Breakaway cultures and independence movements in Europe

[ácwellan]

QUICK VIEW:
Basques • Flemish & Walloons • Kosovo and Greater Albania • Serbian republic in Bosnia • Northern Ireland • Turkish Muslim Cyprus • Transnistria • South Ossetia • Chechnya/Muslims of Russia

Although individual European nations are among the most homogeneous in the world, there are a number of native (non-immigrant) minority groups in Europe that claim a distinct cultural, linguistic, regional, national, or religious heritage. Some seek political autonomy, whilst others seek full-scale independence through violent means. Some are incited into revolt through the oppression of hegemonic governments (like the Irish), whilst others employ violence in part out of their own provocation (like the Basques). Other nations like Belgium are so bitterly divided between the two major ethnic groups (the Dutch Flemings and the French Walloons) that it has even caused many to presage total national division.

The Basques of Spain:

The Basques are one of Europe's most unique communities. They are a tight-knit and ancient people with a completely isolated and independent European language (Euskara) and a highly distinct culture straddling northern Spain and western France, a land that the Basques insist must be an independent nation called "Euskadi." They are often called Europe's only indigeneous population, although nearly all European peoples are equally indigenous with a settled history just as long. Many Basques (like the Galicians of Spain) emphasize a theoretical descent from the ancient Celtiberians, Celtic tribes that settled in Spain and France preceding the Roman era. Many debate the Basque claims at ethnic independence by claiming that Basque history, language, and culture were merely invented with the aim of distancing the Basques from outside Castilian, French, Roman, Muslim, and German hegemons who frequently intruded into the Basque Country throughout their long history. Their language shares a great deal of Spanish and even Celtic influences, and the reason for the distinctness of Euskara and the Celtic heritage is debated broadly. The Basques have a long experience of stubborn refusal to be conquered, annexed, or assimilated. “Taming” the Basques was an aspiration of many old kings and the empires. The Basques ruled the ancient kingdom of Navarre after the 13th century before being annexed and split between France and what was evolving to incorporate all of Spain. The Basque culture, along with the Catalans, were victims of intense discrimination under the Fascist regime of Francisco Franco y Bahamonde, who ruled Nationalist Spain from 1939 until the 1970's and made both languages illegal. In response to a perceived oppression by the Castilians, the Basques engaged in a brutal campaign of terrorism, assassination, bombings, and murders that has raged on for more than three decades, often targeting civilians and tourists in cafes. The ETA (Euskadi ta Askatasuna [Homeland and Freedom), the largest Basque terrorist group, has recently made overtures of an armistice, although the Madrid government remains uncertain of the legitimacy of this sworn disarmament. Today, the Basque Country is tremendously autonomous, and Basque is an official language with guaranteed rights alongside Castilian, Galician, and Catalan.

The Basque flag

ETA terrorists fighting for a free Euskadi, or "Basque Country"


An ethnically-divided “nation” – Belgium's Walloons and Flemings:

Belgium is one of Europe's most unique nations: it is one of the wealthiest societies on earth, but also one of Europe's most politically unstable. Belgium is bitterly split between two contumacious ethnic groups with a completely different genetic and cultural heritage. The Germanic Dutch Flemings -- the majority -- occupy the northern half of Belgium, Flanders. The ethnically French minority, the Walloons, occupy the south. The cultural heritage of the region of Belgium was closely linked with the Germans and the Dutch for the last 1,000 years. In the early 19th century, however, the French invasion of Napoleon, combined with geopolitical disputes and a refusal of the Catholic French and Dutch living in the region to be incorporated into the Protestant Netherlands, caused the nation of Belgium to be declared. The French minority have enjoyed an inordinately disproportionate political, linguistic, and historical influence despite their lesser historical role in the region and their smaller population. This is a source of tremendous conflict among these two cultures that can easily identify each other due to their very different nationalism and ethnic physiognomy. Flanders and Wallonia operate almost entirely independent of any central authority, cooperating only for mutual economic auspices. The Dutch in Flanders wave the Flemish flag (the lion), whilst the French wave the Wallonnian flag (the rooster). Both groups are firmly attached to their independent ethnic and cultural identities. In Flanders for example, other than on official government signs or major highways, the French language is almost never seen despite it being the primary language of the state. The political disputes between these two groups are so intense that Belgium -- centered in the separate state of Brussels -- has been almost unable to form a stable government without collapsing. Flanders is even often dominated by far-right parties that use ethnic Dutch nationalism to rally for even greater autonomy or even independence. Although no violence has been used between the two groups due to the tremendous economic success of Belgium, few ethnic autonomy or independence movements are so tenuous as in Belgium.

The emblem of Flanders/Vlanderen, the Germanic half of Belgium (the majority)

The emblem of French Wallonia, "le Coq"

Kosovo: Europe's breakaway Muslim state:


Kosovo has a very complicated history with many perspectives. What is now Muslim Albanian-majority Kosovo was historically an integral part of the Serbian Orthodox Christian nation for 1,000 years, and is considered by the Serbs as an indivisible part of Serbian heritage where the Serbs indefatiguably fought to "save Europe" from the Ottoman Muslim scourge. During 400 years of Ottoman rule, Kosovo became a demographically Albanian region. Albanians today insist that Kosovo, due to its Albanian majority and a romanticized connection to the ancient Roman-era kingdom of Illyria from which the Albanians claim descent, must be an independent state ruled by Albanians. Read our article of the Serbian perspective of this conflict in our History of Kosovo: Serb or Albanian?, and the Albanian perspective in my essay on the 500-year struggle for an Albanian homeland.
The Albanians of Kosovo and the surrounding area sought to gain independence from the Serb Yugoslavs at the same time as the Croats, Bosnians, and Slovenes were during the Yugoslav Wars. Interpreting it as treason, the ultra-nationalist Serbs under Milosevic responded with intense strangulation. The Albanians reacted with terrorism, bombings, massacres, and assassinations (often against churches and civilians) primarily during the Yugoslav Wars but also before the Serbian crackdown. Many Kosovars attached their Muslim religion to their struggle and considered it an Islamic jihad. Serbs responded with brutal reprisals against mosques and civilians as well. In 1999, in support of Albanian terrorists in their war against Serbian terrorists, the United States led a NATO air bombing against Yugoslavia (which ruled Kosovo). Since 1999 and still today, UN and NATO troops control Kosovo. In 2008, Kosovo declared independence with American and EU support without any consultation of the Serbian nation of which it was a part for 1,000 years. For the Albanian majority however, it was a long overdue and just event. Serbs, Greeks, Macedonians, and other Slavs bitterly hate Albanians and Albanian immigrants, especially since Albanians claim much of the whole region as part of "Greater Albania" (see our map below). Macedonia was brought to the brink of collapse in the 2001 civil war because of Albanian irredentist claims. The majority of world nations refuse to recognize Kosovo as being a nation.

