The Eighth Hungarian Tribe, 1986 (13. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1986-11-01 / 11-12. szám
On the Lap of the Tisza The Great Plain, situated in south-eastern Hungary, is one of the most romantic and picturesque regions of the Carpathian Basin. Its beauty and the many possibilities it offers for recreation and sightseeing attract hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. Due to geographical and historical similarities, the three counties of Bács-Kiskun , Csongrád and Békés, which make up the geographical region of south-eastern Hungary, will be featured together in this issue. Although the soil is bound here by fruit trees extending over many hectares and most of the country's hot-house vegetable production derives from here, the region is still best known for its spectacular, vast corn fields. The land here is either very fertile humous black soil or poor windblown sand or alkali. Where the land was not productive, peasants were compelled to turn to time- and energy-consuming market-gardening. Their efforts have been rewarded; these three counties have been famous for their tomato, onion and apricot production since the beginning of the centruy. Prior to 1945, even the biggest settlements were only spread-out villages with little canalization and asphalting. With the help of panel housing, however, these places have turned into real towns in the last 25 years, though not always to their aesthetic advantage. The three counties are corssed by Hungary's second biggest river, the Tisza, which irrigates their lands, transports their products, and provides plenty of catch for their fishermen. Every region has its own fate. South-eastern Hungary has always epitomized a stand of stubbornness and no compromise, for which it has had to pay the price throughout history. At the beginning of the millennium, this region was inhabited by heathens; later on it sheltered the local lords and their people, who resisted royal centralization and were eventually defeated. This is where the peasant revolt of 1514 led by György Dózsa began and where settlement after settlement perished for its reluctance to surrender to the Turks during the 150 years of Turkish occupation. This is the region where most of the highwaymen, fed up with an inhuman workload, robbed the wealthy. With the onslaught of modern political struggles, these counties sent forth the most number of agrarian revolutionaries; Békés County in particular became the rural base of the labor movement. The introduction of irrigation, soil-improvement mechanizatioh and industrialization has changed the scene considerably in the past four decades. Hands that formerly held hacks and scythes today control machines and drive vehicles. The country's biggest orchard can be found in Bács-Kiskun County. Kecskemét. the county seat, is famous for its apricot brandy and excellent tinned apricot. The city's poultry processing plant has exports worth $40 million a year. In this country, where not so long ago there was no high-technology industry whatsoever, today there is a plant in Kiskunfélegyháza making equipment for nuclear power stations. Szeged is the county seat of Csongrád County. It has three universities, one of Hungary's most outstanding cable factories, a textile factory and the famous Herz and Pick salami factories. Hódmezővásárhely is another important city of the county, where prior to 1945 there was only a sieve-factory, providing utensils and tools for the home and agriculture. Today, there is a factory making small agricultural machines, a knitwear factory, a tile factory making china, ceramics and tiles for the energy and construction industries, and the Metripond balance and scale factory. Providing corn and meat for half the country, Békés County is one of the country's vital granaries. Its most important products, the sausage of Gyula and Békéscsaba , reach the tables of foreign gourmets. The county also exports bus chassies, plate-glass and heat-insulating glass, corn-harvesters and knitwear. The products of Gyoma's printing house, its facsimile editions of hundred-of-years-old codices and Bibles, are known and admired throughout the world. Gas was not used in south-eastern Hungary prior to 1950. Oil was used only for lamps where there was no electricity even for the few agricultural machines that existed. And yet it's been suspected for over 50 years that there is oil deep down in the earth. Today, these three counties provide 84% of the country's annual 2 million-ton oil production and 88% of the 7,440 million cubic meters of natural gas. NATURE Nature-conservationists look after national parks and nature conservation areas on the territory of the Great Plain. Page 3 •Ki'$kunfélegyház^yula ‘Hódmezővásárhely Szeged
