Tóth Arnold (szerk.): Néprajz - muzeológia: Tanulmányok a múzeumi tudományok köréből a 60 éves Viga Gyula tiszteletére (Miskolc, 2012)

MIGRÁCIÓ - TÁJI KAPCSOLATOK - BOROS LÁSZLÓ: Adatok Tokaj vásárvárosi szerepköréhez (17-20. század)

DETAILS FOR TOKAJ'S MARKET-TOWN ROLE In the spatial structure of the 14

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h century's economy those settlements featured with a market or a central market function became more and more important. These settlements are predominantly located at the meeting line of diverse natural (economical) lands. At the junction of the Carpathians and the Great Plain run a line of fairs; in the energetic points of this line markettowns were developed (Fig. 1., 2.). In the connection system of settlements the market centers have satisfied the needs of larger districts, moreover filled the active or intermediary function of export trade. In the 14

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h century a line of fairs already run through Tokaj, starting form Transylavania to Poland (Fig. 1.). The road run across Tokaj because the floodplain of the River Tisza narrowed down here onto 2.8 km, at the same time in the waterway of the Tisza wood and salt form Máramaros were floated. However the wine production of Tokaj made the town world famous. Wine export into Poland from the 1490's, into Russia from the 1600's became persistent. At the beginning of the 18

th century the trade of Tokaj boosted through Francis II. Rákóczi, into this blooming trade later Greek and Jewish merchants joined. Between 1733 and 1798 the Russian Wine Consumer Commission purchased and delivered the finest wines to the tsarist imperial court. Tokaj was the distribution site of wine, salt and wood until the 19

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h century, afterward its significance and role decreased; after the construction of the railway in 1859 it ceased. [Translation by Ivett Kővári] László Boros 307