The many flags of the independence-seeking Kosovo.

The EHL map of the often-sought "Greater Kosovo" and "Greater Albania". This is the maximum extent of Albanian Muslim claims to sovereignty, though they have only acquired a small portion thereof (see below). Albanians also claim parts of Macedonia.

The EHL map boundaries of the new nation of Kosovo as it is recognized by the United States and European Union.

Republika Srpska/Serbian Republic – Bosnia's ethnic clash:

Yugoslavia (meaning land of the South Slavs) was forged after World War I as a pan-Slavic, pan-ethnic state after Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia won their independence from the Germans (Austria) after their defeat in that war. Although its constituent cultures are largely indistinguishable in genetics and language, their political aspirations and religions are quite different. Serbs, about half of the Bosnians, and Macedonians are Orthodox, whilst Croats and Slovenes are Catholic. Bosnia and Kosovo have large Muslim populations. For more information on the historic demographic changes and conflicts between the South Slavs, read our History of the Croats, Bosnians, and Serbs. Serbia and Belgrade enjoyed control of the central government and its policies since 1918, and as Serbs became more and more accused of being rife with kleptocracy and corrupt exploitation of non-Serbs of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia broke off after prolonged wars that included some of the worst atrocities of the 20th century. See our Visual History of Yugoslavia.
Bosnia saw the very worst of the Yugoslav Wars. Yugoslavia's republic of Bosnia was porously divided between Catholic Croats, Bosnian Christians, Bosniak Muslims, and Orthodox Serbs. As Bosnia declared independence in 1992, this caused brutal truculence between civilian militias and killing squads from both ethnic groups. Serbs slaughtered Muslim "traitors" in civilian villages, leaving by some estimates 8,000 dead in Srebrenica alone, whilst Bosniaks responded with a bloody jihad supported by foreign Arab and Albanian Mujahidin against Serbian Christian civilians and soldiers. Brutal genocides occurred on both sides until 1995, when the Dayton Accords sponsored by the United States and United Nations declared Bosnia an independent state, having expelled or subdued most of the Serbian militias.
Bosnia today is ethnically divided to the point that the Sarajevo government has virtually no control over its huge Serbian population. The Serbs of the east live in the de facto independent province of Republika Srpska (see the map below) that even prints its own money. The Croats enjoy autonomy in the southwest, although Croats and Bosnians are far more copasetic and cooperative than they are with the ethnic Serbs. The center of the nation is controlled by Bosnians, both Christian and Muslim. Bosnia is one of the poorest, most obsolescent, and unstable states of Europe due in large measure to this heritage of inter-ethnic conflict and fratricide between the almost identical Yugoslav peoples (South-Slavs).

A cultural and religious map of Bosnia. Bosnia is tensely divided between Christian Serbs, Catholic Croats, Bosniak Muslims, and Bosnian Christians.

Bosnia's internal breakaway province of Serbs prints its own money. Notice the Serbian eagle.

Northern Ireland – a half-century of struggle:

Northern Ireland has a very bloody and difficult history. For the Irish, it is a history of exploitative British imperialism, oppression, domination. From the British perspective, Northern Ireland, with its majority-English and Protestant population, is rightfully incumbent of the British crown. The struggle for Irish independence has lasted for centuries, spanning from the revolt of the Irish in the 16th century against Oliver Cromwell until the Irish civil wars following World War I and II. Although the British had altogether lost all control of Ireland by 1940, the British refused to abandon their ceremonial claims to the island. Bloodshed was a daily occurrence, and freedom-fighting organizations like the Sinn Fein and Irish Republican Army did not discriminate between British soldiers and British civilians in their struggle for Irish liberty. The Irish War of Independence in 1919 forced the WWI-battered British empire to concede, and the Two-State Solution was devised in which the Republic of Ireland was given increased autonomy and the north remained a part of the UK. The north was given the “free” option to merge with Ireland if it chose, but it chose to remain in the Crown because of its Protestant, non-Irish population. The disputes over this treaty led to the Irish Civil War: some thought the treaty was another half-attempt at liberty, and others thought it was the best that could be attained at the time. By 1948, Ireland formally broke from the Commonwealth, cementing its independence. Today, the Irish are independent in all regards, but Northern Ireland remains firmly a part of the British empire. Violence has been consistent for the last century, leaving civilians, police, and soldiers slain. Many rebel groups like the Irish Republican Army all have used violence in the struggle for union with Northern Ireland. Frequent street brawls continue to this day with fist fights, hurled objects and weapons, and even bombings. Thousands have died in Ireland since 1900, leaving Ireland's civil conflict as one of the bloodiest. Although most Irish have settled down in their antipathy for the British due to the incredible economic growth that Ireland has enjoyed as one of the wealthiest nations today (to large measure thanks to British trade), many factions continue to rally for the unification of the entire island, and many using the rhetoric of violent assault. Recently, the IRA has promised to forfeit its weapons and end the war, although many fear that these propitiations are illegitimate.

The flag of Northern Ireland is unique in its hand symbol. Although the halting palm has been used long before Ireland was ever independent, it today represents the struggle the Irish face to repel imperial domination.


