22 October 2011
The heart of Europe is in the ... East?
The classification of Prague and the Czech Republic either as part of eastern Europe (to associate it with the Balkans or former Communist countries) or central Europe (preferred by those who don't want the CR associated with former Communist countries) has been going on a while. Today the often-interesting Czech Position website takes at look at the issue and reports that, despite several countries laying claim as the Heart of Europe, the true central point could be in Lithuania. So maybe it's not just Americans who have geography issues after all.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This comment isn't actually from me, but from a co-worker, Magda Pokorna, who has lived in Prague all her life:
ReplyDeleteGood topic for Sunday afternoon phone call with my brother (geography teacher)! We both live here and feel to be in central Europe. For me it's easy: Czech Republic seems pretty in the centre on the maps, plus it is true I don't like eastern European label for political reasons (maybe next generations don't mind). For my brother it's more complicated process but he still votes for central Europe. Where is the problem? Geometrically, if you want to get centre of something, you need edges. And we don't have them (clear ones) - until someone agrees if to include Iceland or not and which Russian river creates the eastern borderline etc. Until then I say central, central Europe, Mark :)