Carpathian Plain

The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only the lowlands, the plain that remained when the Pliocene'' dried out.

It is a geomorphological subsystem of the Alps-Himalaya system, specifically a sediment-filled back-arc basin which spread apart during the Miocene. The plain or basin is diagonally bisected by the Transdanubian Mountains, separating the larger Great Hungarian Plain (including the Eastern Slovak Lowland) from the Little Hungarian Plain. It forms a topographically discrete unit set in the European landscape, surrounded by imposing geographic boundaries—the Carpathian Mountains and the Alps. The Rivers Danube and Tisza divide the basin roughly in half. It extends roughly between Vienna in the northwest, Košice in the northeast, Zagreb in the southwest, Novi Sad in the south and Satu Mare in the east.

In terms of modern state boundaries, the Pannonian Basin centres on the territory of Hungary, which lies entirely within the basin, but it also covers parts of southern Slovakia, southeast Poland, southwest Ukraine, western Romania, northern Serbia, northeast Croatia, northeast Slovenia, and eastern Austria. The name "Pannonian" comes from Pannonia, a province of the Roman Empire. Only the western part of the territory (known as Transdanubia) of modern Hungary formed part of the ancient Pannonia; this comprises less than 29% of modern Hungary, therefore Hungarian geographers avoid the terms "Pannonian Basin" and "Pannonian Plain" (For example: The Great Hungarian Plain was not part of Pannonia province.) Because the "Pannonian" term is erroneous and unhistorical regarding to the 80% of the whole territory of the basin, the Hungarian geographers and historians use the more accurate Carpathian Basin term.

Terminology

In English language, the terms "Pannonian Basin" and "Carpathian Basin" are used synonymously. The name "Pannonian" is taken from that of Pannonia, a province of the Roman Empire. The historical province overlapped but was not coterminous with the geographical plain or basin, as the Great Hungarian Plain was not part of it. Pannonia Inferior covered much of the western half of the basin, as far as the Danube. Pannonia Superior included the western fringe of the basin as well as part of the Eastern Alps, as far as Virunum. The southern fringe of the basin was in Dalmatia and Moesia. The eastern half of the basin was not conquered by the Romans and was considered part of Sarmatia, inhabited by the Iazyges. Likewise, the parts north of the Danube (now in western Slovakia) were not in the empire; they were considered part of Germania, inhabited by the Quadi.

The term ''Pannonian Plain'' refers to the lowland parts of the Pannonian Basin as well as those of some adjoining regions like Lower Austria, Moravia, and Silesia (Czech Republic and Poland). The lands adjoining the plain proper are sometimes also called ''peri-Pannonian''.

The term ''Carpathian Basin'' is used in Hungarian literature, while the West Slavic languages (Czech, Polish and Slovak), the Serbo-Croatian, German and Romanian languages use ''Pannonian''; in Hungarian the basin is known as ''Kárpát-medence'', in Czech; ''Panonská pánev'', in Polish; ''Panoński Basen'', in Slovak; ''Panónska panva'', in Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian: ''Panonski bazen''/Панонски базен, in German; ''Pannonisches Becken'', and in Romanian; ''Câmpia Panonică'' or ''Bazinul Panonic''. The East Slavic languages, namely Ukrainian, use terms ''Tisa-Danube Basin'' or ''Middanubian Basin'' ( uk, Тисо-Дунайська низовина, Середньодунайська низовина)

In Hungarian geographical literature various subdivisions of the Carpathian Mountains ( Inner Western Carpathians, Inner Eastern Carpathians, Southern Carpathians, Western Carpathians and Transylvanian Plateau) are also considered parts of the Carpathian Basin on the basis of traditional geopolitical divisions.

Etymology

Julius Pokorny derived the name ''Pannonia'' from Illyrian, from the Proto-Indo-European root ''*pen-'', "swamp, water, wet" (cf. English ''fen'', "marsh"; Hindi ''pani'', "water").

