Czechs

Czechs or Czech people (Czech: Češi, Czech pronunciation: [ˈtʃɛʃɪ]) are a nation and ethnic group native to the Czech Republic in Central Europe. They share a common culture, history and speak the Czech language.

Ethnic Czechs were called Bohemians in English until the early 20th century, referring to the late Iron Age tribe of Celtic Boii and their land Bohemia. During the Migration Period Germanic tribes moved westwards and around the 6th century, West Slavs settled in the area and formed an independent principality in the 9th century.

Czech people and their descendants live in United States, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, Slovakia, Australia, Argentina, Austria and Switzerland among others.

History

The Czech people are primarily descended from Western Slavs who settled in Bohemia, Moravia and Austria sometime during the 6th or 7th centuries. They might have encountered a residual Germanic (generically Suebic) population, but the only evidence for continued "Germanic" settlement into the 6th century comes from northern and central Bohemia.