ions 4.3 Largest cities 5 Economy 5.1 History of the Hungarian Economy 5.1.1 Hungarian economy prior to the transition 5.1.2 Transition to a market economy 5.1.3 Hungarian economy today 5.1.3.1 The fulfillment of the Maastricht criteria 5.2 2008–2009 Financial Crisis 6 Geography 6.1 Landscape 6.2 National parks 6.3 Climate 7 Military 8 Demographics 8.1 Ethnic Germans 8.2 Religion in Hungary 8.2.1 Religious history 8.2.2 Jewish Hungarians 9 Culture 9.1 Architecture 9.2 Music 9.3 Art 9.4 Literature 9.5 Cuisine 9.6 Spa culture 9.7 Folk art 9.7.1 Folk dance 9.7.2 Embroidery 9.7.3 Black pottery 9.8 Herend Porcelain 10 Hungarian public holidays and special events 10.1 Fixed public holidays 10.2 Holidays not endorsed by the state 10.3 Hungarian domestic animals 10.4 Special events 10.5 Budapest Spring Festival 10.6 Haydn Festival in Eszterháza 10.7 Gyor Summer Festival 11 Sports 11.1 Olympics 11.2 Ice hockey 11.3 Football (soccer) 12 Miscellaneous 13 Transport 13.1 Railways 13.2 Motorways 13.3 Ports and Harbours 13.4 Airports 13.5 Metro 14 International rankings 15 See also 16 References 16.1 Notes 17 External links // History Before 895 AD Hungarian raids in the 10th century. Most European nations were praying for mercy: "Sagittis hungarorum libera nos Domine" - "Lord save us from the arrows of Hungarians". The genetical ancestors of present-day Hungarian population arrived in Carpathian basin around 40,000 years ago.[18][19] From 9 BC to the end of the 4th century, Pannonia was part of the Roman Empire on a part of later Hungary's area. In the final stages of the expansion of the Roman empire, the Carpathian Basin fell for a while into the sphere of the Mediterranean, yet Greco-Roman civilization, its town centers, paved roads and written sources were all part of the advances which the Migration of Peoples ended. Among the first to arrive were the Huns, who built up a powerful empire under Attila the Hun. Attila was regarded as an ancestral ruler of the Hungarians, however, this claim is rejected today by most scholars (Read chronicles like Gesta Hungarorum and Tarihi Ungurus/Turkish/ and these and other chronicles write about Magyars being Huns/Scythians). After Hunnish rule faded away, the Germanic Ostrogoths and then the Lombards came to Pannonia, and the Gepids had a presence in the eastern part of the Carpathian Basin for about 100 years. In the 560s the Avars founded the Avar Khaganate,[20] a state which maintained supremacy in the region for more than two centuries and had the military power to launch attacks against all its neighbours. The Avar Khaganate was weakened by constant wars and outside pressure and finally the Avars' 250 year rule ended when the Khaganate was conquered by the Franks under Charlemagne in the West and the Bulgarians under Krum in the East. Neither of these two nor others were able to create a lasting state in the region, and in the late 9th century the land was inhabited only by a sparse population of Slavs.[21] It was King Arnulf I of Bavaria who invited the Hungarians to occupy Svatopluk's lands east of the Danube.[22] In 894, while Simeon I of Bulgaria attacked the Byzantine Empire, Svatopluk challenged Arnulf by invading Pannonia.[22] Both Arnulf and Leo VI the Wise sought help from the Hungarians who were well placed to attack the Bulgarians and the Moravians from the rear.[22] Arnulf maintained the alliance with the Hungarians until his death in 899.[22] The freshly unified Magyars (Hungarians)[23] led by Árpád settled in the Carpathian Basin starting in 895.[21][24] According to linguists they are thought to have originated in an ancient Finno-Ugric population that originally inhabited the forested area between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains.[25] The force led by Árpád contained seven Magyar, one Szekely, one Kabar, and other smaller tribes.[21] Medieval Hungary (895–1526) Main articles: History of Hungary, Pannonian basin before Hungary, Hungarian prehistory, and Pannonia Main articles: Árpád dynasty, Kingdom of Hungary in the Middle Ages, and History of the Székely people The first Hungarian coin, by Duke Géza circa the end of 970s. Politically, Hungary is one of the oldest countries in Europe, established in 896, prior to the division of France and Germany or unification of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Árpád was the Magyar leader whom sources name as the single leader who unified the Magyar tribes into a political entity via the "Covenant of Blood" (Hungarian: vérszerzodés), thereafter known as Hungary[26] and led the new nation to the Carpathian Basin in the 9th century.[26] After an early seminomad Hungarian state, the Principality of Hungary was formed in this territory, the nation's military power allowed the Hungarians to conduct successful fierce campaigns and raids from Constantinople as far as today's Spain.