Gara is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in Bács-Kiskun county, near Baja, in

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 ...

History

The village is first mentioned in a 1290 document. The name is derived from the

Garai family The House of Garay or Garai () was a Hungarian-Croatian noble family, a branch of the Dorozsma (Durusma) clan, with notable members in the 14th and 15th centuries. They were lords of Csesznek. Origin The family was descended from the Dorozsma ...

name. The most commonly accepted theory claims that the word ''Gara'' originates from a

Slavic Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to: Peoples * Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia ** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples ** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples ** West Slav ...

word meaning "hill". The original village was situated on a small hill, at a distance of 4 kilometers from its current location. According to Turkish tax listings, the village had 25 houses under Ottoman rule. The original village was destroyed. After 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 ...

regained its lost territories, Gara was rebuilt. In 1731, the village's population reached 277. In 1734,

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

settled the place. The first school there was opened in 1755 by János Bary. In 1895, Gara was connected to the national

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

system. This line was closed in 1971 as traffic declined (the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...

had made this line unnecessary, and after fifty years, the train company decided to end service to Gara).

Demographics

Existing ethnicities: *

Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common culture, language and history. They also have a notable presence in former parts of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian language belongs to the ...

Croats The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

(from

Bunjevci Bunjevci ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Bunjevci, Буњевци, ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevac, Буњевац, sh-Latn-Cyrl, label=, separator=" / ", Bunjevka, Буњевка) are a South Slavs, South Slavic sub-ethnic ...

group) *

Notable persons from Gara

János Dunai János Dunai (26 June 1937 – 13 February 2025) was a Hungarian footballer who played as a forward. He was with the bronze medal–winning Hungary national team at the 1960 Summer Olympics at Rome, Italy. Dunai died in Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; ...

(1937–2025), football player *, Croatian writer *, dancer, choreographer

References

Populated places in Bács-Kiskun County Places in Bačka Hungarian German communities {{Bacs-geo-stub