The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (; ) was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate of Nazi Germany established following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia by annexing Sudetenland territory of Czech Lands as a Reichsgau. Following the establishment of the independent Slovak Republic on 14 March 1939, and the German occupation of the Czech rump state the next day, the protectorate was established on 16 March 1939 by a proclamation of Adolf Hitler from Prague Castle.