[27] A later defeat at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955 signaled an end to most campaigns on foreign territories. The ruling prince (Hungarian: fejedelem) Géza of the Árpád dynasty, who was the ruler of only some of the united territory, but the nominal overlord of all seven Magyar tribes, intended to integrate Hungary into Christian Western Europe.[28] and the first Roman Catholic bishopric was established under his reign. Géza chose his first-born son (Vajk the later King Stephen I of Hungary) to be his successor. This was contrary to the then-dominant tradition of the succession of the eldest surviving member of the ruling family. (See: agnatic seniority) By ancestral right prince Koppány, - as the oldest member of the dynasty - should have claimed the throne, but the fight in the chief prince's family started after Géza's death, in 997. Duke Koppány took up arms, and many people in Transdanubia joined him. The rebels represented the old faith and order, tribal independence and pagan belief. Stephen won a decisive victory over his uncle Koppány in a large scale battle at Veszprém, and had him executed, thus firming Christian fate and ensuring the survival and prosperity of Hungary. The treasure of Nagyszentmiklós illustrating the Álmos legend from the Hungarian mythology: Emese's dream of the Turul bird Detail of the cyclorama, Arrival of the Hungarians by Árpád Feszty, depicting the arrival to the Carpathian Basin in 895. Galgóci tarsolylemez, an ancient Hungarian pouch plate. The Old Hungarian script, the so-called "Rovás alphabet" Hungary in the 11th century The Patrimonial Kingdom Main articles: Stephen I of Hungary, Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), and Doctrine of the Holy Crown The Holy Crown of Hungary, the key symbol of Hungary Hungary was recognized as a Catholic Apostolic Kingdom under Saint Stephen I, the son of Géza[29] and thus a descendant of Árpád. Applying to Pope Sylvester II, Stephen received the insignia of royalty (including the Holy Crown of Hungary, currently kept in the Hungarian Parliament) from the papacy. He was crowned in December 1000, in the capital, Esztergom. The papacy conferred on him the right to have the cross carried before him, with full administrative authority over bishoprics and churches. By 1006, Stephen had consolidated his power, eliminating all rivals who either wanted to follow the old pagan traditions or wanted an alliance with the Eastern Christian Byzantine Empire. Then he started sweeping reforms to convert Hungary into a western feudal state, it has been asserted that the Christianisation was forced.[30] Stephen established a network of 10 episcopal and 2 archiepiscopal sees, and ordered the building of monasteries, churches and cathedrals. The country switched to using the Latin language and alphabet under Stephen, and until as late as 1844, Latin remained the official language of Hungary. Previously Hungarian had been written with the Old Hungarian script, a runic script. Stephen followed the Frankish administrative model: The country was divided into counties (Hungarian: megye), each under a royal official called an ispán or count (Latin: comes) — later foispán (lord lieutenant or prefect) (Latin: supremus comes). This official represented the king’s authority, administered its population, and collected the taxes that formed the national revenue. Each ispán maintained at his fortified headquarters (castrum or vár) an armed force of freemen. What emerged was a strong kingdom[31] that withstood and repelled attacks from Holy Roman Emperors and Byzantine Emperors, and nomadic tribes following the Hungarians from the East, integrating some of the latter into the population (along with Germans invited to Transylvania and the northern part of the kingdom, especially after the 13th century Battle of Mohi), and conquering Croatia in 1091.[32][33][34] After the Great Schism (The East-West Schism /formally in 1054/, between Western Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christianity.) Hungary determined itself as the Easternmost bastion of Western civilization. The Orthodox powers regarded Hungary as the main obstacle in their desire to introduce Orthodoxy into the Western World. However every such Eastern effort has been halted at the gates of Hungary.[35] King Stephen I of Hungary, patron saint of Kings (from the Chronicon Hungariae Pictum) Romanesque church of Pécs Gothic Church of Our Lady in Buda Reliquary, Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary (c.1040–1095) King Béla's III tomb Important members of the Árpád dynasty Andrew II in the Holy Land (After he defeated Sultan of Egypt. Golden Bull of 1222. King Coloman (Kálmán), the "Book-lover" (1095–1116) One of Coloman's laws was half a millennium ahead of its time: De strigis vero quae non sunt, nulla amplius quaestio fiat (As for witches, they really do not exist; no further investigations or trials are to be held). Béla III (1172–1192) Béla III was the most powerful and wealthiest member of the dynasty: Béla disposed of the equivalent of 23 tonnes of pure silver per year. This exceeded the income of the French king (estimated at 17 tonnes) and was double the receipts of the English Crown.