The name "Carpates" is highly associated with the old Dacian tribes called " Carpes" or " Carpi" who lived in a large area from the east, northeast of the Black Sea to the Transylvanian Plain on the present day Romania and Moldova. The name ''Carpates'' may ultimately be from the Proto Indo-European root ''*sker-''/''*ker-'', which meant mountain, rock, or rugged (cf. Germanic root ''*skerp-'', Old Norse "harrow", Gothic ''skarpo'', Middle Low German ''scharf'' "potsherd", and Modern High German ''Scherbe'' "shard", Old English and English ''sharp'', Lithuanian ''kar~pas'' "cut, hack, notch", Latvian ''cìrpt'' "to shear, clip"). The archaic Polish word ''karpa'' meant 'rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, rugged roots, or trunks'. The more common word ''skarpa'' means a sharp cliff or other vertical terrain. The name may instead come from Indo-European * 'to turn', akin to Old English 'to turn, change' (English ''warp'') and Greek 'wrist', perhaps referring to the way the mountain range bends or veers in an L-shape.

Geography

Climate and natural resources

Although rain is not plentiful, the plain is a major agricultural area; it is sometimes said that these fields of rich loamy loess soil could feed the whole of Europe. However, there is an increase in extreme precipitation events that cause soil erosion. Knowledge of areas affected by severe soil erosion can lead to the implementation of effective measures to reduce it. For its early settlers, the plain offered few sources of metals or stone. Thus when archaeologists come upon objects of obsidian or chert, copper or gold, they have almost unparalleled opportunities to interpret ancient pathways of trade.

Geomorphology

The Pannonian plain is divided into two parts along the Transdanubian Mountains (Hungarian: ''Dunántúli-középhegység''). The northwestern part is called ''Western Pannonian plain'' (or ''province'') and the southeastern part ''Eastern Pannonian plain'' (or ''province''). They comprise the following sections:

*Western Pannonian Plain (province):
**Vienna Basin
**Little Hungarian Plain
*Eastern Pannonian Plain (province):
**Great Hungarian Plain
**Pannonian Island Mountains ( sr, Panonske ostrvske planine)
**Transdanubian Mountains (Hungarian: ''Dunántúli-középhegység'')
** Drava– Mura lowlands

Note: The Transylvanian Plateau and the Lučenec-Košice Depression (both parts of the Carpathians) and some other lowlands are sometimes also considered part of the Pannonian Plain in non-geomorphological or older divisions.

Regions

Relatively large or distinctive areas of the plain that do not necessarily correspond to national borders include:

*Bačka/ Bácska (Serbia, Hungary)
**Šajkaška (Serbia)
** Telečka (Serbia)
** Gornji Breg (Serbia)
*Banat (Romania, Serbia, Hungary)
** Pančevački Rit (Serbia)
** Veliki Rit (Serbia)
** Gornje Livade (Serbia)
*Baranya/ Baranja (Hungary, Croatia)
*Burgenland (Neusiedler Basin), Austria
* Crişana (Hungary, Romania)
*Great Hungarian Plain (Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine)
*Jászság (Hungary)
*Kunság (Hungary)
*Little Hungarian Plain (Kisalföld/Malá dunajská kotlina – Hungary, Slovakia)
*Mačva (Serbia)
* Međimurje (Croatia)
*Moravia (part), Czech Republic
*Moslavina (Croatia)
*Podravina (Croatia, Hungary, around Drava river)
*Podunavlje (Serbia, Croatia, around Danube river)
*Pokuplje (Croatia, around Kupa river)
* Pomoravlje (part), Serbia, around Morava river
*Pomorišje (Romania, Hungary, Serbia, around Mureș river)
*Posavina (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, around Sava river)
*Potisje (Serbia, around Tisa river)
*Prekmurje (Slovenia)
*Semberija (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
*Slavonia (Croatia)
** Palača (Croatia)
*Srem/ Srijem (Serbia, Croatia)
** Podlužje (Serbia)
** Šokadija (Croatia)
** Spačva (Croatia, Serbia)
**Cvelferija (Croatia)
* Zakarpattia Lowland (Ukraine)
*Transdanubia (Hungary)
*Vienna Basin (part), Austria
*Vojvodina (Serbia)
*''several more inside Hungary, see: Counties of Hungary, Regions of Hungary''
*''several more inside Slovakia, see: Traditional regions of Slovakia, Regions of Slovakia''

History

Prehistory

The Pannonian Basin has its geological origins in the Pannonian Sea, a shallow sea that reached its greatest extent during the Pliocene Epochn state, and in the first century AD its western parts were subsumed into the Roman Empire. The Roman province named Pannonia was established in the area, and the city of Sirmium, today Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia, became one of the four capital cities of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century.

