Zlín

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Statistics
Area:	119 km²
Population:	79,177 (2003)
Map
Image:Czech city Zlin.png

Zlín (named Gottwaldov during 1948–90) is a city in Zlínský kraj (region), in southeastern Moravia, Czech Republic, on the Drevnice River, at Template:Coor dm.

The first written record of Zlín dates from 1332. Zlin became town in 1397. The town grew rapidly after Tomáš Baťa founded a shoe factory there in 1894 (~3,000 dwellers). Baťa's factory came to supply the Austro-Hungarian army in World War I. Baťa designed the town as he saw fit until his death in 1932 (~35,000 dwellers!). Baťa involved the best architects to build up a modern city, still one of the best examples of constructivism. His son Thomas was forced to leave by the Nazis in 1939 and again after the war when the Baťa company was nationalized. (He left for Canada where he founded another model community, named Batawa).

Zlín was merged in 1948 with several surrounding communities to form Gottwaldov, named after the first communist president of Czechoslovakia, Klement Gottwald. In 1990 the whole city was renamed Zlín.

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