[36] Béla captured Belgrade from Byzantine Empire. He forced back the Byzantine domain in the Balkan region. Andrew II of Hungary (1205–1235) He granted the Burzenland (in Transylvania) to the Teutonic Knights. In 1225, Andrew II expelled the Teutonic Knights from Transylvania, hence Teutonic Order had to transfer to the Baltic sea. In 1224, Andrew issued the Diploma Andreanum which unified and secured the special privileges of the Transylvanian Saxons. It is considered the first Autonomy law in the world.[37] He led the Fifth Crusade to the Holy Land in 1217. He set up the largest royal army in the history of Crusades (20,000 knights and 12,000 castle-garrisons). The Golden Bull of 1222 was the first constitution in Continental Europe. It limited the king's power. The Golden Bull — the Hungarian equivalent of England’s Magna Carta — to which every Hungarian king thereafter had to swear, had a twofold purpose: to reaffirm the rights of the lesser nobles of the old and new classes of royal servants (servientes regis) against both the crown and the magnates, and to defend the rights of the whole nation against the crown by restricting certain powers of the crown and legalizing refusal to obey its unlawful/unconstitutional commands (the ius resistendi). The lesser nobles also began to present Andrew with grievances, a practice that evolved into the institution of the parliament (parlamentum publicum). Hungary became the first country where the parliament had supremacy over the crown. The most important legal ideology and legislative guideline was the Doctrine of the Holy Crown. Important points of the Doctrine: The sovereignty belongs to the nation (the Holy Crown). The members of the Holy Crown are the citizens of the Crown's lands. None can reach full power in the kingdom. The nation shares political power with the ruler. "Politically minority opinions cannot rule over majority". (Which meant: The Doctrine was opposed to tyranny and oligarchy). The Mongol attacks, consequences and reaction Main article: Mongol invasion of Europe In 1241–1242, the kingdom received a major blow with the Mongol (Tatar) Invasion: after the defeat of the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohi,[38] Béla IV of Hungary fled, and a large part of the population died[39] in the ensuing destruction leading later to the invitation of settlers, largely from Germany. Historians estimate that up to half of Hungary's then population of 2,000,000 were victims of the Mongol invasion.[40] In the plains between 50 and 80% of the settlements were destroyed.[41] Only castles, strongly fortified cities and abbeys could withstand the assault. During the Russian campaign, the Mongols drove some 40,000 Cumans, a nomadic tribe of pagan Kipchaks, west of the Carpathian Mountains.[42] There, the Cumans appealed to King Béla IV of Hungary for protection.[43] The Iranian Jassic people came to Hungary together with the Cumans after they were defeated by the Mongols. Cumans constituted perhaps up to 7-8% of the population of Hungary in the second half of the 13th century.[44] Over the centuries they were fully assimilated into the Hungarian population, and their language disappeared, but they preserved their identity and their regional autonomy until 1876.[45] As a consequence, after the Mongols retreated, King Béla ordered the construction of hundreds of stone castles and fortifications, to defend against a possible second Mongol invasion. The Mongols returned to Hungary in 1286, but the new built stone-castle systems and new tactics (using a higher proportion of heavily armed knights) stopped them. The invading Mongol force was defeated near Pest by the royal army of Ladislaus IV of Hungary. As with later invasions, it was repelled handily, the Mongols losing much of their invading force. These castles proved to be very important later in the long struggle with the Ottoman Empire. However the cost of building them indebted the Hungarian King to the major feudal landlords again, so the royal power reclaimed by Béla IV after his father Andrew II significantly weakened it was once again dispersed amongst lesser nobility. The countries of the Balkan region and the territory of Russian states fell under Ottoman/Mongolian rule very rapidly, due to the lack of the network of stone/brick castles and fortresses in these countries. Age of elected Kings Main articles: Ottoman–Hungarian Wars, Louis the Great, Emperor Sigismund, Order of the Dragon, and John Hunyadi King Charles' last battle against the oligarchy, Rozgony (1312). Lands, countries kingdoms under Louis' control Count John Hunyadi - One of the greatest warlords in Hungarian history, Matthias Corvinus's father Árpád's direct descendants in the male line ruled the country until 1301. During the reigns