Founded as a royal city in the late 13th century, Plzeň became an important town for trade on routes linking Bohemia with Bavaria.

In the 19th century, the city rapidly industrialised and became home to the Škoda Works, which became one of the most important engineering companies in Austria-Hungary and later in Czechoslovakia.

Plzeň lies mostly in the Plasy Uplands, with small parts of the municipal territory extending into the Švihov Highlands to the east and south.

During the Thirty Years' War the town was taken by Mansfeld in 1618 after the Siege of Plzeň and it was not recaptured by Imperial troops until 1621.

Accused of treason and losing the support of his army, he fled the town on 23 February 1634 to Eger/Cheb where he was assassinated two days later.

In the second half of the 19th century Plzeň, already an important trade centre for Bohemia, near the Bavarian/German border, began to industrialise rapidly.

This burst of industry had two important effects: the growth of the local Czech population and of the urban poor.

Following Czechoslovak independence from Austria-Hungary in 1918 the ethnic German minority in the countryside bordering the city of Plzeň hoped to be united with Austria and were unhappy at being included in Czechoslovakia.

[citation needed] Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, Plzeň became a frontier town as the creation of the Sudetenland moved Nazi Germany's borders closer to the city's outer limits.

During the German occupation from 1939 to 1945, the Škoda Works in Pilsen was forced to provide armaments for the Wehrmacht, and Czech contributions, particularly in the field of tanks, were noted.

[15] Between 17 and 26 January 1942, the majority of the city's Jewish population, over 2,000 people, were deported by the Nazis to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Terezín.

On 6 May 1945, in the final days before the end of World War II in Europe, Plzeň was liberated from Nazi Germany by the 16th Armored Division of General George Patton's 3rd Army.

Also participating in the liberation of the city were elements of the 97th and 2nd Infantry Divisions supported by the Polish Holy Cross Mountains Brigade.

[citation needed] After the end of the war, the city's ethnic German minority population was expelled and their property was confiscated in accordance to the provisions of the Potsdam Agreement.

After the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, the government launched a currency reform in 1953, which caused a wave of discontent, including the Plzeň uprising.

Protesters forced their way into the town hall and threw communist symbols, furniture and other objects out of the windows.

The bird, named Leaping Lena, was taken to the United States, where it was celebrated as a Cold War hero.

The Škoda company, established in Plzeň in 1859, has been an important element of Austro-Hungarian, Czechoslovak and Czech engineering, and one of the biggest European arms factories.

Disarray in the era after the Velvet Revolution, and unsuccessful efforts to gain new Western markets, resulted in sales problems and debts.

Plzeň is well known for the Pilsner Urquell (since 1842) and Gambrinus (since 1869) breweries, currently owned by Asahi Group Holdings.

[23] In 1375, Bohemian King Charles IV endowed the Dobrow Monastery near Plzeň with the beer right, and it is one of the oldest breweries to survive to modern times.

Improving transport meant that this new beer was soon available throughout Central Europe and Pilsner Brauart-style brewing was widely imitated.

The Plzeň metropolitan area is largely served by a network of trams, trolleybuses and buses operated by the PMDP.

For residents of the city, a Plzeň Card can be purchased and through a system of "topping up" be used on any public transport with no limitations, as long as it is paid up and valid.

A public domestic and private international airport is located 11 km south-west from Plzeň, at the nearby village of Líně.

The seat of the West Bohemian seniorate (literary presbytery; Central European protestant equivalent of a diocese) of Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren is currently set in Plzeň.

Above the portal there is a commemorative plaque dedicated to Dr Josef Škoda (a professor at the Vienna University), who was born next door on 10 December 1805.

A popular tourist attraction is the Plzeňský Prazdroj brewery tour where visitors can discover the history of beer.