A Móra Ferenc Múzeum Évkönyve: Studia Historica 8. (Szeged, 2005)
MARJANUCZ László: Szeged és Temesvár. A Délvidék regionális centrumai
kedelmi elosztó, kulturális kisugárzás, ipari földolgozás) Szegeden. Összességében mindkét települést a városok hierarchikus rangsorában a teljes értékű regionális centrumok közé sorolhatjuk. LÁSZLÓ MARJANUCZ SZEGED AND TEMESVÁR AS REGIONAL CENTRES OF SOUTHERN HUNGARY The concept of Southern Hungary (.Délvidék) as a region has already been interpreted in several different ways. From a historic aspect there were two centres of the region: Szeged and Temesvár (today Timisoara, Romania). They seem rather difficult to compare, their geographical and social conditions being so different. Both settlements obtained the position of a regional centre in Southern Hungary, as well as there were many connections between the two cities due to geographic closeness. The author studied the different factors of development, as well as analysed the reasons of special features and differences. In case of Szeged the author stated that its development as a city was continuous. Both its boundaries and the conditions of living changed as a result of Turkish occupation. The structure of the settlement involved immense outer territories conforming to the historical function and the economic conditions of modern times. Due to the huge area of its fields, Szeged developed as an agricultural town, mostly during the 18 th century. However, its legal status was that of a free royal borough. Almost half of the inhabitants were citizens of the city in law, but lived on farms and made a living from agriculture. The historical development of Temesvár was absolutely different. A modern industrial city formulated around the one-time fortress after the period of the Turkish occupation. The area having entered into the possession of the court in Vienna was resettled and rebuilt following the ideas of the Hapsburg Empire. Villages with new structures, societies of more flexible legal status as well as industrial cities were born. Temesvár was from the beginning the administrative and economic centre of Bánság. Its status was established both due to its economygeographical conditions (navigable waterways and central location etc.) and the conscious developing policy of the Hapsburgs. Its population was made up of craftsmen, tradesmen, merchants and administrative personnel originated from the German Empire and other European countries. Thus it was decided already during the period of colonisation that Vienna considered Temesvár as a remarkable place for industrial development. Its economic activity and its occupational structure were from the beginning more modern than that of Szeged. The role of Szeged as a regional distributive trading and cultural centre was strengthened during the time of bourgeois development. In Temesvár the city's role as an industrial centre accelerated the process of quick urbanization and communal development, together with bourgeois development. (In the period Temesvár was also called as "little Vienna"). On the whole after the period of Turkish occupation during the time of the Monarchy both cities in Southern Hungary were considered as flourishing centres, ranking in the order of Hungarian cities rather high.
