Moravia

Moravia (Czech and Slovak: Morava, German: Mähren, Polish: Morawy, Hungarian: Morvaország) is an historical region in the east of the Czech Republic. It takes its name from the River Morava which rises in the north-west of the region.

History

Around 60 BC the Celtic Boii people withdrew from the region and were succeeded in turn by the Germanic Quadi and in the 6th century the Slavic Moravians. At the end of the 8th century the Moravian Principality came into being in present-day south-eastern Moravia, Záhorie in south-western Slovakia and parts of Lower Austria. In 833 this became the state of Great Moravia with the conquest of the Nitrian Principality (present-day Slovakia and parts of northern Hungary). Great Moravia went on to encompass neighbouring Bohemia, Hungary, Lusatia, Silesia and the Vistula Basin.

Related Topics:
60 BC - Celt - Boii - Germanic - Quadi - 6th century - Slavic - Moravian - 8th century - Záhorie - 833 - Great Moravia - Hungary - Lusatia - Vistula

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This empire however fell in the face of invading Magyars around 907. Present-day Moravia was then independent for a period before possibly coming under the control of Bohemia in 955. Between 999 and 1019 the land was under the rule of Boleslaus I of Poland before becoming part of Bohemia in 1019. It was raised to the status of a margraviate (or mark) in 1182 and has since then shared its history with Bohemia, coming under the rule of the House of Luxembourg between 1349 and 1411 and then under Habsburg rule.

Related Topics:
Magyars - 907 - 955 - 999 - 1019 - Boleslaus I of Poland - Margraviate - Mark - 1182 - House of Luxembourg - 1349 - 1411 - Habsburg

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Until 1641 Moravia's capital was the centrally-located Olomouc, after which it moved to the larger city of Brno. The Margaviate of Moravia had its own Landtag (atate parliament) whose deputies were elected (in the years following 1905) in ethnically separate German and Czech constituencies.

Related Topics:
1641 - Olomouc - Brno - 1905

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Following the break-up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, Moravia became part of Czechoslovakia (and was part of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in World War II). In 1945 the ethnic German minority of Moravia were expelled. (See Expulsion of Germans after World War II). With the break up of Czechoslovakia, Moravia became a part of the Czech Republic in 1993.

Related Topics:
Austro-Hungarian Empire - 1918 - Czechoslovakia - Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia - Occupation of Czechoslovakia - World War II - 1945 - Expulsion of Germans after World War II - 1993

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