saw and all of which she foretold really came true Of course! 
No while Cech and Libuse are the stuff of imaginative Czech legend it is believed that Samo  who may or may not have ruled this part of the world in the first half of the seventh century AD  was probably a real person Its hard to tell though since nobody is sure of minor details like where Samo was from where Samo lived or where Samo ruled  if that is he existed at all If he did he is thought to have been a Frankish merchant who placed himself on the side of the Slavs against the wicked Avar tribes of Hungary He is mentioned in early chronicles where his address is given as Wogastisburg Fortress Nobody today knows where this Wogastisburg Fortress was  but its believed by Czechs to have stood on Rubin hill in Bohemia 
Wherever Samos home base really was his rule seems to represent the first successful attempt at uniting the Slavic tribes  and since the Slavs are not exactly known for their brotherly love for one another then again who in Europe is? this was quite a feat The reason for this unification under Samo was predictably quite pragmatic The Slavic tribes cooperated in order to withstand attacks by the Avars a powerful Asian tribe whose home was on the plains of Hungary 
At some point Charlemagne joined in the battle against the Avars in this part of the world cooperating either with Samo or with the state structure that came after him  the Great Moravian Empire 
Again reports on the Great Moravian Empire are fuzzy According to period chronicles the people living along the Morava River at the time were already known as Moravians and their shortlived empire existed somewhere between todays Slovakia and Germany and Poland and Austria that is somewhere in todays Czech Republic in the th and/or th century Just like Wogastisburg Fortress its claimed to have stood in different places by all the people who live in those different places 
At some time during the ninth century Greater Moravia was ruled by the Moravian prince Svatopluk and had grown to include todays South Moravia the southernmost bits of presentday Poland and Silesia the western part of Hungary and for a short time the whole of Bohemia Perhaps the most important thing about the Great Moravians is that theirs was the first legal sort of state structure in the area to accept Christianity and the cultural development of the Greater Moravian Empire is inseparably linked to the spread of the eastern Byzantine liturgy of Sts Cyril and Methodius who came to these parts in  They were invited by the Moravians  who were interested in Christianity but couldnt understand the language in which it was preached at the time Cyril and Methodius were chosen for the mission because they understood and were able to speak in the Slavic tongue again lending weight to the theory that the Slavs of these parts had not long before been spending some time in Greece 
Some buildings from around about this time still stand  mostly Romanesque basilicas like the one on Rip Hill the very hill that GreatGranddad Czech liked so much! at Vysehrad in Pragues Old Town and at other places It was Cyril and Methodius too who brought the written word to the region the Cyrillic alphabet is named for Cyril even though his real name was not Cyril but Constantine  The beginning of a written Slavic language was to be of enormous importance to Slavic nations in the Middle Ages On the downside the introduction of Christianity to this territory was so overwhelmingly successful that we know very little today about the preChristian religion of the pagan Slavs 
Greater Moravian Empire disintegrated thanks to the Hungarian invasion of  or  and political intrigue in the early days of the Holy Roman Empire After that the Slavic mission in Moravia  which had been established by the missionaries Cyril and Methodius  collapsed and the population reverted to tribal conditions The Christian heritage of the Greater Moravian Empire however was to be preserved with the ascent of the Przemyslid dynasty to the throne of Bohemia 

With the Great Moravian Empire out of the way the Przemyslid family succeeded in laying the foundations of a Czech state somewhere around the the end of the ninth century They did this mostly by ridding themselves of all of the things that were standing in their way like the Vrsovic and Slavnik clans  which the Przemyslids murdered in a particularly bloody manner  The only Vrsovec to escape the massacre of his family was Adalbert but it didnt do him much good Adalbert was so thankful for his salvation that he became a Christian missionary and headed northwest to the area of todays northeast Germany to spread the Word No sooner did he arrive at his destination than he was brutally roasted and eaten by the inhabitants Adalbert or Vojtech as he is known in Czech is another of the Czech nations patron saints today 
 

But Vojtech was not the only early Czech guy to be made a saint thanks to the Przemyslids bloodthirstiness On the contrary  the Przemyslid rulers were rather a mixed bag and when they ran out of rival clans to murder they started murdering each other  resulting in some more early saints for the Czechs 

Wenceslas I the fourth Przemyslid Czech ruler was made a saint soon after his murder in 929 or 935 This Wenceslas in Czech Vaclav is the Good King Wenceslas of the Christmas carol and it was during his reign that the Czech lands entered into an alliance with Saxony thereby laying the foundations for closer relations with the restored Roman Empire 