Turkish Republic of Cyprus – a Muslim state in a Greek land:


Cyprus is one of the more unique island nations due to its complicated political and ethnic situation. The island is strictly divided into two mutually-opposed ethnic and religious groups that bitterly hate each other. Previously a British colony, as Cypriots rallied for independence, the population overwhelmingly voted to merge with the nation of Greece. The ethnic nationalist right-wing government of Greece sought to ensure this merger and counter potential factions that sought to merge with Turkey or become an independent state. In 1960, Cyprus was formally given independence, although the British remained to occupy the forts of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. Under the leadership of Archbishop Makarios, Cyprus became firmly divided between Greek nationalists seeking merger with Greece, Greek nationalists seeking to protect the independence of Cyprus, and Muslims seeking union with the republic of Turkey. In 1974, after the Greeks attempted to overthrow the government to force the merger, but immediately thereafter the Turkish armies invaded Cyprus, ostensibly to protect the large Turkish Muslim population in the north that settled during Ottoman rule. A so-called Turkish Cypriot Republic was declared in the north officially in 1983, only recognized by Turkey. Thousands of Greeks fled to Greece and the Balkans, and thousands of Turks fled to Turkey and the Muslim world. The United Nations intervened consistently during the conflict, and ultimately the island of Cyprus was divided between the unrecognized Turkish segment in the northern half, the Greek official nation of Cyprus in the south, the two British “protective” bases in Dhekelia and Akrotiri, and the UN buffer zone in between the two halves. The official Cyprus is recognized as the Greek one, and this Greek half has joined the European Union, whilst the other half is not remains unrecognized. Bitter inter-ethnic conflict between Greeks and Turks remains strong in Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus, making any progress towards inter-cultural cooperation comical. The Greeks are accused of being negligent of the Turkish minority, and the Turks are seen as an occupying force. Although there is very little violence between the two halves, a few bombings and inter-ethnic attacks have occurred. Terrorist attacks have occurred in Nicosia (the capital), in Greek cities, and on the wall dividing the two halves, in the minds of some using the framework of jihad against an occupying Christian force.

Northern Cyprus considers itself independent and ruled by Muslim Turks. The south, which is Greek, is considered the official government of the "single" nation of Cyprus by the nations of the world.

The Muslims of the north have their own flag and national allegiance, but consider themselves part of Turkey in the greater sense, since Turkey is a nation with incredibly strong ethnic nationalism today


Transnistria – the Cold War continues in Moldova


Moldova was an ancient principality that, together with Wallachia, constitutes the Romanian people. Moldova and Romania were merged from Romania's foundation in 1878 until after World War II, when Stalin incorporated it by force into the Soviet Union. The Russians (and later the Soviets) consistently claimed the eastern half of Moldova, called Bessarabia after the ancient Moldovan dynasty of Bessarab. Russia annexed the region when it defeated Napoleon, and lost it to Ottoman-ruled Moldova when it lost the Crimean War against the Turks and their European sponsors. During World War II, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of non-aggression between Stalin and Hitler evidenced the Russians' continuous claim to eastern Moldova. In 1991, when the Soviet Union was abolished, Moldova and Russia both became separate and independent due to the divergent political history that the Soviets had imposed during more than 50 years of direct Soviet rule.
The large ethnic Russian population that settled in eastern Moldova (Bessarabia/Transnistria) refused to accept a divorce from the Soviet Union and a merger with the foreign cultural, ethnic, genetic, and linguistic identity of the new Moldovan state. The Russians, who as Russian-speaking, Cyrillic-writing Slavs are a different race than the Moldovan Vlachs, declared the independent state of Transnistria, referring to a state across both sides of the Dniester river (Trans-Dnistria). The result was a bitter continuation of the Cold War that brought the already-bankrupt state of Moldova to virtual civil war. Although the Transnistrian independence movement ultimately failed, the Russians of eastern Moldova remain almost entirely outside the political control of the central government of Chisinau. They even have printed their own banknotes using the Cyrillic alphabet (see below). No nation recognizes Transnistria, although Russian governments have casually shown unofficial support. The conflict endures today.

The eastern march of Moldova east of the Dniester river (Trans-Dnister-ia) is occupied by the Russian military and owes its allegiance to Russia and not Chisinau (capital of Moldova)

Transnistria has printed its own money with intense Russian-style nationalism, the Cyrillic alphabet, and expressions of their independence

South Ossetia – the Cold War on the Georgian-Russian border:

Upon the fall of the Soviet Union, many regions under the Soviet orbit of a non-Russian ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious heritage took the opportunity to declare independence. Like Chechnya, many of these movements even employed the murder of Russian civilians to obviate their aspirations, ultimately failing. One of these Cold War-era entities is Ossetia on the border with the Orthodox Caucasian state of independent Georgia. Unlike the Georgians, who were anxious to declare independence upon the Soviet collapse, the Osset minority refused to swear obeisance to the new Georgian state. The Ossets/Alans, an ancient Christian people related to the Iranians and Tajiks, sought to remain part of the Soviet Union and its successor, the Russian Federation. The region of Abkhazia, which also sought to remain with the Russians, also continues to fight a similar war of independence against Georgia with Russian support. The Ossets straddle the the border of Russia and Georgia, with North Ossetia remaining in Russia and South Ossetia within the geographic territory of Georgia. To learn more about Russia's ethnic republic system and the different ethnic groups of Russia, see our Ethnic Republics of Russia Map. Georgia has spent the last 20 years of its independence in near-constant war against South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russian military support for the two breakaway states has caused the Georgian government in Tbilisi to be completely prostrate. Georgia has no control of the two provinces, which remain occupied by Russian troops. Abkhazia and South Ossetia are only recognized as independent by the Russian Federation today. In 2008, Georgia and Russia were unofficially embroiled in a war over these two breakaway territories, leading to intense criticism from Georgia's Western allies in the European Union and Washington over Russia's denial of Georgian sovereignty. From their perspective of course, it is Georgia that is denying the sovereignty of these very distinct peoples under their geographic authority.

