Czech Republic is a place.
Czech Republic . The Czech Republic covers an area of 78866 km2 with a mostly temperate continental climate and oceanic climate . It is a unitary parliamentary republic , has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague , with over 1.2 million residents . In 1002 , the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire , becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century . The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union ( EU ) in 2004 ; it is a member of the United Nations , the OECD , the OSCE , and the Council of Europe .