The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as Šumava () and in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

as Böhmerwald, is a low

mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the area' ...

. Geographically, the mountains extend from

Plzeň Region Plzeň Region ( cs, Plzeňský kraj; german: Pilsner Region) is an administrative unit (''kraj'') in the western part of Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It is named after its capital Plzeň (English, german: Pilsen). In terms of area, Plzeň Reg ...

and South Bohemia in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and form the highest

truncated uplands A truncated upland, truncated highland or bevelled upland (german: Rumpfgebirge) is the heavily eroded remains of a fold mountain range, often from an early period in earth history.Murawski, H., Meyer, W. (2004): ''Geologisches Wörterbuch.'' Spekt ...

of the Bohemian Massif, up to 50 km wide. They create a natural border between the

on one side and

and

on the other.

Names and etymology

For political reasons, the Bohemian and German sides have different names in their languages: in Czech, the Bohemian side is called ''Šumava'' and the Bavarian side ''Zadní Bavorský les'' ( en, Rear Bavarian Forest), while in

, the Bohemian side is called ''Böhmerwald'' ( en, Bohemian Forest), and the Bavarian side ''Bayerischer Wald'' ( en, Bavarian Forest). In Czech, ''Šumava'' is also used as a name for the entire region in Bohemia and Germany. The designation ''Šumava'' has been attested in the late 15th century in

Antonio Bonfini Antonio Bonfini (Latin variant: ''Antonius Bonfinius'') (1427‒1502) was an Italian humanist and poet who spent the last years of his career as a court historian in Hungary with King Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias ...

's work ''Rerum unganicarum decades''.

Folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

connects the name's origin with the Czech words ''šum, šumění'' (literally ''hum, humming'') denoting the noise of trees in the wind. The most accepted opinion among linguists derives Šumava from a theorized Proto-Slavic word '*šuma = "dense forest", cf.

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also

* * * Old Serbian (disambiguat ...

'' šuma as it adjoins regions populated by Sorbs of Lusatia and surrounds (North Eastern Bavaria and Saxony).'' There are corresponding toponyms in modern day Serbia (Balkans) i.e. Šumadija (land of dense forests). Modern Serbian maintains the use of the word 'Šuma' (Forest) and the toponym Šumava equates to Forested lands. In the ancient maps of astronomer and geographer Ptolemaios, the mountain chain is called Gabreta. In the maps of Greek geographer Strabo the mountain chain is called Sudeta. Both names given to the mountain chain are of Celtic etymology.

Geography and climate

The Bohemian Forest comprises heavily forested mountains with average heights of 800–1,400 metres. The highest peak is Großer Arber (1,456 m) on the Bavarian side; the highest peak on the Bohemian and Austrian side is the Plöckenstein (Plechý, 1,378 m). The most eastern peak is the

Sternstein The Sternstein Mountain is situated in the north of Upper Austria, Austria in the districts of Bad Leonfelden and Vorderweißenbach. On its north flank it also reaches into the Czech Republic. As measured by the height above sea level of its summit ...

(1,125 m). The range is one of the oldest in Europe, and its mountains are eroded into round forms with few rocky parts. Typical for the Bohemian Forest are plateaux at about 1,000–1,200 m with relatively harsh climates and many peat bogs. File:Čertovo jezero6.jpg, Čertovo jezero (Devil's Lake) File:Ski-Šumava.JPG, Czech Ski Resort in Šumava File:Severní strana hradu Kašperk při pohledu ze Sedla.jpg,

Kašperk Castle Kašperk Castle (german: Karlsberg) is a medieval castle placed in southwestern Bohemia (modern Czech Republic, former Kingdom of Bohemia). It is said to be the most highly located royal castle in Bohemia. Its elevation is above sea level). T ...

File:Tabule Sumava.jpg, During the Cold War period, the border between Czechoslovakia and West Germany was heavily guarded. Some mines and unexploded ammunition still remain.

Water

The Bohemian Forest is the

dividing range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

between the watersheds of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

and the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

, where water collected by the

Vltava Vltava ( , ; german: Moldau ) is the longest river in the Czech Republic, running southeast along the Bohemian Forest and then north across Bohemia, through Český Krumlov, České Budějovice and Prague, and finally merging with the Labe at M ...

, Otava and

Úhlava The Úhlava () is a long river in the Czech Republic, a right tributary of the Radbuza. Its source is situated on a slope of Pancíř mountain in the Šumava mountains, Klatovy District at an elevation of . It passes the villages and towns Nýrs ...

rivers flows. These rivers all spring from the Bohemian Forest. Owing to heavy precipitation (mostly snow), the peat bogs and the

Lipno Dam The Lipno Reservoir ( cs, přehrada Lipno) is a dam and hydroelectric plant constructed along the Vltava River in the Czech Republic. It is the largest water area in the Czech Republic. History Due to frequent flooding and subsequent damage, the ...