The flag of North Ossetia, part of Russia today

The emblem used in South Ossetia, clearly not in the least bit Georgian, and in the Cyrillic script

Soviet-style artwork is used in both Ossetias in reminiscence to a time of "liberty" from Georgian domination, and somehow ignoring the unparalleled Russian oppression

Chechnya, Adygea, Dagestan, & Ingushetiya – the Jihad for independence:

Read our history of the Chechen conflict here. See our ethnic map of minority republics and regions of Russia here. During the 19th century, Russia's massive intercontinental empire stretched southward towards the Caucasus, ostensibly to liberate the Christian Georgians and Armenians from persecution in the Muslim Ottoman Empire. Other motives included the aspiration for Russian ports on the Black Sea, and to cripple the dying Ottoman and Iranian Safavid empires. The northern Caucasus was populated by a number of Circassians, Caucasians, and Turks of a very non-Russian racial, cultural, linguistic, and religious heritage. Most adhered to a very strict form of Sunni Islam in these rugged mountains. When the Russians approached the region, they met bitter resistance of the Caucasian and Avar tribes that united in a massive and violent Islamic jihad of retaliation that slaughtered Russian civilians and soldiers, leveling churches to the ground. The Russians responded with scorched earth tactics that created man-made famine and have been compared today with genocide. The Mujahidin of the region included what are today Dagestan, Ingushetiya, Chechnya, and Adygea. The capital of this Islamist emirate was Sochi. The leading Mujahid was a fundamentalist cleric called Imam Shamil, a lionized hero in the Muslim world for his jihad against foreign occupation.
The Russians ruled Chechnya and the entire region of the Caucasus almost without interruption until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. Chechnya declared independence along with Dagestan, merging with neighboring Ingushetiya, but the Russian army under Yeltsin returned to crush the revolt. The hard-line Muslims of the region, perceiving a Christian assault, responded with Islamic jihad and terrorism that eventually struck against infirm and elderly in hospitals and civilians in Moscow theatres (eschewed verbatim in the Qur'an). The first war in Chechnya was a triumph for the Mujahidin, but in the second war, Vladimir Putin obliterated the entire region and fully incorporated it into Russia again. Shamil Basayev, killed in 2006, was a leading Mujahid who compared himself with Imam Shamil. Many foreign Mujahidin traveled to Chechnya and Ingushetiya from the Middle East to wage jihad, including (with some debate) al-Qa'ida fighters like Ayman al-Zawahiri in Dagestan. Today, the conflict remains very uncertain, and has contributed to a near-universal inter-racial and inter-religious hatred between Russian Slavs and "Muslim immigrants" from this region in Russia today, which as a result has one of the most powerful and largest populations of far-right racists and ultra-nationalists in Europe.

Chechnya is an Islamic state and a haven for Mujahidin. Usama bin Laden is said to have visited Chechnya.

Imam Shamil, the Mujahid who rallied the Muslims of the Caucasus in a Jihad against the Slavs

Southern Russia is home to nearly a dozen Islamic breakaway states that are largely unmonitored by the Moscow government, and are thus a haven for Mujahidin from all over the Muslim world.

Source

[Kempenzoon]

I think they hit the nail on the head with their description of Belgium.

[Hermeticist]

THE HUNGARIANS OF TRANSYLVANIA

The greatest number of Hungarians living outside the present-day borders of Hungary are to be found in Transylvania[1] west of the Carpathians in Rumania, where many ethnic groups of Central and Southeastern Europe (Hungarians, Rumanians, Gypsies, Germans, Ukrainians, Slovaks, Serbs, Czechs, Bulgarians etc.) also live in significant numbers. At the time of the latest Rumanian census in 1992, the registred number of the Hungarians in Rumania was 1,624,959 /ethnicity/ or 1,639,135 /mother tongue/. According to our estimates, however, the number of those people who claim Hungarian to be their native language was 2 million in 1986. The latter data indicate that close to 60 percent of the Hungarians living outside the borders of Hungary in the Carpathian Basin and 13.3 percent of the Hungarians in the world inhabit Transylvania (Tab. 1).

THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

According to our calculations, 51% of the Hungarians from Transylvania live in a hilly or submountainous area, 28% inhabit lowlands and 21% live in the mountains. The lowlanders - living adjacent to the Hungarian border - dwell in the eastern part of the Great Hungarian Plain, called the Western or Tisza Plain in Rumania. The highlanders primarily include the inhabitants of the Székely Region, the Barcaság Basin, Hunyad, and Máramaros counties (Fig. 22).

A majority of the Hungarian highlanders live in the Eastern Carpathians and the basins encircled by the mountain chains. The most important mountain ranges of the Carpathians inhabited also by Hungarians include the following: The sandstone range comprising the Nemere Mts. (Mt. Nemere 1649 m, Mt. Nagy Sándor 1640 m), the Háromszék Mts. (Mt. Lakóca 1777 m), the Brassó Mts. (Mt. Nagykõ 1843 m, Mt. Csukás 1954 m), the Persány Mts. (Mt. Várhegy 1104 m), the Barót Mts. (Mt. Görgõ 1017 m), the Bodok Mts. (Mt. Kömöge 1241 m), and the Csík Mts. (Mt. Tarhavas 1664 m, Mt. Sajhavasa 1553 m), the limestone peaks of the Székely Region (Nagy-Hagymás 1792 m, Egyeskõ 1608 m, Öcsémtetõ 1707 m, Nagy-Cohárd 1506 m, etc.), the mainly crystalline schist belt of the Máramaros, Radna, and Gyergyó Mts. (Mt. Siposkõ 1567 m), and the inner volcanic ring of the Avas, Kõhát, Gutin (famous for its non-ferrous metal mining), Lápos, and Cibles Mts., Kelemen Mts. and Görgény Mts. (Fancsaltetõ 1684 m, Mezõhavas 1776 m), and the Hargita (Madarasi-Hargita 1800 m, Mt. Kakukk 1558 m, Nagy-Csomád 1301 m). The most significant basins inhabited also by Hungarians include the Máramaros, Gyergyó, Csík, Kászon, Háromszék and Barcaság basins.

