Back to the History Books

My quest for my children’s paternal Filek ancestors has me back to countries with elastic borders. 

The bad news is that I do not know exactly where they lived.  I am trying to narrow it down by using Google Earth to locate ancestral towns of other immigrants named Filek hoping that they will be clustered fairly close to one another.

This particular family emigrated from Bohemia. But exactly where were Bohemia’s borders when they lived there?

Conquests and royal intermarriages seemed to modify borders with each new king, There were dynasties, duchies and kingdoms. In more modern times there was, of course, the Hapsburg Empire, and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Small nations like Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia disappeared and reappeared depending on who ruled where.

There’s a great deal of information on the internet but the most comprenhensive I’ve found so far is A History of the Czech Lands edited by Jaroslav Panek and Oldrich Tuma

One of these days, I’ll make some progress.