Severomoravský

▪ region, Czech Republic

also called  Severní Morava , English  Northern Moravia 

      kraj (region), northeastern Czech Republic. It is bordered by Jihomoravský kraj to the south, Východočeský kraj to the west, Poland to the north, and Slovakia to the east. The Hrubý Jeseník mountains dominate the northern part of Severomoravský kraj, while the Orlice (Orlické) mountains occupy the northwestern part and the Beskid Mountains range along the eastern border with Slovakia. The Oder (Odra) River flowing north and the Morava and Bečva rivers flowing south are the main drainage systems; their valleys constitute the lowland areas, of which the fertile plain formed by the confluence of the Morava and the Bečva is the largest.

      Sugar beets, wheat, barley, potatoes, oats, animal fodder, and rapeseed are cultivated in the valleys. Hops are grown around Brodek u Přerova in the southern plain. Cattle, pigs, and poultry are the principal livestock. Fruit, primarily apples, pears, and plums, is grown along the lower hills around Ostrava, Přerov, Olomouc, and Šumperk.

      The Czech Republic's largest bituminous coalfield, discovered in 1767, extends along the Oder River valley from the Polish frontier south to Štramberk and Frenštát pod Radhoštěm; Ostrava, Severomoravský kraj's capital, Karviná, Havířov, and Frýdek-Místek are its major mining centres. Natural-gas deposits occur in the same area. To the northwest, at Mount Zlaté, copper, lead, and zinc are mined, and graphite at Malé Vrbno. Limestone, gypsum, and granite are quarried around Vápenná, Opava, Nový Jičín, Hranice-Černotín, Přerov, Předmostí, Šternberk, Vitošov, and Sněžník.

      Almost two-fifths of Severomoravský kraj is forested; spruce, beech, oak, maple, and ash supply major sawmilling and paper-milling centres at Vratimov, Frýdek-Místek, Šternberk, Olšany, Jindřichov, Vrbno pod Pradědem, Krnov, and Žimrovice.

       Ostrava is the Czech Republic's second-largest industrial centre after Prague. The iron- and steelworks, founded 1830, are the largest in the country and sprawl across Ostrava and the neighbouring cities of Třinec, Frýdek-Místek, and Nový Bohumín. Ostrava also has machinery and appliance industries; chemicals, electronics, transport-equipment, cement, leather, clothing, dairy, meat-packing, milling and baking plants; and a brewery. Other industrial towns include Kopřivnice, an automotive centre; Studénka, building railway cars; Odry, producing synthetic rubber; Vsetín, with machinery, electronics, and glass factories; Přerov, which produces cement-plant equipment, chemicals, leather goods, textiles, processed meat, and beer; Olomouc, with machinery, chemicals, clothing, and food-processing industries; and Opava, manufacturing chemicals, machinery, textiles and clothing, and food products.

      Winter sports and hiking in the Beskid and Jeseník mountains draw large numbers of tourists, as do the mineral-water spas, of which the best known are Lázně Jeseník, Dolní Lípová, and Karlova Studánka.

      Ostrava is Severomoravský kraj's cultural centre; it has an orchestra and resident opera, ballet, and theatre companies. The Technical University of Ostrava was founded in 1716. A teachers college, a municipal museum, and a winter sports stadium are also located in the city. Sigmund Freud was born (1856) in nearby Příbor. There are regional museums at Olomouc, Litovel, Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, and Valašske Meziříči. Opava, northwest of Ostrava, is the cultural centre of a portion of Silesia lying within the kraj.

      The population of Frýdek-Místek okres (district) is as much as one-fourth Polish. Bruntal and Opava okresy (districts) have a German minority population, and the kraj also has a Slovak minority. Area 4,273 square miles (11,067 square km). Pop. (1992 est.) 1,964,288.

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