The most noteworthy rivers of the Eastern Carpathians - regarding Hungarians - include the Tisza, Maros, Olt, Békás, Tatros, Feketeügy and Vargyas. Important lakes e.g. the Gyilkos-tó ("Killer"), Szent Anna-tó ("St. Ann"), and Medve-tó ("Bear") in Szováta are also found in this region.

Outside the Eastern Carpathians, a significant number of Hungarian highlanders inhabit the Torockó Mts. (Székelykõ/Székelystone 1128 m, Torda and Túr Gorges), the northern base of the Bél Mts., the Belényes Basin and the Petrozsény Basin bordered by the Retyezát Mts., Vulkán Mts. and Páreng Mts.

A majority of Hungarians occupying the lowlands live on the Western Tisza Plain covered mostly with chernozem, meadow and alluvial soils. The richest agricultural land of Transylvania can be found in the Bánát region and Arad county. The most important subregions of the Western Plain are the Szatmár, Érmellék, Körösmenti, Arad and Temes lowlands. The most important rivers of the region regarding Hungarian settlements include, from north to south, the Szamos, Kraszna, Ér, Berettyó, Sebes/Rapid-Körös, Fekete/Black-Körös, Fehér/White-Körös, Maros, Béga and Temes.

Outside the region of historic Transylvania, west of the limestone range, the Hungarian national minority inhabiting the hilly regions lives mainly in the Szilágy hills whose streams include the tributaries of the Berettyó and Kraszna rivers. A majority, however, lives in settlements located in the hills along the Szamos River between the Gyalu Mts. and the Gutin Mts., the chernozem covered southwestern part of the Mezõség (Plain of Transylvania), the hills along the Küküllõ rivers, and the sub-mountainous slopes of the Székely Region. The following larger rivers (and their tributaries) extend throughout the hilly regions: Szamos (Little and Big Szamos, Almás, Kapus, Nádas, Borsa, Füzes, Sajó), Maros (Kapus, Ludas, Aranyos, Nyárád, Görgény, Little Küküllõ, Big Küküllõ), Olt (Big Homoród, Little Homoród, Hortobágy). The hilly regions of the Transylvanian Basin, shaped by mud flows and landslides and characterized by a mostly marly clay surface, are extremely rich in natural gas (Medgyes, Kiskapus, Nagysármás, Mezõzáh, Nyárádszereda, etc.) and salt deposits (Parajd, Marosújvár).

ETHNIC PROCESSES DURING THE PAST HUNDRED YEARS

At the time of the 1880 Hungarian census that first gathered mother tongue statistics, 1,045,098 out of the total 4 million population of Transylvania - 26.1% of the population - declared Hungarian to be their mother tongue (Tab. 14, Fig. 23). Of the then over one million Hungarian population, 38.7% inhabited the Székely region and 34.4% occupied the area called Partium[2] (Tab. 15, Fig. 24). In 1880 and later on, the Hungarians were the most urban nation in the territory of broadly defined Transylvania; 21% of Hungarians were urban dwellers. At the same time, 17.1% of the Germans and only 3.4% of the Rumanians inhabited cities and towns. Hungarians also formed a majority of the total urban population (56.3%), contrary to the rural populations, where they were in minority next to the 61.3 percent Rumanians.

At the turn of the century, the slowly transforming Transylvanian society had not only a significant internal spatial mobility, but also a notable rate of emigration. Mass emigration primarily to America and Rumania from the wealthy Swabian villages of the Bánát as well as from the regions less suitable for agricultural cultivation such as the poor Székely villages of Háromszék and Csík and the Rumanian and Ruthenian villages of Máramaros was motivated by a number of factors. It seems that among these factors, especially in the case of Hungarians and Germans the most important - in addition to overpopulation and lack of well paying non-agricultural jobs - were entrepreneurial spirit and the desire to accumulate start-up capital. At any rate, we can establish the fact that in 1910, 57.7 percent of those United States inhabitants who were born in Transylvania declared themselves to be Hungarian (Wagner, E. 1977).

The large increase in the number and percentage of ethnic Hungarians between 1880 and 1910 (Figs. 25, 26) was the result of the increasingly voluntary linguistical assimilation of the Jewish population, in addition to the high natural birth rate. The rapid growth of the Hungarian population of the Partium region was also due to the voluntary Magyarization of the Jews. It must be noted that while in 1880 only 44.7% of the Jews living in this area declared themselves Hungarians, this percentage rose to 64 % in 1900 (Szász Z. 1986). In addition to the mainly urban Jews, a growing number of non-Hungarians especially Germans, Armenians, and Rumanians inhabiting cities of Temesvár, Arad, Brassó declared in increasing numbers their native language to be the language of the state, Hungarian (Tab. 16).

The rapidly growing heavy industrial centers near the sources of coal and iron ore in Southern Transylvania (Resica, Boksán, Stájerlakanina, Vajdahunyad, Kalán, the Zsil Valley settlements etc.) absorbed large numbers of the mainly Hungarian and German workers. It is mainly due to this phenomena that between 1880 and 1910 the number of Hungarians swelled from 12 thousand to 53 thousand in Hunyad county and 7 thousand to 33 thousand in Krassó-Szörény county. During this period, the approximately 2,000 Székelys that settled from Bukovina to Déva, Piski, Vajdahunyad, Csernakeresztúr, and Sztrigyszentgyörgy between 1888 and 1910 contributed substantially to the growth of Hunyad County's Hungarian population. Following the Austro-Hungarian compromise of 1867, the state-conducted resettlement of numerous Hungarians from the Trans-Tisza Region, Szeged environment augmented the population number and the ethnic territory (Szapáryfalva, Újszentes, Nagybodófalva, Igazfalva, etc.) of the Hungarians in the Banat.

