Východoceský Kraj

Východočeský Kraj 

an administrative unit in Czecho-slovakia and part of the Czech Socialist Republic. Area, 11,300 sq km. Population, 1.2 million (1968). Administrative center—the city of Hradec Králové.

In the northern and eastern parts of Východočeský Kraj bordering on Poland are the Sudety and Krkonoše mountain ranges (Mount Sněžka, 1,602 m) and the Orlické Mountains, to the south of which is the extremely hilly Polabí Plain, irrigated by the Labe River and its tributaries. In the extreme south are the northeastern spurs of the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, with elevations of 500-650 m. The climate is moderate, with precipitation from 500 to 600 mm per year in the plains and up to 1,200 mm in the mountains. There are broad-leaved and coniferous forests, and in the plains regions there are forest steppes.

The Východočeský Kraj is an industrially developed region; it turns out 8.7 percent of the country’s total industrial production (1968). There is a considerable amount of power production here, including thermal electric power stations in the city of Opatovice and near the city of Trutnov, close to which coal is mined (700,000 tons in 1968). Concentrated in this region is about one-third of the country’s textile industry, primarily cotton and linen. These are mainly rather small textile enterprises located in the piedmont belt in the cities of Dvůr Králové, Náchod, Upice, Ustï-nad-Orlicï, and Jaroměř. Chemical production is widely represented (as much as one-sixth of national production, primarily in the city of Pardubice), as well as machine building, which is important for the entire state (Hradec Králové and Pardubice). The wood and paper and food-processing industries are also well developed. The plains section has agriculture, including grain, sugar beets, and meat and dairy cattle. Východočeský Kraj provides 11.2 percent of the farm produce of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

D. A. AVDEICHEV