BUDEJOVICE, a town of Bohemia, Czechoslovakia, situated at the confluence of the Marge and the Vltava, which here becomes navigable. Founded in the 13th century by Budivoj Vitkovec, it later became a royal city and figured largely in Bohemian history during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, being granted many privileges in return for its allegiance to the royal cause. In 1783 it became the see of a bishop and was highly Germanized, but the Czech element has increased rapidly and now forms 8o% of the population (1931-43,886). The town is noted for its fine square surrounded by imposing, arcaded buildings, the principal one being the town-hall built in 1730 in Renaissance style. The modern prosperity is bound up with the fact that it is the commercial centre of southern Bohemia, an important railway junction and a river port, with a large and varied development of manufactures, notably clay, timber and chemical products, beer, blacklead pen cils and machinery, based in the main upon local resources of lignite, iron and other raw materials.