Following the invasion of militarily almost defenceless East Hungary (Transylvania) by Royal Rumanian troops at the end of the First World War, the annexation of Eastern Hungary (Transylvania) to Rumania was declared at the Rumanian General Assembly of Gyulafehérvár (December 1, 1918). In answer to this the Hungarian General Assembly of Kolozsvár proclaimed Transylvania's loyalty to Hungary (December 22, 1918). At the Peace Treaty of Trianon (1920) the victorious Entente Powers keeping their promise of Bucharest in 1916 ceded the East Hungarian territory of 103,093 square kilometers to the Kingdom of Rumania (Eördögh I. 1992). According to our calculations based on 1910 census data, of the 5.2 million people of this area that comprised 43.4 percent of the entire territory of Rumania, 31.7% were Hungarian and 54% were Rumanian (Tab. 14). But the change in power significantly altered the previous ethnic stucture. According to the figures of the National Office for Refugees in Budapest, between the fall of 1918 and the summer of 1924, 197,035 Hungarians, especially public servants, military personnel and landowners fled Rumania to the new state territory of Hungary (Rónai A. 1938). The number of Hungarians recorded in Rumanian statistics was further decreased by the classification of - the former mostly Hungarian native speaker - Jews into a separate ethnic category. The so-called method of name analysis, whereby voluntary declarations of ethnicity were ignored, those with family names of non-Hungarian linguistic origin were not recognized as Hungarians, just as in Czechoslovakia and in Yugoslavia. The decline in the number of Hungarians caused by the above-mentioned factors was the most pronounced primarily in the towns of Arad, Nagykároly, Szatmárnémeti and Nagyvárad in the Partium region (Tab. 16). Between 1910 and 1930, the resettlement of tens of thousands of Rumanians, mainly from the historical Rumanian regions of Moldavia and Wallachia, led to the most shocking repression of the percentage of Hungarians in Kolozsvár, Nagybánya, Marosvásárhely, Déva, Sepsiszentgyörgy, Torda, Zilah, Petrozsény, and Dés - in addition to the above-mentioned cities. This exchange of urban population also contributed to the fact that in 1930, only 44.8% of the Transylvanian urban population was Hungarian. On the other hand, between 1910 and 1930 the number of urban dwelling Rumanians rose by 210,000, thus reaching 34.4% of the entire urban population in 1930.

Rumanization of compact Hungarian rural areas outside of cities also took place - under the guise of agrarian reform and land distribution - especially in Szatmár and Bihar, with the establishment of a Rumanian colony chain near the new Hungarian-Rumanian state border (Paulian, Gelu, Baba Novac, Horea, Lucãceni, Scãrisoara Noua, etc.). In this period, the state policy of ethnic discrimination, in addition to economic factors, also contributed to the fact that 95 percent of emigrants belonged to national minorities, 12 percent of these Hungarian (1927). 78 % of the Hungarian emigrées of Transylvania went to Latin-America and Canada (Wagner, E. 1977).

By 1939, the increasingly anti-Rumanian in Hungary and anti-Hungarian in Rumania internal and foreign policies - resulting from Hungary's inability to resign itself to the loss of the large detached territories and Hungarian territorial claims on Transylvania created war-like tensions between Hungary and Rumania. Acting on the principle of "divide and conquer", the German decision makers split Transylvania in two parts at the Vienna Court of Arbitration on August 30, 1940. The northern half with a 52 % population of Hungarian mother tongue (1941 Hungarian census data) was reannexed to Hungary, and the southern territory with a 68.5 % population of Rumanian ethnic origin (1941 Rumanian census data) remained in Rumania. In this extremely tense situation, atrocities were committed against the "hostile minority" in both dissatisfied countries. In Northern Transylvania - after the Rumanian civil servants who had settled there after 1918 had fled - a majority of the Rumanian agrarian colonists were forced to leave. At the same time, in Southern Transylvania Rumanian authorities drove 67,000 Hungarians out of the country. In Southern Transylvania, due to the fleeing of tens of thousands of Hungarians and the extreme anti-Hungarian atmosphere, the Rumanian census of 1941 showed a drastic drop of the Hungarian population mainly in Torda (-30%), Brassó (-24%), Arad, Déva, Petrozsény (-20%), Temesvár, and Nagyenyed (-17%).

In 1941, the territory once again under Hungarian administration regained its 1910 Hungarian population percentage as a result of the forced Hungarian and Rumanian migrations, the self-declaration as Hungarians of a large number of Jews and Germans, and the settlers from the previously Hungarian territory (Tab. 14). The Hungarians regained their pre-1918 population percentage, for example, over 80 percent in Kolozsvár and over 90 percent in Nagyvárad, Szatmárnémeti, and the Székely towns (Tab. 16 and Fig. 27). This Hungarian "ethnic renaissance" in Northern Transylvania and the division of Transylvania, however, lasted only for a few war-years.

The mass fleeing of Hungarians began in September of 1944. The Soviet troops taking Transylvania were followed by the Rumanian "Maniu-gardists", who embarked on a bloody mission of vengeance among the Hungarian population in the Székely Region (e.g. Szárazajta, Csíkszentdomokos), the Kalotaszeg Region (e.g. Egeres, Bánffyhunyad), and Bihar (e.g. Gyanta, Köröstárkány, Magyarremete). Simultaneously they started to deport some thousand Hungarians - e.g. from Maros-Torda county 4,000 persons - to concentration camps of Földvár-Feldioara, Tîrgu Jiu etc. (Vincze G. 1994). As a result, Northern Transylvania was temporarily brought under Soviet administration (between November 12, 1944 and March 13, 1945) until the Communist leader Petru Groza came to power.

