Békés was an administrative county (

comitatus Comitatus may refer to: *Comitatus (warband), a Germanic warband who follow a leader * ''Comitatus'', the office of a Roman or Frankish comes, translated as count. * ''Comitatus'', translated as county, a territory such as governed by medieval cou ...

) of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. Its territory, which was smaller than that of present

Békés county Békés (, , ) is an administrative division (county or ''vármegye'') in south-eastern Hungary, on the border with Romania. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Csongrád-Csanád, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, and Hajdú-Bihar. The capital ...

, is now in southeastern

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...

. The capital of the county was Gyula.

Geography

Békés county shared borders with the Hungarian counties

Csongrád Csongrád (; , archaically also ''Црноград/Crnograd,'' ) is a town in Csongrád County in southern Hungary. History At the time of the Hungarian Conquest (the end of 9th century) the Maros Valley was under Bulgarian control. The fortre ...

, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Hajdú,

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, Arad and

Csanád Csanád, also Chanadinus, or Cenad, was the first head ''(comes)'' of Csanád County in the Kingdom of Hungary in the first decades of the 11th century. Csanád defeated and killed Ajtony who had ruled over the region now known as Banat (in R ...

. The river

Körös 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 outf ...

flowed through the county. Its area was 3,670 km² around 1910.

History

Békés county arose as one of the first comitatus of the Kingdom of Hungary, in the 11th century. In 1950, the territory of Békés county was expanded with: * the northeastern part of former Csanád-Arad-Torontál county (the Hungarian part of pre-1920 Arad county and the north-eastern part of pre-1920

Csanád county Csanád was an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now part of Hungary, except for a small area which is part of Romania. The capital of the county was Makó. Geography C ...

) * a part of former

county (the area around Sarkad and

Okány Okány is a village in Békés County, in the Southern Great Plain region of south-east Hungary. In 2015, the village had 2,563 people. References

Populated places in Békés County {{Bekes-geo-stub ...

) * a part of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county (the area around

Dévaványa Dévaványa is a town in northern Békés county, in the Southern Great Plain region of Hungary. Geography It covers an area of 216.65 km² and has a population of 6,793 people (2024). History The town first appeared in writing in the 1330s, ...

)

Demographics

Subdivisions

In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Békés county were:

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bekes States and territories established in 1699 States and territories established in 1790 States and territories established in 1860 1566 disestablishments 1786 disestablishments States and territories disestablished in 1853 States and territories disestablished in 1946 Counties in the Kingdom of Hungary