Pest () is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Hungary, comprising about two-thirds of the city's territory. It is separated from

Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...

and

Óbuda Óbuda was a town in Hungary that was merged with Buda and Pest on 17 November 1873; it now forms part of District III-Óbuda-Békásmegyer of Budapest. The name means ''Old Buda'' in Hungarian (in German, ''Alt-Ofen''). The name in Bosnian, ...

, the western parts of Budapest, by the Danube River. Among its most notable sights are the Inner City, the

Hungarian Parliament Building The Hungarian Parliament Building ( hu, Országház , which translates to "House of the Country" or "House of the Nation"), also known as the Parliament of Budapest after its location, is the seat of the National Assembly of Hungary, a notable l ...

, Heroes' Square and

Andrássy Avenue The House of Andrássy is the name of a Hungarian noble family of very ancient lineage that was prominent in Hungarian history. The full family name is ''Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály et Krasznahorka''. ''Csíkszentkirály'' is a town in modern- ...

. In colloquial Hungarian, "Pest" is often used for the whole

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

of Budapest. The three parts of Budapest (Pest,

) united in 1873.

Etymology

According to Ptolemy the settlement was called ''Pession'' in ancient times (

Contra-Aquincum Pest () is the eastern, mostly flat part of Budapest, Hungary, comprising about two-thirds of the city's territory. It is separated from Buda and Óbuda, the western parts of Budapest, by the Danube River. Among its most notable sights are the ...

). Alternatively, the name ''Pest'' may have come from a Slavic word meaning "furnace", "oven" (Bulgarian ; Serbian /''peć''; Croatian ''peć''), related to the word (meaning "cave"), probably with reference to a local cave where fire burned. The spelling ''Pesth'' was occasionally used in English, even as late as the early 20th century, although it is now considered archaic.

History

Pest was originally founded as a

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic settlement, then a fortified camp established by the Romans (Contra-Aquincum) across the river from their military border camp at Aquincum. Remains of the original Roman camp can still be seen at Március 15. tér. During the Middle Ages, Pest was an independent

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

separate from Buda/Ofen, which became an important economic center during the 11th–13th centuries. The first written mention dates back to 1148. Pest was destroyed in 1241

Mongol invasion of Hungary Mongol invasion of Hungary may refer to: * First Mongol invasion of Hungary, 1241–1242 ** Battle of Mohi * Second Mongol invasion of Hungary, 1285–1286 {{Disambig ...

, but was rebuilt shortly thereafter. Demographically, in the 15th century Pest was mostly Hungarian, while Buda across the Danube had a German-majority population. Pest térképe 1758

In 1838 Pest was flooded by the Danube; parts of the city were under as much as eight feet of water, and the flood destroyed or seriously damaged three-fourths of the city’s buildings. In 1849 the first suspension bridge, the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, was constructed across the Danube connecting Pest with

. Subsequently, in 1873, the two cities were unified with

to become Budapest.

Notable people

* László Teleki (1811–1861), writer, statesman and magician * Henrik Weber (1818–1866), painter * Theodor Herzl (1860–1904), founder of the political Zionist movement *

Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

(1874–1926), illusionist, escape acts performer

References

External links

{{Authority control Geography of Budapest

Etymology

History

Notable people

See also

References

Further reading

External links