As a consequence of the deportation of the majority of the Jews with Hungarian mother tongue, the fleeing and resettlement of ethnic Hungarians to present-day Hungary and to rural areas, the number of the population of Hungarian mother tongue in the ethnically strategic Transylvanian Hungarian cities fell considerably, by 111,000. Between 1941 and 1948, for example, their number decreased by 32,195 in Kolozsvár, 38,287 in Nagyvárad, 17,379 in Szatmárnémeti, and 7,385 in Nagybánya. Thus, in 1948, for the first time in history, Rumanians became a majority of 50.2 % in the total population of Transylvanian urban settlements. The percentage of urban dwellers among the Hungarian population decreased to 29.5%, and that of the Germans to 24.2%. At this time, still only one out of six Transylvanian Rumanians were urban dwellers. Partly in response to this, in the 1950's, during the "heroic age" of Rumanian socialist industrialization when industry was to a large degree concentrated in particular locations and people were indirectly forced to move to these industrial centers Transylvania's urban population was expanded and thus made increasingly Rumanian. Between 1948 and 1956 the urban population of Transylvania was increased by one million - partly by conferring urban status on many settlements.

In addition to fulfilling the general aims of early East European socialist urbanization in Transylvania, the concentration of people into an urban setting served the increasingly clear aim to create more cities and towns with Rumanian ethnic majority. The ethnic structure of the cities undoubtedly would have been modified and altered even under "ideal" urbanization and nationality policies, because the source of their population growth, the population of Transylvanian villages, had been two-thirds Rumanian for almost two centuries. It was only a matter of time where, when and to what degree the Rumanian majority of the urban reservoir would prevail. In the period between the censuses of 1948 and 1956, the structure of the population in cities - as a result of migration from villages - changed more or less according to the ethnic structure of their attraction zones.

Artificial "Rumanization" of cities still occurred only spontaneously at this time. The fact that the percentage of Hungarians increased in cities whose hinterland had a majority Hungarian population (e.g. Csíkszereda, Marosvásárhely, Gyergyószentmiklós, Nagykároly, Szatmárnémeti) also lends credence to the above (Tab. 16).

In the period between 1956 to 1992, the year of the last census, the rural population decreased by 0.78 million and the urban population increased by 2.26 million as a result of the party-directed growth of cities, that gained their population from Transylvanian and old Rumanian (mainly Moldavian) villages as well as the local natural population growth. Due primarily to the mass migration from former Transylvanian and Moldavian (mostly Rumanian) villages, the population percentage of Rumanians in Transylvanian cities continued to increase to 75.6 % according to 1992 Rumanian census data. By this time the percentage of urban dwellers in those main ethnic groups that defined the profile of Transylvania had almost reached a balance, 58.6% of the Rumanians, 55.9% of the Hungarians, and 65.1% of the Germans.

According to Rumanian census statistics, during these 36 years there was a population increase of 39.3 % in the case of Rumanians, and a decrease of 0.7 % in the case of the Hungarians (Tab. 14). The decrease of percentage the Hungarian population recorded in census statistics seems inexplicably dramatic next to the 13.3 % natural population growth of the Hungarians. Taking into account their natural population growth we estimated the population of those whose native language was Hungarian in 1977 to be 1,870,000. This figure hardly deviates from other competent estimates (e.g. Joó R.1988 - 1,850,000 Hungarians in 1977). The mostly centrally planned, manipulated county and city ethnic data of the 1966 and 1977 censuses of the Ceausescu regime and partly the 1992 census must be handled with cautions. This is exceptionally relevant in the case of counties and cities where great differences are observed in the demographic development of certain ethnic groups, especially Hungarians and Rumanians, between 1956 and 1992 - differences that cannot be explained by natural population growth or differences in migration. Examples include Szatmár county, Hungarians: -17,963 and Rumanians +61,419; Bihar county: Hungarians -22,951 and Rumanians +66,054, Kolozs county: Hungarians -19,768 and Rumanians +163,874 (Tab. 17). The same applies to cities between 1956 and 1992; Kolozsvár: Hungarians -2,947 and Rumanians +173,949; Temesvár: Hungarians -4,661 and Rumanians +198,338; Nagyvárad: Hungarians +11,424 and Rumanians +109,743; Arad: Hungarians -7,801 and Rumanians +92,388, and so on. Such alterations in the ethnic composition of cities are unlikely due to the ethnic composition of their attraction zones and the natural birth rate of the local populations.

We do not have access to data regarding the natural population growth of the Transylvanian Hungarians in the previous decade. Thus, we accepted Transylvanian church estimates on the size of their population (Joó R. 1988) as our basis. According to these, the number of Hungarians kept track of in church records of 1987 was 2.03 million. We can consider this figure to be a slight exaggeration even if there was a considerable number of Hungarians not recorded by the church - similar to assimilated people who increasingly lose their Hungarian language. Inasmuch as we accept the 2.03 million figure, this would signify an 8.55 percent increase relative to their population in 1977. This increase barely differs from our estimate of an 8.69 percent growth in the Transylvanian Rumanian nation - nourished by the notable reserves from the old Rumanian regions as well as natural assimilation (in 1977: 5.06 million, in 1986: 5.5 million Transylvanian Rumanians). On the basis of natural population growth and other factors such as assimilation, emigration, we estimate the the number Transylvanian Hungarians to be 2 million as of July 1986.

Before introducing the ethnic processes of the latest period and the change in the ratio of the Hungarian and Rumanian ethnic groups, we feel it is necessary to outline the spatial aspect of their objective demographic factors such as natural population growth, migration - on the basis of official Rumanian statistics.

The historical regional differences in the continuously declining natural population growth have not altered significantly in this decade. Among the Hungarian-inhabited territories, the Székely Region (especially Csík), and Brassó and Szatmár counties exceeded with 9.9 % per year the average annual natural population growth of Rumania and Transylvania (6.32 %, and 5.1 % per year). Apart from the villages of the Bánát and Arad environs, the natural population growth or rather decrease of Hungarians was most alarming in Kalotaszeg Region, the southern part of the old Udvarhely county, and the former Kászonszék district.

