Its capital Prague is a popular tourist magnet, boasting a picturesque historic centre that entered the UNESCO heritage list in 1992.
Under the dominating Prague Castle, the city, which is split by the Vltava River, is rich in architectural jewels, Renaissance and Baroque palaces, Gothic cathedrals, and art deco buildings that illustrate its 1,400-year history.
Every year millions of tourists cross the Vltava on Charles Bridge, the city’s most popular medieval site. The bridge’s foundation stone was laid on July 9, 1357 by King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV.
Pro-Russian, pro-Chinese, and anti-immigration President Miloš Zeman is targeting a second five-year term.
Billionaire Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, who is dubbed the “Czech Trump”, has failed to form a coalition after his populist ANO movement won a general election in October.
The Babiš minority cabinet of ANO members and non-partisan experts lost a confidence vote on January 16 and Babiš handed his resignation to Zeman on January 24, but the president immediately asked him to form a new cabinet.
With its flagship Škoda, the Czech economy is heavily dependent on car production and exports to the eurozone.
It recovered in 2014 after a long crisis, and in 2017 the Czech National Bank forecast growth of 4.5%, up from 2.6% in 2016, with a growth of 3.4% expected for 2018.
Unemployment fell to 4.3% in 2017, the lowest level since 2008.
The republic has its roots in Czechoslovakia, which declared independence from the dying Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 and comprised what are now the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
From 1938 Nazi Germany annexed various parts of the country, but Czechoslovakia regained its autonomy in 1945.
Three years later a Communist coup linked the country to the Soviet Union.
Moscow crushed a 1968 attempt at liberal reform, the “Prague Spring”. In 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended four decades of Soviet domination, propelling dissident playwright Václav Havel to the presidency.
In 1993 Czechoslovakia split into two states, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Havel became the first Czech president.
The Czech Republic has turned its back on its Soviet past, joining NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004.
It is also a part of Europe’s Schengen border-free area but has resisted adopting the euro, favouring its own koruna currency.