The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, hu, Alföld or ) is a
plain
In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...
occupying the majority of the modern territory of
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, Cr ...
. It is the largest part of the wider
Pannonian Plain. (However, the Great Hungarian plain was not part of the ancient Roman province
Pannonia
Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now west ...
). Its territory significantly shrank due to its eastern and southern boundaries being rewritten by the new political borders created after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
when the
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...
was signed in 1920.
Boundaries
Its boundaries are the
Carpathians
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretche ...
in the north and east, the
Transdanubian Mountains and the
Dinaric Alps in the southwest, and approximately the
Sava
The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...
river in the south.
Geography
Plain in Hungary
Its territory covers approximately of Hungary, approximately 56% of its total area of . The highest point of the plain is
Hoportyó (); the lowest point is the
Tisza
The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders.
The Tisza be ...
River. The terrain ranges from flat to rolling plains.
The most important Hungarian writers inspired by and associated with the plain are
Ferenc Móra and
Zsigmond Móricz, as well as the poets
Sándor Petőfi and
Gyula Juhász.
Hungarian scientists born on the plain include
Zoltán Bay Zoltán () is a Hungarian masculine given name. The name days for this name are 8 March and 23 June in Hungary, and 7 April in Slovakia.
Zoltána is the feminine version.
Notable people
* Zoltán of Hungary
* Zoltan Bathory, guitarist of heavy ...
, physicist;
János Irinyi
János Irinyi (sometimes also spelled ''János Irínyi''; ; 18 May 1817 – 17 December 1895) was a Hungarian chemist and inventor of the noiseless and non-explosive match. He achieved this by mixing the yellow (also called white) phosphorus ...
, chemist, inventor of the noiseless match;
János Kabay, pharmacologist;
Gábor Kátai Gábor (sometimes written Gabor) may refer to:
* Gábor (given name)
* Gabor (surname)
* Gabor sisters, the three famous actresses, Eva, Magda and Zsa Zsa
* Several scientific terms named after Dennis Gabor
** Gabor atom
** Gabor filter, a ...
, physician and pharmacist; and
Frigyes Korányi, physician and pulmonologist.
The most important river of the plain is the
Tisza
The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders.
The Tisza be ...
.
The notable cities and towns with medicinal baths are
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 ...
,
Berekfürdő
Berekfürdő is a village in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary.
Geography
It covers an area
Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surfa ...
,
Cserkeszőlő
Cserkeszőlő is a village in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of central Hungary.
Cserkeszőlő is a dynamically developing bath resort in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the south part of Northern Great Pla ...
,
Gyula,
Hajdúszoboszló
Hajdúszoboszló () is a town in Hajdú-Bihar county, Hungary, southwest of county seat Debrecen. It is the third largest town in Hajdú-Bihar county.
Etymology
The name comes from a Slavic personal name Soběslav (see e.g. Soběslav, Sob ...
,
Orosháza
Orosháza is a city situated in the westernmost part of Békés county, Hungary, on the Békés ridge bordered by the rivers Maros and Körös. Orosháza is an important cultural, educational and recreational centre of the region.
Main sig ...
,
Szentes and
Szolnok.
Among the cultural festivals and programmes characteristic of the region are the ' (
Csángó Festival) in
Jászberény, the ' (
Sweet Cherry Festival) in
Nagykörű, the ' (
Goulash Festival) in
Szolnok, the ' (Bridge Fair) in
Hortobágy National Park, the ' at
Ópusztaszer
Ópusztaszer (till 1974 Sövényháza) is a village in Csongrád county, in the Southern Great Plain region of southern Hungary. It is most known as the location of the Ópusztaszer National Heritage Park.
Geography
It covers an area of and has ...
, the ' (Open-air Theater) in
Szeged, the ' (Castle Games) in
Gyula, the ' (Flower Carnival) in
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 ...
and the ' (Fisherman's Soup Boiling Festival) in
Baja.
The part of the plain located in Hungary comprises the following areas:
*
Mezőföld
*
Sárrét
*
Sárköz
*
Drávamellék
*
Kiskunság
*
Jászság
*
Pest Plain
*
Heves Plain
*
Borsodi-Mezőség
*
Bodrogköz
*
Tiszahát
*
Szatmár Plain
*
Maros-Körös köze
*
Körös-vidék
*
Nagykunság
*
Hortobágy National Park
*
Hajdúság
*
Nyírség
Plain in Serbia
The term is used in Serbia to denote the Hungarian portion of the
Pannonian plain.
The portion of the Pannonian plain in Serbia is mostly divided into 3 large geographical areas:
Bačka
Bačka ( sr-cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska () is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hunga ...
,
Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of ...
and
Srem (
Syrmia
Syrmia ( sh, Srem/Срем or sh, Srijem/Сријем, label=none) is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia and Croatia. Most of the region is flat, with the exc ...
), most of which are located in the
Vojvodina
Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Војводина}), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia. It lies within the Pannonian Basin, bordered to the south by the national capital ...
province.
