Akasztó is a village and municipality in Bács-Kiskun county, in the Southern Great Plain region of southern

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. It is surrounded by several areas of the

Kiskunság National Park Kiskunság National Park ( hu, Kiskunsági Nemzeti Park) is a national park located in Danube–Tisza Interfluve mainly in Bács-Kiskun county, Hungary. It was created in 1975 and declared a biosphere reserve by the UNESCO. The park covers an ar ...

Geography

Akasztó covering an area of 64.88 km² lies in the northern edge of the

Little Cumania Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

region. Its closest neighbor is

Csengőd Csengőd is a village in Bács-Kiskun County, in the Southern Great Plain region of Hungary. Croats in Hungary call this village as ''Čengid''. Živko Mandić: Hrvatska imena naseljenih mjesta u Madžarskoj, Geography It covers an area o ...

, about 6 km away.

History

According to local Tales, the name of the town comes from the Hungarian word ''akasztani'' which means ''to hang'' in English. The area was known for its muddy roads that ''hanged'' the

wheel A wheel is a circular component that is intended to rotate on an axle Bearing (mechanical), bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the Simple machine, six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction wi ...

s of a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. Others says the town was named Akasztó because of its often exercised right to hang people. Akasztó was first mentioned in 1278 as ''Akazthow''. It was the center of royal tax-collectors. During the Ottoman Conquest it lost much of its population. In the early 18th century Slovak farmers settled in the region. In 1737 the village was the property of the Bosnyák family and in 1770 of the

Batthyány family The House of Batthyány () is the name of an ancient and distinguished Hungarian Magnate family. Members of this family bear the title Count/Countess ( Graf/Gräfin) Batthyány von Német-Ujvar respectively, while the title of Prince (Fürst) vo ...

. Before World War II, the local winery and mill industry belonged to Count Mihály Cseszneky de Milvány, but his fortune was nationalised in the Communist-ruled People's Republic of Hungary.

References

Geography of Bács-Kiskun County Populated places in Bács-Kiskun County {{Bacs-geo-stub