This mischievous affability on Wenceslas part towards the Czechs western neighbors is a main reason that he was killed by his brother who wasnt very good in fact he is known as Boleslav the Cruel Another reason might be that Boleslav was a pagan and he felt that Wenceslas was frittering away too much time with this new Christian fashion hed picked up  though lust for power probably also played a role in Boleslavs motive for the murder which took place at the very door of the church in Stara Boleslav where Wenceslas was trying to seek refuge 

Incidentally Boleslav and Wenceslas Grandmother on their fathers side was also murdered and also made a saint It is said that she was either smothered to death with a pillow or choked to death  this time the killer was her daughterinlaw Boleslav and Wenceslas mother and the motive was again power Drahomira wanted to place Wenceslas on the throne 

Things didnt get much better within the Przemyslid family it is suspected that  Interestingly enough the Przemyslids are remembered rather fondly in the Czech Republic today as it seems that most people are blissfully unaware of the familys murderous streak 

Maybe that is because the Przemyslids occasionally took time off from their favorite sport to increase Bohemias power and prestige In typical early feudal fashion this meant that they went out killing people in other countries instead expanding their empire to Moravia and Silesia as well as the upper reaches of the river Vistula and parts of western Slovakia In Moravia they set up a system of dukedoms with the office of Margrave ruler of Moravia sometimes being held by the Bohemian Dauphin sometimes by a rival for the Bohemian throne In this way the Przemyslide dynastic killings were stayed and both Bohemia and Moravia came to be regarded as hereditary lands of the Przemyslid dynasty All the while the expansion of the Przemyslid Dynastys power went hand in hand with the spread of Christianity in the region 

 This growing Przemyslide state maintained its sovereignty though it formally recognized the feudal supremacy of the RomanGerman Empire The Czech lands ranked among the most advanced of the European feudal states being at the forefront of economic power and cultural achievement at the time In keeping with this growing importance the territory was officially recognized through the granting of a royal crown to the Przemyslid Dynasty in the eleventh century it was made hereditary in 1212 by the Golden Sicilian Bull and the granting of the title of emperor for Czech rulers 

The 1100s and 1200s were a very busy time in this part of Europe and colonization trade and cultural activity were steadily on the increase Prague which lay smack dab in the middle of several continental trade routes flourished Pragues Old Town was founded in 1234 as the first of Pragues five towns and the Lesser Quarter was founded in 1257 Border forests were settled and towns and fortresses were founded and fortified These sweeping changes literally transformed the country and in keeping with these physical changes the social structure of the territory also evolved From about this time aristocrats burghers and serfs were to be spotted in the Czech lands  as were German settlers who were invited to colonize previously uninhabited mostly border regions of Bohemia and Moravia The German settlers whether burghers or peasants did not form a homogeneous or politically separate group and they soon became part of the local community identifying with Czech statehood and sharing in the development of the Czech and Moravian lands as fully enfranchised members of the population but mostly but keeping their native language in addition to learning Czech Many many many many centuries later the places that they settled would come to be known as the Sudetenland 

From the thirteenth century the Czech kingdom was one of the most robust states in all of Europe with a growing population and a vigorous economy This in turn made the Czech nobility and rulers all the more rich and powerful and enabled king Przemysl Otakar II to expand his territory rather extensively if briefly Otakar II was quite wellknown in his time and he even makes an appearance in Dantes Divine Comedy Otokar II also known as the King of Gold and Iron because of his considerable wealth and his considerable military might defeated the armies of the Hungarian king in 1256 and again in 1260 This military victory allowed him to annex the Alpine countries todays Austria and beyond  extending his territories all the way to the Adriatic Sea Some people claim that this brief period  in which Bohemia controlled territory bordering on the sea  is the basis for Shakespeares infamous Bohemian seacoast from his play The Tempest 

Well while the Czech lands were gaining power prestige oceanfront property and other things a powerful rival appeared in Germany in the person of the newlyelected ruler of the Holy Roman Empire Rudolf Habsburg  a member of a previously unimportant family from the Rhineland This Rudolf formed an alliance of German princes and  after the Czech King Przemysl Otakar II was killed in battle in Moravia against the combined Roman and Hungarian forces on August 26 1278  Rudolf took possession of the abovementioned Alpine lands which later became the basis of the Habsburgs power  ie Austria 