Middle Ages

In the Age of Migrations and the early Middle Ages, the region belonged to several realms such as the Hun Empire, the Kingdom of the Gepids, the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, the Kingdom of the Lombards, the Avar Khaganate, the West Slavic state of Samo, the Bulgarian Empire, the Frankish Empire, Great Moravia, the Lower Pannonian Principality and the Kingdom of Syrmia. The Principality of Hungary established in 895 by the Magyars was centered on the plain and included almost all of it (as did the former Avar Khaganate). It was established as the Catholic Kingdom of Hungary in AD 1000, with the coronation of Stephen I of Hungary.
The Kingdom of Hungary by the 11th century comprised the entire Pannonian Basin, but the changing fates of this part of Europe during the Ottoman wars of the 14th to 17th centuries left the Pannonian basin divided between numerous political entities. After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the central and eastern regions of the kingdom and the plain on which they lay were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, while the remainder to the north-west was subsumed into the holdings of the Habsburg monarchy and retitled Royal Hungary. Under Ottoman administration, the plain was reorganised into the Eyalet of Budim, the Eyalet of Egri, the Eyalet of Sigetvar and the Eyalet of Temeşvar.

Modern history

The Pannonian Plain was frequently a scene of conflict between the two empires. At the end of the 17th century the Habsburgs won decisive battles against the Ottomans, and most of the plain gradually came under Habsburg rule. Under Habsburg rule the region was eventually reorganised into the Kingdom of Hungary, the Banat of Temeswar, the Military Frontier, the Kingdom of Croatia, the Kingdom of Slavonia and Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat.

The Habsburg Monarchy was subsequently transformed into the Austrian Empire (in 1804) and later became Austria-Hungary (in 1867). Most of the plain was located within the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, since all other Habsburg possessions in the plain were integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary until 1882. The autonomous Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, which was one of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, comprised the south-western portion of the plain.

With the dissolution of Austria-Hungary after World War I, the region was divided between Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Austria and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929). The borders drawn in 1918 and 1919 are mostly preserved as those of the contemporary states of Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine, Croatia, and Romania.

Major cities

This is a list of cities in the Pannonian Basin with a population larger than 100,000 within the city proper:
*Budapest Hungary (1,750,268)
* Belgrade Serbia (1,166,763)
*Zagreb Croatia (812,635)
* Bratislava Slovakia (546,300)
*Timișoara Romania (319,279 )
*Novi Sad Serbia (277,522)
* Košice Slovakia (240,688)
*Debrecen Hungary (204,333)
* Oradea Romania (196,367)
*Miskolc Hungary (162,905)
*Szeged Hungary (161,837)
* Arad Romania (159,704)
*Pécs Hungary (147,719)
*Győr Hungary (128,567)
*Nyíregyháza Hungary (118,185)
*Uzhhorod Ukraine (115,163)
*Kecskemét Hungary (111,863)
* Osijek Croatia (108,048)
* Subotica Serbia (105,681)
* Satu Mare Romania (102,441)

See also

*Geography of Europe
*Central Europe
*Pannonian Biogeographic Region
*Pannonian Sea
*Transdanubian Mountains
* Pelso unit
*Tisza unit

References

External links

Zentai László's account of the Basin formation
In Hungarian.
Anthropological sketch of the prehistoric population
Neolithic and Copper Age archaeology in the Pannonian plain

{{Authority control

Aulacogens
Basins of Europe
Structural basins
Sedimentary basins of Europe
Back-arc basins
Geology of Austria
Geology of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Geology of Croatia
Geology of the Czech Republic
Geology of Europe
Geology of Hungary
Geology of Poland
Geology of Romania
Geology of Serbia
Geology of Slovakia
Structural basins of Slovenia
Geology of Ukraine
Landforms of Lower Austria
Landforms of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Landforms of Croatia
Landforms of the Czech Republic
Landforms of Slovenia
Plains of Europe
Plains of Austria
Plains of Hungary
Plains of Romania
Plains of Serbia
Plains of Slovakia
Plains of Ukraine
Geography of Vojvodina
Banat
Bačka
Syrmia
Pannonia