Vadász István: A Közép-Tiszavidék kisvárosai a XIX–XX. században – A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok Megyei Múzeumok közleményei 54. (1995)

investigating the trends of settlement development over the last one and the half or two centuries. The author showed and summarized various types of central functions of urban-like places period by period in the 19th and 20th centuries making registrations of central functions or function units in three eras. The paper tried to delineate the spheres of influence of urban places, the temporal changes of attraction-zones of small towns and system of attraction-zones of central places in the investigated area. This study presents some new, original methods for delineating zones of attraction and spheres of influence of urban places which have been never used in Hungarian geography (e.g. questionnaire for old persons by settlements about the administrative, educational, commercial, personal service, health care, productive connections betweem settlements in the 1920

's). In the first decades of last century 7 central places (Heves, Mezőcsát, Kunhegyes, Kunmadaras, Polgár, Poroszló, Tiszafüred) existed only among the present 9 urban-like settlements as a rural market town with a few guilds of handicrafts and periodic markets, fairs. These rural market towns excelled in having a higher level of autonomy and in holding larger outskirts for animal-keeping. They were urban-like places with very little industrial activity and served as a kind of trade foci for the surrounding agricultural areas. Due to these circumstances the first period of the investigation is the first half of last century. Not having enought, reliable data on volume of transactions of market or trade the author examined spatial connections of marriages contracted by inhabitants of rural market towns with non-local dwellers in period 1825—1852. Spatial connections of settlements were measured and summarized in period 1920'

s

—1930

'-s. In the centres of the Middle-Tisza Region some 122 establishments, functional units were performed and these functions made 7 analysed sectors. The attraction-zones of some functions and the spheres of influence of some establishments are shown in maps, so we can compare the situation of attraction-zone system of the 1920'

s and 1930'

s to that of present years. The third period of the investigation is the early 1990's. In this paper the author summarized some 214 establishments or functional 184