Košařiska

Košařiska is a municipality and village in Frýdek-Místek District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 400 inhabitants. The municipality has a significant Polish minority.

Etymology
The name of the village is derived from the word koszarzysko / košor denoting a place where a koszar (movable fence to pen sheep used by Goral shepherds) was placed.

Geography
Košařiska is located about 26 km southeast of Frýdek-Místek and 37 km southeast of Ostrava. It lies in the historical region of Cieszyn Silesia, in the Moravian-Silesian Beskids mountain range. The highest point is the Ostrý mountain at 1044 m above sea level, located on the northern municipal border. A notable mountain is also Kozubová at 981 m on the southern border. The Kopytná brook flows through the municipality.

History
The settlement of the area began around 1615. The first written mention of Košařiska is from 1657 as Kossarzyska. It belonged then to the Duchy of Teschen, a fee of the Kingdom of Bohemia and a part of the Habsburg monarchy.

After Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire a modern municipal division was introduced in the re-established Austrian Silesia. The village as a municipality was subscribed to the political district of Cieszyn and the legal district of Jablunkov. According to the censuses conducted in 1880–1910 the population of the municipality dropped from 480 in 1880 to 471 in 1910 with a majority being native Polish-speakers (between 96.8% and 100%) accompanied by German-speaking people (at most 15 or 3.2% in 1880). In terms of religion in 1910 the majority were Protestants (87.7%), followed by Roman Catholics (12.9%).

After World War I, Polish–Czechoslovak War and the division of Cieszyn Silesia in 1920, the municipality became a part of Czechoslovakia. Following the Munich Agreement, in October 1938 together with the Trans-Olza region it was annexed by Poland, administratively adjoined to Cieszyn County of Silesian Voivodeship. It was then annexed by Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II. After the war it was restored to Czechoslovakia.

Demographics
Polish minority makes up 26.8% of the population.

Transport
There are no railways or major roads passing through the municipality.

Sights
There are no cultural monuments in the municipality.

Twin towns – sister cities
Košařiska is twinned with:
 * 🇸🇰 Dunajov, Slovakia
 * 🇵🇱 Rajcza, Poland