Abstract
The study of the settlement of the borders of eastern Bohemia and north-western Moravia in the Middle Ages should take place in an interdisciplinary context. The defined territory has so far eluded the interest of modern settlement-historical research.
At the same time, the Bohemian-Moravian border represents a model territory in several respects, it gives the opportunity to explore and compare elements that are not encountered elsewhere. Since prehistoric times, the territory has formed an important transition corridor between Bohemia and Moravia.
The original (Slavic) settlement, the extent of which was apparently larger than previously assumed, was later superimposed by a wave of high medieval, ethnically German colonization. The southern part of the defined territory was for some time under the direct influence of the Roman Empire, while the interest in mineral resources in the northern part brought the Neolithic farmers to here.
Thus, it cannot be said that the territory is not populated. The territory was crossed not only by the land border, copying the Elbe-Danube watershed, but also by the border between German dialects, the speakers of which left a characteristic mark on the landscape.
A few centuries later, the defined area on the Bohemian-Moravian border was reborn into the largest German-language island in the Czech lands. The perception of the past of a linguistically and ethnically almost uniform territory also influenced the local residents' perception of their own memory of the past.
This "second life" of the landscape on the border of northwest Moravia and eastern Bohemia also deserves the attention of researchers.