of the Árpád dynasty, the Kingdom of Hungary reached its greatest extent, yet royal power was weakened as the major landlords (the Barons) greatly increased their influence. The most powerful landlords started to use royal prerogatives (coinage, customs, their own independent diplomacy, declaration of wars against foreign monarchs). After the destructive period of interregnum (1301–1308), the first Angevin king, Charles I of Hungary (reigned 1308–1342) - a descendant of the Árpád dynasty in the female line - successfully restored royal power, and defeated oligarch rivals, the so called "little kings". His new fiscal, customs and monetary policies proved successful during his reign. One of the primary sources of his power was the wealth derived from the gold mines of eastern and northern Hungary. Eventually production reached the remarkable figure of 3,000 lb. (1350 kg) of gold annually - one third of the total production of the world as then known, and five times as much as that of any other European state.[46][47] Charles also sealed an alliance with the Polish king Casimir. After Italy, Hungary was the first European country where the renaissance appeared.[48] The second Hungarian king in the Angevin line, Louis the Great (reigned 1342–1382) extended his rule as far as the Adriatic Sea, and occupied the Kingdom of Naples several times. During his reign lived the epic hero of Hungarian literature and warfare, the king's Champion: Nicolas Toldi. Louis had become popular in Poland because of his campaign against the Tatars and pagan Lithuanians. Two successful wars (1357–1358, 1378–1381) against Venice annexed Dalmatia and Ragusa and more territories on the Adriatic Sea. Venice also had to raise the Angevin flag in St. Mark's Square on holy days. Some Balkan states (Vallachia, Moldova, Serbia, Bosnia) became his vassals. Louis I established a university in Pécs in 1367 (by papal accordance). The Ottoman Turks confronted the Balkan vassal states ever more often. In 1366 and 1377, Louis led successful campaigns against the Ottomans (Battle of Nicapoli in 1366). From the death of Casimir III of Poland in 1370, he was also king of Poland. He retained his strong influence in the political life of Italian Peninsula for the rest of his life. King Louis died without a male heir, and after years of anarchy the country was stabilized only when Sigismund (reigned 1387–1437), a prince of the Luxembourg line, succeeded to the throne by marrying the daughter of Louis the Great, Queen Mary. It was not for entirely selfless reasons that one of the leagues of barons helped him to power: Sigismund had to pay for the support of the lords by transferring a sizeable part of the royal properties. For some years, the baron's council governed the country in the name of the Holy Crown; the king was imprisoned for a short time. The restoration of the authority of the central administration took decades. In 1404 Sigismund introduced the Placetum Regnum. According to this decree, Papal bulls and messages could not be pronounced in Hungary without the consent of the king. Sigismund summoned the Council of Constance (1414–1418) to abolish the Avignon Papacy and the Papal Schism of the Catholic Church, which was resolved by the election of a new pope. In 1433 he even became Holy Roman Emperor. During his long reign the Royal castle of Buda became probably the largest Gothic palace of the late Middle Ages. The first Hungarian Bible translation was completed in 1439. For a half year in 1437, there was an antifeudal and anticlerical peasant revolt in Transylvania which was strongly influenced by Hussite ideas. (See: Budai Nagy Antal Revolt) From a small noble family in Transylvania, John Hunyadi grew to become one of the country's most powerful lords, thanks to his outstanding capabilities as a mercenary commander. In 1446, the parliament elected the great general John Hunyadi governor (1446–1453), then regent (1453–1456). He was a successful crusader against the Ottoman Turks, one of his greatest victories being the Siege of Belgrade in 1456. Hunyadi defended the city against the onslaught of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. During the siege, Pope Callixtus III ordered the bells of every European church to be rung every day at noon, as a call for believers to pray for the defenders of the city. However, in many countries, (like England and Spanish kingdoms), the news of the victory arrived before the order, and the ringing of the church bells at noon was transformed into a commemoration of the victory. The Popes didn't withdraw the order, and Catholic (and the older Protestant) churches still ring the noon bell in the Christian world to this day.[49] King Louis the Great Early renaissance Castle of Diósgyor, which was one of the favourite rural hunting castles of Angevin kings “The Hungarian Cannon,named after the Hungarian engineer Orban who cast the gun for the Ottoman besiegers of Constantinople.It w