Balkány () is a
town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
in
Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the
Northern Great Plain region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( physical geography), human impact characteristics ( human geography), and the interaction of humanity an ...
of eastern
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
.
Geography
It covers an
area
Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an ope ...
of and has a
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
of 6,852 people (2002). It lies approximately southeast from
Nyíregyháza
Nyíregyháza (, sk, Níreďháza) is a city with county rights in northeastern Hungary and the county capital of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. With a population of 118,001, it is the seventh-largest city in Hungary and the second largest in ...
and 40 northeast from
Debrecen
Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and ...
. There are many small towns surrounding Balkány, including
Biri,
Geszteréd,
Bököny,
Szakoly
Szakoly is a village in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. It is 135 miles (217 km) to the east of Budapest and 21 miles (33 km) to the north east of Debrecen. It is home to the Szako ...
, and
Nyírmihálydi.
Climate
Balkány has nearly 2,000 hours of annual sunshine, which is the second highest after the
Alföld
The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, hu, Alföld or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain. (However, the Great Hungarian plain ...
region. Average annual precipitation is about 560–590 mm, and the annual average temperature is between .
History
Balkány was first mentioned in 1214. The meaning of the name has most likely to do with
swamp or wetland. The first landlords of the region were the Gut-Keled noble family who were given Balkány as a gift by the king in 1289. Balkány was then divided up by the family, the western part went to Paul (Pál) and Thomas (Tamás), the eastern part was taken by Paul's son, Lawrence (Lőrinc). As a result of attacks by the Ottoman Turks and other nomadic tribes Balkány became a ghost town until the late 16th century. In the early 18th century, the town's population rose again, governance was shared among the most prosperous families such as Bezdédy, Désy, Finta, Gencsy,
Gődény, Guth, and Koczogh. In 1839, it was the largest city in the county with a population of 3,006.
Today
Balkány is home to 6,852 people (2005) most of whom live in the country. Unemployment is a serious problem: there are more jobs being lost than created. Like in the past, the biggest sector of employment is agriculture. However, the lack of investment and decreasing prices of locally produced goods have created an unfriendly business environment.
There are a number of kindergartens and two elementary as well as middle schools educating the town's 1,300 children.
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Balkány is
twinned with:
*
Lázári,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
*
Słopnice,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
References
External links
Official Websitein Hungarian
Tourist infoAerial Pictures of Balkány
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balkany
Populated places in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County