Czechoslovakia. Geographical Position and Natural Features.

Map  Questions.

Geographical Position. The Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia lies south of Poland, in the very centre of Europe. It is over 300 kilometres distant from the nearest seas. Czechoslovakia covers an area of 128,000 square kilometres and is crossed by several rail­ways of international importance. To the south it borders on the Danube, an important water-way. Czechoslovakia has no seaports of her own and uses those of friendly Poland for oversea trade (Fig. 51).
Natural Features. Unlike Poland, Czechoslovakia is a mountain­ous country without lowlands except in certain small areas. To

Fig. 51. Czechoslovakia: Geographical position.

the west rises the Czech Massif   (the  Czecho-Moravian Plateau),  encir­cled by  a  series of low, ancient   mountain   ranges (the Sudetes and others). Across this region flow the Elbe (the Labe in Czech) and   its   tributaries.   The Elbe rises in the  Sudetes and, cutting its way through the  mountains,  continues across the territory of the neighbouring German De­mocratic   Republic.    The climate here  is moderate continental,   the   average temperature    in   January being about 2°C below ze­ro,   in July   about   19°C above zero.  High  in the
mountains grow coniferous forests, at lower altitudes mixed forests. These have been cut down in many places, and the clearances are now under cultivation.
In the eastern part of the country, in Slovakia, rise the Car­pathians, a young and comparatively low mountain range (2,663 metres) stretching in a general western to eastern direction. There is no eternal snow. Alpine pastures and coniferous and mixed forests occupy the upper altitudes, beech forests the lower. The climate is more extreme here than in the western part of the country: winters are colder, summers warmer. The rivers flowing from the Carpathians carry their waters into the Danube. They are rich in power. Closer to the Danube the land becomes lower and flatter and the fertile Central Danubian Plain begins. This region is almost everywhere under crop. Only in places is it dotted with groves of oak.
Minerals in the western part of the country include fairly rich deposits of coal and lignite and much smaller ones of iron ore. The region surrounding the upper course of the Odra is a continuation of the Upper Silesian coalfield. There are big deposits of graphite, kaolin (a white clay used in making porcelain) and sand (used in making glass). There are many mineral springs at the foot of the mountains in the north-west and a number of health-resorts close by. In the Pre-Carpathian area in the east there are deposits of iron ore and other metals.

A massif is a much-denuded,  flat-topped mountainous mass almost the same in length as in breadth.

Fig. 52. A metallurgical works in the Czech portion of Silesia. The new blast-furnace has been called the 'Furnace of Peace'.

Questions and Assignments.

• Show the differences in the geographical positions and natural
  features of Czechoslovakia and Poland.
• Mark the mountains, rivers and mineral deposits of Czecho­slovakia on the outline map.