The late Czech King Przemysl Otakar II was succeeded by his son Wenceslas II 12781305 Under his reign the mining of Czech silver at Kutna Hora and the minting of the Czech silver groschen  one of the hardest European currencies of the time  flourished Wenceslas II also created a confederation between Bohemia and Poland For a short time Hungary  under the rule of Matthias Czak Trenciansky who held absolute rule over most of Slovakia as well  also joined this confederation 

The PolishCzech union was strengthened under the brief rule of Wenceslas III Had it survived it might have contributed to the creation of a more advanced region in Europe as the earlier Czech Austrian union had However this was precluded by the death of young Wenceslas III in 1306 when he was just 17 years old Wenceslas III was the last male member of the Przemyslids line and after his death the CzechPolish union fell apart


With the demise of Wenceslas III the last of the Przemyslid rulers of the Czech lands the difficult question of who should rule next had to be answered And answered it was  by 14yearold John of Luxembourg the first of the Luxembourgs to occupy the Czech throne 13101437 John of Luxembourg gained this position with the support of the Czech nobility by marrying 18yearold Eliska Przemyslova the sister of the late Wenceslas III 

Under John of Luxembourgs rule more territories  including the regions of Cheb Lusatia and Silesia  were joined to Bohemia All of these regions together under the rule of John of Luxembourg came to be known as the Lands of the Czech Crown So you see there never was an easy oneword way like Czechia to describe this part of the world not even in way back in the 14th century 

John of Luxembourg was a good king but he had a fatal weakness for chivalry knighthood honour  and especially for battles He loved to fight When there werent any battles in his immediate neighborhood he went abroad to help his friends fight their battles And so it happened that he fell at the battle of Crecy in 1346 fighting on the side of his French friend and distant relative Charles against the Black Prince And so he was succeeded by his young son Charles IV 

 Charles IV was just as noble  but much more practical than his caravanting father had been and he took a keen interest in all aspects of rule over the Czech lands Charles IV was not really named Charles He was named Wenceslas IV  but he had been reared at the French court and everyone there called him Charles and so the name stuck His son who succeeded him on the Czech throne was also named Wenceslas IV and this sometimes leads to some confusion When Charles IV came to power he was still very young Since hed been raised in France he didnt speak Czech Wicked advisors surrounded the young king and attempted to usurp the real rule of Bohemia while leaving young Charles IV in place as a figurehead 

Charles IV  may have been young but he was no dummy He spoke 5 languages fluently at a time when many crowned heads could not even read and write and he was a masterful diplomat He also had friends in high places  Pope Klement who was elected during Charles IVs reign had been the Czech sovereigns tutor at the court in Paris 

Young Charles IV saw through the transparent plans of the wicked advisors who surrounded him He quickly learned Czech and took over rule of his own land himself 

Charles IV was very clever very devout and very savvy He was also a lover of art and a collector of holy relics which he kept under lock and key all year long except for Easter when he paraded them through the country like a travelling circus 

The medieval Czech state reached the zenith of its power and importance Charles IV He was the King of Bohemia later also Holy Roman Emperor and today he is known as the Father of the Czech Nation 

 Charles was a very good king and he paid attention to detail It was he who made sure that the status of the Lands of the Czech Crown  the territories his father had gathered together under his rule  was legally fixed this task was made all the easier since he was Holy Roman Emperor He initiated a number of building projects in his reign especially in Prague It was at his behest that Charles Bridge and St Vitus Cathedral were built and the Hunger Wall that he commissioned remnants of which still stand today on Petrin Hill in Prague is thought to be the first worksproject in the world as he had it built to create employment for the poor and hungry masses hence the name  Charles IV personally planned Pragues New Town district where Charles Square  which is also named for him  lies Karlstejn Castle and Karlovy Vary Carlsbad are also named for Charles IV 

Many of the building projects initiated by Charles IV still stand and most are perfect examples of the Gothic style of architecture which is characterized by clean simple lines and solid structure  like the Charles Bridge and its towers the Carolinum or the OldNew Synagogue 

 Charles IV also founded Charles University the first center of higher education in all of Central Europe During his reign Prague was the capital of the Holy Roman Empire a gilded sign on the Old Town Hall still proclaims Praga Caput Regni today and he successfully lobbied to have the Prague bishopric made an archbishopric this task was actually quite easy as the privelege was granted him by his former tutor now the Pope