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Flag of Silesia (Czech part)

Silesia in relation to the current regions of the Czech Republic

Czech Silesia now lies across a couple of the northern regions

Coat of arms of Czech Silesia.

Czech Silesia (Czech: České Slezsko) is one of the three Czech lands and a section of the Silesian historical region. It is located in the north-east of the Czech Republic, predominantly in Moravian-Silesian Region, with a section in northern Olomouc Region. Also known as Moravian Silesia (Czech: Moravské Slezsko or Moravskoslezsko), it mostly belonged to Austrian Silesia before 1918; between 1938 and 1945 area was also named Sudeten Silesia.

With the city of Ostrava roughly in its geographic center, the area comprises much of the modern region of Moravian-Silesia (save for the its southern edges) and, in its far west, a small part of the Olomouc Region around the city of Jeseník. After Ostrava, the most important cities are Opava and Český Těšín. Historically Český Těšín is the western part of the city of Cieszyn which lies nowadays in Poland.

Situated in the Sudetes, it is cornered by the Carpathians in the east. Its major rivers are the Oder, Opava and Olše (Olza) (which forms part of the natural border with Poland).

Modern-day Czech Silesia derives primarily from a small part of Silesia that remained within Austria at the end of the First Silesian War in 1742, when the rest of Silesia was ceded to Prussia. It was re-organised as the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia, with its capital at Opava (German: Troppau). In 1900, the Duchy occupied an area of 5140 km² and had a population of 670,000.

In 1918, the former Duchy formed part of the Sudetenland Province of German Austria, along with northern Moravia. However, under the Treaty of Saint Germain of 1919, it fell largely to the newly-created state of Czechoslovakia, except the portion east of the Olza River around Cieszyn, which became part of Poland. Hlučínsko (German: Hultschiner Ländchen), formerly part of Prussian Silesia, also became part of Czechoslovakia under the Treaty of Versailles in 1920.

Following the Munich Agreement of 1938, most of Czech Silesia became part of the Reichsgau Sudetenland and Poland took the Zaolzie area on the west bank of the Olza. (The Polish gains being lost when Germany occupied Poland the following year).

With the exception of the areas around Cieszyn and Ostrava, Czech Silesia was predominantly settled by German-speaking populations up until 1945. Following the Second World War, the Sudetenland and Hlučínsko were returned to Czechoslovakia and the ethnic Germans were expelled. The border with Poland was once again set along the Olza (although not confirmed by treaty until 1958).

Some of the native Slavic population speak Lach, which is classed by Ethnologue as a dialect of Czech [1], although it also shows some similarities to Polish. In Cieszyn Silesia a unique dialect is also spoken, mostly by members of the Polish community there.

This article incorporates text translated from the corresponding German Wikipedia article as of August 24, 2005.