Prague 19 is a municipal district of Prague whose territory corresponds to the cadastre of the municipality of Kbely. It lies in the north-east of the capital, on the edge of an extensive upland plateau known as the Průhonice plateau, which stretches from Prosek in Prague as far as Vrábí near Brandýs nad Labem.[1]
Geological bedrock and relief
The base of the plateau consists of Ordovician shales about 400 million years old, exposed in places along the Chobot stream, which used to flow from the Kbely airfield towards Brandýs nad Labem, where it joined the Elbe. Farther north, around Ládví Hill, Čakovice and Brázdim, the bedrock is Algonkian rock about 700 million years old. Resting on these rocks are deposits of the former North Bohemian sea from the Upper Cretaceous, about 75 million years old, made up of sandstones, claystones, siliceous marlstones, marls and clays. Above them lies a layer of loam, loess, slope debris and gravels from the Tertiary.[1]
In its immediate surroundings the area is almost flat, and in more distant parts gently undulating. The highest point is Ládví Hill at 359 metres above sea level, while Kbely itself lies at an elevation of 260 metres. According to the source, the soil in this area is very fertile, which has long made agricultural use of the landscape possible.[1]
Earliest settlement
According to the available archaeological finds, there is no evidence of early hominids or prehistoric humans in this territory, although the landscape in other parts of Bohemia and Moravia has such finds. In the glacial and interglacial periods the area was covered by tundra, later by forest steppe and in places by deep forests.[1]
About five thousand years ago, a Neolithic people arriving from Asia Minor passed through this territory and trod out a caravan trail towards the Boleslav region. The trail led from the Vltava ford at Podbaba through Troja, Horní Libeň, Prosek and Kbely, and then along the Chobot stream through Vinoř, Jenštejn, Dřevčice and Vrábí to Brandýs, where a ford made it possible to cross to Stará Boleslav and Mladá Boleslav. The existence of the trail is attested by finds of stroke-ornamented pottery from the late Neolithic in the surrounding localities, but such finds are absent in the Kbely territory itself.[1]
Bronze Age and Iron Age
The first proven settlement of the Kbely territory dates from the Bronze Age. In Toužimská Street, not far from where a medieval stronghold later stood, the remains of a semi-sunken hut with a hearth and roof posts were excavated. From the Iron Age comes the find of the remains of a larger settlement by the Chobot stream towards Vinoř, made up of several huts with pits containing iron slag and fragments of vessels made on a potter's wheel, which according to the source points to a settlement of craftsmen.[1]
Development of the trade route
The trail running through the territory was later rerouted in Prague from Podbaba over Letná, from there over the Libeň ford and, in the Slavic period, over the Poříčí ford and Dolní Libeň to Vysočany and Kbely, from where it continued to the Boleslav region. The route was gradually extended through Mnichovo Hradiště, Stráž pod Ralskem, Jablonné v Podještědí, Zittau, Görlitz and Frankfurt (Oder) to the mouth of the Oder on the Baltic Sea, from where goods could be shipped to Rügen and Scandinavia. In the Middle Ages this trail was known as the "Zittau" trail.[1]
Origin of the surrounding settlements
At the end of the Iron Age, individual settlements began to arise along the trail, among them Kbely, Vinoř, Dřevčice and Vrábí, of which the first two later became part of the territory of today's municipal district of Prague 19.[1]