, the Šumava region is an important water

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

for

. More important for their aesthetic value than for holding water are several lakes of glacial origin.

Nature

As a border region, the Bohemian Forest has had a complicated history. In the 20th century it was part of the

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...

, and large areas were stripped of human settlement. Even before that, settlement was sparse and for centuries forests dominated over human dwellings and pathways. These unique circumstances led to the preservation of unspoilt nature and forest

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

s relatively unaffected by human activity. On the other hand, many

habitats In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

dependent on farming activity are slowly turning into forest. In the

, the most valuable area is protected in the Šumava National Park and Protected Landscape and the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

Biosphere Reserve. Part of the German section is protected as the Bavarian Forest National Park. The Bohemian Forest is a popular holiday destination because it is excellent

hiking Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

country. Most interesting natural and cultural sights are connected with more than 500 km of summer marked trails and many bike trails. However, park administration is not always successful in its task, and many believe the rapid growth of tourist accommodation and services is destroying the former calm of the Šumava region. Šumava National Park is also suffering from problems connected with

bark beetle A bark beetle is the common name for the subfamily of beetles Scolytinae. Previously, this was considered a distinct family (Scolytidae), but is now understood to be a specialized clade of the "true weevil" family (Curculionidae). Although the ...

s, and there is heated debate about how to deal with them.

History

According to archaeological findings, the Bohemian Forest area was not significantly populated during the Paleolithic era – the Stone Age (dates back to 9000 BC). The initial settlements of a more permanent character appeared in the southwest of Bohemia during the Bronze Age (3,000 to 1,000 years BC). In the 1st century AD, the forest was inhabited by Gallo-Romans as well as by Germanic tribes in its northern part. The

Celts The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...

were however gradually forced out by the Germanic tribe (the

Marcomanni The Marcomanni were a Germanic people * * * that established a powerful kingdom north of the Danube, somewhere near modern Bohemia, during the peak of power of the nearby Roman Empire. According to Tacitus and Strabo, they were Suebian. Origin ...

), who left the Celtic agricultural settlements desolated. With the departure of the Marcomanni, the forests were left to evolve with almost no human influence. The Bohemian Forest forests began to change character only with the arrival of the

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

in the 6th century, who found a refuge in the middle of the impenetrable forests. The cultural landscape began to penetrate the wooded surroundings. The gradual but disorganized and fairly subtle form of colonisation continued until the late 11th century. Slavic settlement gradually shifted south, without however reaching the upper

valley. Slavic-founded settlements carried the names of Christian Saints, which indicates that the founding was after the Christianization of Bohemia. Some toponyms indicate that the new Slavic settlers came in contact with remaining Germanic people. Under the rule of

Ottokar I of Bohemia Ottokar I ( cs, Přemysl Otakar I.; c. 1155 – 1230) was Duke of Bohemia periodically beginning in 1192, then acquired the title of King of Bohemia, first in 1198 from Philip of Swabia, later in 1203 from Otto IV of Brunswick and in 1212 (a ...

, organized colonization of Bohemian Forest by German settlers began. Bavarian settlers after various wars with Serbs (modern Serbs/Sorbs) for domination over the region, cleared the forest and founded settlements in the to date largely uninhabited mountainous region, which thereby became culturally close to

. Since then the nature in Bohemian Forest, including the forested landscape developed under the strong influence of human activity. The borderline virgin forests receded, making way for fields and pastures, and thus in the 13th century, the colonisation of the Bohemian borderland began. In the area, 136 villages with German names relating to forest clearing (''Rdoungsnamen'') existed. In addition, groups of German village names appear, one such group between Sonnberg (first mentioned in 1279) and Deutsch Reichenau (1261), another group around Zettwing (1356). South of Ottau, German villages form a line along the road from

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

through Hohenfurth to Krummau. Another old settlement area was between Untermoldau (1376, today: Dolní Vltavice) and Obermoldau (1359). In 1945–1946, the region's

Bohemian Germans German Bohemians (german: Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer, i.e. German Bohemians and German Moravians), later known as Sudeten Germans, were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part of ...

were expelled. The originally Sorbian population moved to adjoining places which to this day testify to their origins in places throughout North Bohemia i.e Srbská Kamenice.

Notable people

Karel Klostermann Karel Klostermann (german: Karl Klostermann; 13 February 1848 – 17 July 1923) was a Czech-German writer. He wrote under the alias ''Faustin''. Biography Klostermann was born on 13 February 1848 in Haag am Hausruck, Upper Austria. From 1857 ...

, author * Adalbert Stifter, author

References

External links

National Park administrationŠumavaInfo Šumavawebcam Šumava
{{Authority control

Forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

Mountain ranges of the Czech Republic Mountain ranges of Bavaria Mountain ranges of Austria