Plain in Croatia
The term is rarely used in Croatia, and is usually associated there with the geography of Hungary.
Parts of Pannonian Croatia can be considered an extension of ''Alföld'', particularly eastern
Slavonia
Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Bar ...
and the connected parts of
Syrmia
Syrmia ( sh, Srem/Срем or sh, Srijem/Сријем, label=none) is a region of the southern Pannonian Plain, which lies between the Danube and Sava rivers. It is divided between Serbia and Croatia. Most of the region is flat, with the exc ...
.
Plain in Slovakia
The portion of the plain located in Slovakia is known as the
Eastern Slovak Lowland.
Plain in Ukraine
The part of the plain located in Ukraine is known as the
Transcarpathian Lowland.
Plain in Romania
In Romania, the plain (Rom. câmp or câmpia, from Lat. campus) includes the regions of
Banat
Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of ...
and
Crişana. It is referred to in
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
** Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...
as ''The Western Plain'' ().
History
Prehistoric culture
During the prehistoric era, the Great Hungarian Plain was a place of cultural and technological changes, as well as an important meeting point of cultures of Eastern and Western Europe. It is a region of great archaeological importance to major European cultural transitions.
Agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
began in the Great Hungarian Plain with the Early
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...
Körös culture
The Körös () or Criș () ( German: ''Kreisch'') is a river in eastern Hungary and western Romania. Its length is from the confluence of its two source rivers Fehér-Körös (''Crișul Alb'') and Fekete-Körös (''Crișul Negru'') to its outfl ...
, located in present-day Serbia, 6.000-5.500 B.C.E. followed 5.500 B.C.E. by the
Linear Pottery culture
The Linear Pottery culture (LBK) is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic period, flourishing . Derived from the German ''Linearbandkeramik'', it is also known as the Linear Band Ware, Linear Ware, Linear Ceramics or Inc ...
(LBK) which later became the dominant agricultural culture of Europe. The LBK was followed by the
Lengyel culture in the Late Neolithic 5000-3400 BC.
During the Early
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
(2.800 - 1.800 BC), the growing demand for metal ores in Europe resulted in the new pan-European and intercontinental trade networks. During that period cultures of the Great Hungarian Plain incorporated many elements from the other cultures of Bronze Age Near Eastern, Steppe and Central Europe
During the early
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...
(first millennium BC), a variant of the Central European
Hallstatt culture
The Hallstatt culture was the predominant Western and Central European culture of Late Bronze Age (Hallstatt A, Hallstatt B) from the 12th to 8th centuries BC and Early Iron Age Europe (Hallstatt C, Hallstatt D) from the 8th to 6th centuries ...
inhabited
Transdanubia, while pre-Scythian and later
Scythian cultures were found in the eastern region of the Great Hungarian Plain.
In 2014, a major study of DNA from burials in the Great Hungarian Plain was published.
The 5,000-year record indicated significant genomic shifts at the beginning of the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages, with periods of stability in between. The earliest Neolithic genome was similar to other European hunter-gatherers and surprisingly there was no evidence of
lactase persistence at that period. The most recent samples, from the Iron Age, showed an eastern genomic influence contemporary with introduced Steppe burial rites. There was also a transition towards lighter pigmentation.
Nomadic migrations and conquests
The Hungarian plain became the heartland of the
Eurasian nomads
The Eurasian nomads were a large group of nomadic peoples from the Eurasian Steppe, who often appear in history as invaders of Europe, Western Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, and South Asia.
A nomad is a member of people having no permanent ab ...
, being in its natural environment similar to the
Pontic–Caspian steppe
The Pontic–Caspian steppe, formed by the Caspian steppe and the Pontic steppe, is the steppeland stretching from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea. It extend ...
. The plain had formed the base for
Huns
The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...
,
Avars,
Magyars
Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Uralic ...
,
Cumans
The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian exonym ), were a Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confederation. After the Mongol invasion (1237), many so ...
,
Jasz people and other nomadic tribes from the
Eurasian Steppe
The Eurasian Steppe, also simply called the Great Steppe or the steppes, is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome. It stretches through Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Transnistr ...
.
See also
*
Berehove Raion
*
Eurasian Steppe
The Eurasian Steppe, also simply called the Great Steppe or the steppes, is the vast steppe ecoregion of Eurasia in the temperate grasslands, savannas and shrublands biome. It stretches through Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Transnistr ...
*
Little Hungarian Plain
*
Pannonian Basin
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 th ...
*
Pannonian Steppe
*
Steppe Route
*
Vienna Basin
References
External links
*
Körös Regional Archaeological Project Neolithic and Copper Age archaeology in the Great Hungarian Plain
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Hungarian Plain
Eurasian Steppe
Historical regions in Hungary
Historical regions in the Kingdom of Hungary
Geography of Vojvodina
Plains of Croatia
Plains of Hungary
Plains of Romania
Plains of Serbia
Plains of Slovakia
Plains of Ukraine
Pannonian Plain