
Hungary Location and Relief
According to itypejob, Hungary is now the 17th state in Europe by surface area (93,073 sq km) (of which it is just the hundredth part) and the 11th by population (8.7 million residents). It occupies the greatest part of the Pannonian Lowlands, extends for a short distance over the Carpathian hills and includes in its territory the last buttresses of the Alpine system.
Following the compromise of 1867 (see below: History), Hungary was an almost independent state before the World War (surface 325,411 sq km; population 21 million residents) which extended over a well-defined geographical region (middle basin of the Danube), with borders marked by natural obstacles, which formed an economic unit, where the various parts integrated each other, so as to form a territory that tended to reach the ideal of the autarchic state, while instead unity was lacking. national, given that the Hungarians, who inhabited the central region, were just half of the total population, and to N. the Slovak and Ruthenians prevailed, to E. Romeni, to S. Slavic populations, and elsewhere different minorities (Germans, Poles, Italians, Gypsies). Lost the war, the borders of the new state were established by the Trianon Treaty (June 4, 1920), following which Hungary, reduced to an internal state, lost 71.5% of its territory and 63.5% of the population of 1914, much of the woods, of the mining areas; of the railway network, so that the pre-war autarchy disappeared to give rise to a state with a predominantly agricultural economy, with almost entirely artificial borders (except for a short stretch on the Danube and the Drava). The principle of nationality, which should have served as a basis for marking the borders, has often not been observed to give the neighboring states the railway nodes and therefore the main markets. of the population of 1914, much of the woods, of the mining areas; of the railway network, so that the pre-war autarchy disappeared to give rise to a state with a predominantly agricultural economy, with almost entirely artificial borders (except for a short stretch on the Danube and the Drava). The principle of nationality, which should have served as a basis for marking the borders, has often not been observed to give the neighboring states the railway nodes and therefore the main markets. of the population of 1914, much of the woods, of the mining areas; of the railway network, so that the pre-war autarchy disappeared to give rise to a state with a predominantly agricultural economy, with almost entirely artificial borders (except for a short stretch on the Danube and the Drava). The principle of nationality, which should have served as a basis for marking the borders, has often not been observed to give the neighboring states the railway nodes and therefore the main markets.
Location. – The border with Czechoslovakia (570 km.) First follows the Danube, which constitutes a good line of defense, then rests on its left tributary (Ipoly), to pass with a SO.-NE trend. in the Tisza basin, of which it cuts some of the major tributaries (Sajó, Hernád, Bodrog) leaving only the southernmost hills of the Western Carpathians in Hungarian territory. It therefore assumes a general NO.-SE trend, laps the Tisza for the first time at the place where this river makes a wide elbow and then, after following its course for a few kilometers, it meets the Romanian border (300 km.), which, completely laid out on the plain with a general course NE-SW., leaves the important railway junctions of Satu Mare, Carelii Mare, Oradea Mare, Arad to Romania, to meet in the SE. of Seghedino the Yugoslav border. This (400 km.) Has a direction first E.-O., then SE.-NO.; the line, cutting the southern part of the plain, first passes the Tisza, leaves Subotica to the Yugoslavs, crosses the Danube, to then lean on the Drava (ancient border between Hungary and Croatia), abandoning however in Yugoslav possession a triangle of land near the area of confluence with the Danube. Leaving the Drava it follows the Mur, then turns NW. and to the West with Austria the determination of the border (180 km.) gave rise to a dispute, which was decided by the plebiscite (December 1921) which took place following the decisions of the Venice conference (11-13 October 1921). L’ Hungary has retained a part of those Western committees that the Germans call Burgenland with a recent name (deriving from the large number of castles), that is, the city and surroundings of Sopron. The shape of the state is favorable, since it resembles an ellipse with a major axis of 525 km. and the smallest of 220. Budapest, which is the capital, retains a central position (unlike Vienna and Prague, which have peripheral positions), but while previously comprising only a 17th of the population, it is now home to an eighth of the residents.
Relief. – The whole region that now forms the Pannonian Lowland was originally occupied by a plateau of ancient rocks of the primary era, which the Hungarian geographers call Tisia (from the Latin name of the Tisza), while the term Pannonian Massif is used by others. These lands, which in the Cretaceous period underwent a folding, little by little, but especially in the Miocene, sank and were occupied by the sea, which at first was in communication with the Mediterranean through a channel (giving rise to marine depositions that still form the relief of some hills between Drava and Danube), until it separated from it, it formed a closed basin, where rivers and mountain streams flowed, bringing, in addition to their waters, sand and pebbles in abundance. The lowering of the central part was accompanied towards the external volcanic manifestations, which opened the way, between Drava and Danube, even among the surviving ruins of ancient Tisia. The downward movement took place in an irregular way, more pronounced in the NE., But very limited in the W, where the Triassic limestones that were deposited on the ancient rocks still emerge, of which some remains can be glimpsed. The lake, into which the Danube also came to bring its waters, after it had eroded the threshold of Visegrád, decreased more and more in extension and lasted for a long time only in the central part. The alternation of glacial and interglacial periods accelerated the process of formation of new lands in the closed basin and the same happened when, following a steppe climate, the rivers ceased sedimentation, while on the other hand the The aridity of the climate transformed the thinner sediments that the winds (especially those of E.) deposited into sands, creating a blanket of löss, frequent especially in the periphery, while in the center the fine sands prevail, which sometimes form dunes. A rainy period follows, the rivers resume their demolition and sedimentation work, then the man intervenes who regulates the waters, fixes the dunes and gives the plain its current appearance.