Prague, the new Rome with seven hills and a hundred spires, has been the gemstone of Bohemia and Central Europe for centuries.

Humans have inhabited Bohemia at least as far back as 5000 BCE, and probably soon after the last ice-age ended. Geographically Bohemia is a treasure. It is a plain protected on the west, noth and east by a ring of mountains. It has a major river, the Elbe, running through it and draining into the Baltic Sea.

The earliest identifiable inhabitants of Bohemia were the Celtic tribe called the Boii. Bohemia means the home of the Boii. These Celts occupied Bohemia from about 500 BCE to 200 BCE. Later Germanic tribes occupied Bohemia but during the period from 400 to 600 AD Slavic groups moved into the region.

The settlement of the site of Prague began in the tenth century AD with the building of a castle on the east bank of the Vltava River, a tributary of the Elbe. The castle was called Vyšehrad (Vyše Castle). Later another castle was built to the north on the west bank of the river; the Hradcany.

In the eleventh century the King of Bohemia, Vratislav, encouraged German settlers to found a town. The site of this first town was the same as the area of Prague now known as New Town. Later these German colonists established another town which is now known as Old Town. The German Jewish settlers established a settlement between this second German settlement and the Vltava River.

The east bank of the river is the dominant part of the city of Prague. The west bank is predominantly residential.