(Moravská Ostrava), a city in Czechoslovakia, in the Czech Socialist Republic, situated on the Oder (Odra) River at its confluence with the Ostravice and Opava rivers. It is the capital of the North Moravian region. Population, 278,700 (1970).
Ostrava is a major transportation junction. It is the center of an important coal and metallurgy region that developed because of its proximity to the Ostrava-Karviná Coalfield. The K. Gottwald Vítkovice Metallurgical Combine and the new Kunčice Metallurgical Combine are located in Ostrava and the immediate vicinity. The city’s main industries include the coal, chemical, and coke and coke-oven industries, as well as heavy machine building. Ostrava has a specialized machine-building school and a college of mining and metallurgy.