Ústí nad Labem (; ; ,Ústí ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants and is the capital of the Ústí nad Labem Region. It is a major industrial centre and, besides being an active river port, is an important railway junction.
Administrative division
Ústí nad Labem is divided into four boroughs, which are further divided into 22 administrative parts: Ústí nad Labem-město (parts Ústí nad Labem-centrum, Božtěšice, Bukov, Habrovice, Hostovice, Klíše, Předlice, Skorotice, Strážky, Vaňov and Všebořice); Ústí nad Labem-Neštěmice (parts Krásné Březno, Mojžíř and Neštěmice); Ústí nad Labem-Severní terasa (part Severní Terasa); Ústí nad Labem-Střekov (parts Brná, Církvice, Kojetice, Olešnice, Sebuzín, Střekov and Svádov).
Etymology
The name of Ústí nad Labem is formed from the Old Czech ("river mouth") and (the Elbe River). It thus literally means "Mouth-upon-the-Elbe", in reference to its location at the Bílina's confluence with the Elbe.
The Czech name was Latinized as and Germanized as or . Before Czechoslovak independence amid the dissolution of Austria-Hungary following the World War I, the town was usually known in English as Aussig.
Geography
Ústí nad Labem is located about north of Prague and south of Dresden in Germany. It lies mostly in a hilly landscape of the Central Bohemian Uplands, but it also extends into the Most Basin in the northwest. The highest peak is Široký Vrch with an elevation of . The city is situated at the confluence of the Elbe and Bílina river. Half of Lake Milada lies in the municipal territory. The southern part of the territory lies in the České Středohoří Protected Landscape Area.
History
For years, the charter of the Prague Benedictine monastery from 993 was considered to be the first written mention of Ústí nad Labem, but it has been proven to be a hoax. The first verified written mention is in the charter of the chapter at the Church of St. Stephen in Litoměřice, dated to 1056 or 1057. In 1249, it was first mentioned with the title of royal town.
In the second half of the 13th century, King Ottokar II of Bohemia invited German settlers into the country and granted them a German form of municipal incorporation, thereby founding the city proper. In 1423, as King of Bohemia, Sigismund pledged the town to Elector Frederick I of Meissen, who occupied it with a Saxon garrison. It was besieged by the Hussites in 1426: a German army of 70,000 was sent to its relief but the 25,000 besiegers defeated them amid great slaughter on 16 June; the next day, they stormed and razed the town. It was left derelict for three years before rebuilding began in 1429.
Ústí nad Labem was again burned down in 1583 and was sacked by the Swedes in 1639 amid the Thirty Years' War. It also suffered grievously during the Seven Years' War and was near the 1813 Battle of Kulm between France and the alliance of Austria, Prussia, and Russia during the Napoleonic Wars. As late as 1830, its population was only 1400.
As part of the Kingdom of Bohemia, it was eventually incorporated into Austria and heavily industrialized over the 19th century. After the Compromise of 1867, it headed the Aussig District, one of Austrian Bohemia's 94 District Commissions (). In the 1870s, with only 11,000 people, it was a major producer of woolen goods, linen, paper, ships, and chemicals and carried on a large trade in grain, fruit, mineral water, lumber, and coal. By 1900, large-scale immigration had boosted the population to nearly 40,000, mostly German, and added glassworking and stone to its trades. The local river port became the busiest in the entire Austro-Hungarian Empire, surpassing even the seaport in Trieste.