A Pest Megyei Levéltár. Levéltárismertető (Budapest, 2004)
From the history of Pest County
FROM THE HISTORY OF PEST C ..JM est County is located in the central part of Hungary, surrounding the capital. The geometrical centre of the country is within the borderline of the county, near Pusztavacs. The area of the county is 6394 km 2 . Its borderlines have changed quite often during history and its current appearance and size was formed in 1950. The population of the county has constantly increased, exceeding 1 million 80 thousand inhabitants in 2002. Budapest, the capital of the country is the municipal centre county as well. At the time of the Original Conquest the geographical map of Hungary was similar to the current one with the difference that the woods on the hills and rolling hills reached further down into the sandy plains all the way to Nagykőrös. The region was more abundant in waters, and it was possible to travel on water towards Ocsa on the old branch of the River Danube. Archaeological finds prove that people had lived here prior to the Conquest. Remains of groups of people staying for shorter or longer periods of time starting from the different stages of Stone Age the Brass Age, the Bronze Age and the early Iron Ages were found in our county. The right bank of River Danube belonged to the Pannónia Province of the Roman Empire from 11 B.C. The left bank was reigned first by the Sarmata-Jazig tribe, then for a short while the Kvads. The Huns took over the place of the Romans and after Attila's death the Gepids, Eastern Roman peoples and the Longobards, finally the Avarian tribes occupied the Danube Bend. Following the Original Conquest (895-900 A.D.), a dense settlement system was formed mainly on the plains. Two reigning princes were governing the Danube riverside. The settlement area of Kurszán Chief Prince was the Roman Age area: North of the one-lime Aquincum, Obuda, while Árpád had the surrounding river Danube zone with the Csepel Island. Following Kurszán's death in 904 his position and lands were inherited by Árpád, whose descendants possessed significant parts of the county. The counties were created and organized by the first king, St. Stephen. The forming process of Pest County occurred periodically. The Public Administration unit created here at the beginning of the era of St. Stephen (997-1038) was Visegrád County situated on the two banks of the River Danube. This involved the areas of the later Pilis and Pest Counties, Csepel Island and the right bank of River Danube of Esztergom County. The Visegrád Lieutenancy's Castle was not at the area of the current castle, but south of it on the Sibrik mount utilizing the ruins as a base of a Roman Age fortress. At the beginning of the 11 th century Esztergom became soon, the centre of Visegrád County, and later this county was divided into several parts. In the Age of Árpád Pilis county got gradually separated and then formed from the two-bank Visegrád County, and so did the other two-bank Pest County and the Csepel 143