The artificially increased and directed village-city migration - in accordance with the differences in demographic tensions in certain parts of the country and the regional differences of labor supply and demand - continued to determine the basic features of the internal migrations. In Transylvania the urban populations increased to 316.2 percent of the 1950 level, while this same figure was only 258.7 percent in the old regions of Rumania including the capital, and 176.6 percent in Hungary. In the course of the large scale spatial mobility between 1977 and 1986, Transylvania had a positive migration balance of 62,645 in relation with the regions of Old-Rumania (Moldavia, Oltenia, Muntenia, Dobrudja). Thus, many more people migrated to Transylvania than from Transylvania to Old-Rumania, primarily to Bucharest. The counties of the huge South Transylvanian heavy industrial centers (Brassó, Hunyad, Krassó-Szörény) continued to have the largest migration surplus of 30 %. Because of the resettlement of over 10,000 dissatisfied Rumanian building lot seekers from Brassó to the Hungarian city of Sepsiszentgyörgy only 33 kilometers away, the county of Kovászna also experienced an exceptionally important migration surplus of 74.4 %.

On the basis of the official Rumanian census data, it can be determined that in the period between the censuses 1956 and 1992, the growth in the number of Hungarians was greatest in urban settlements with a considerable Hungarian ethnic-demographical background (the most important Székely-Hungarian towns: Marosvásárhely, Sepsiszentgyörgy, Csíkszereda, Székelyudvarhely and the centers of the Hungarian ethnic block of Szatmár-Bihar: Szatmárnémeti, Nagyvárad). Nevertheless, the even more rapidly increasing Rumanian population extremely suppressed the population percentage of Hungarians in some of these towns: Nagyvárad, Szatmárnémeti, Marosvásárhely (Tab. 16). Decline of the Hungarian population - in absolute number and percentage - was similar in those cities that had a lower Rumanian migration surplus but at the same time a smaller Hungarian ethnic "hinterland" (Kolozsvár, Arad, Temesvár). The Hungarians could maintain, in some places slightly increase, of their 5-28 percent share in the total population of 1956 only in southern and central Transylvanian industrial centers (Nagyszeben, Medgyes, Segesvár, Vajdahunyad, Resica, Torda, Aranyosgyéres etc.) due to the continuously increasing, mainly Székely immigration. As a result of the above-mentioned facts the towns with relative small Hungarian ethnic-demographical reservoire (eg. Arad, Nagybánya, Nagyszalonta, Nagykároly) lost their leading places among the largest Transylvanian Hungarian communities (Tab. 18) primarily because of the greater pace of population growth of the Hungarians of the Székely towns and Szatmárnémeti, Brassó, and Zilah.

In the suburban, agglomeration zones with many formerly Hungarian majority populated settlements lying in "traffic corridors", the percentage of the Rumanian ethnic group significantly increased - due to an increasing immigration and population concentration of the Rumanians - often forcing the Hungarians into minority in Batiz, Szecseleváros, Maroskeresztúr, Marosszentanna, Radnót, Szentmihály, Szentleányfalva, Fakert, etc. Parallel to the selective emigration, aging, and natural population decrease of the decisively Hungarian majority populated tiny and small villages located mostly on the periphery of the settlement network, their local societies continue to become ethnically homogeneous and increasingly Hungarian - due to the emigration of the Rumanian minority (e.g. certain villages in the Székely Region, Kalotaszeg Region, and in the counties of Bihar, Szatmár and Szilágy).

According to the 1992 Rumanian census, of the 1113 Transylvanian municipalities, towns, communes only in 579 do Hungarians live in a considerable number (at least 100 persons) and percentage (at least 5 %). They only comprise an absolute majority in 17 towns and 176 communes (Tab. 19). Of the municipalities and towns outside of the Székely Region only Érmihályfalva, Nagyszalonta and Nagykároly - being in the frontier zone - and the small Szilágycseh could preserve their traditional Hungarian absolute majority.

Due to the mass-migrational processes, and urbanization during the Communist period, today not more than 51.6 % of the Transylvanian Hungarians live in those towns and communes where they comprise an absolute majority (50.0% and more) (Fig. 28). It should be considered as a particular warning and extremely grave situation from the perspective of the language-ethnic assimilation and of the local protection of the Hungarian interests, minority rights, that almost half a million Hungarians or 28.7 % of the Transylvanian Hungarians live in those administrative units where their population share does not reach 25 %. In this - for the Hungarians very unfavourable - percentage category (25% >) can be found six municipalities with 208,000 Hungarians, where they formerly represented the relative or absolute majority of the local population: till 1930 Temesvár, Arad, Brassó; till 1948 Nagybánya; till 1956 Zilah and Kolozsvár.

THE PRESENT SETTLEMENT TERRITORY OF THE TRANSYLVANIAN
HUNGARIANS

The Hungarian Ethnic Territory of the Székely Region[3]

More than one third of Hungarians in Transylvania live in the Székely Region (Fig. 29). The survival of this almost compact Hungarian ethnic block is due to its autonomous status between the 13th century and 1876, to the mountainous surroundings that offered protection to its inhabitants during the great catastrophies and invasions of the 17th century.

84,000 Hungarians live in Marosvásárhely, the ever growing capital of Maros county (Fig. 30). The Rumanian population in the city and its suburban communities is growing rapidly due to settlers mainly from Mezõség region and the region of the Küküllõ rivers. As a result, their percentage is over 46 in the county seat. Despite the changes in the ethnic structure in urban areas, the borders of the Hungarian rural ethnic territory next to the Maros and Nyárád rivers extend along the Balavásár-Lukafalva-Mezõbánd-Szabéd-Mezõcsávás-Beresztelke-Magyarpéterlaka-Nyárádremete lines. The most important centers of this Székely area - apart from Marosvásárhely - are Szováta, Erdõszentgyörgy, Nyárádszereda and Szászrégen, the town with a current Hungarian population of one-third. Although the Hungarian majority populated villages located north of Szászrégen in the Maros Valley and among the Rumanians of the Görgény district do not belong strictly to the Székely region, but ethnically and geographically they can be considered part of the compact ethnic Hungarian population of this area (Marosfelfalu, Marosvécs, Holtmaros, Magyaró, Görgényüvegcsûr, Alsóbölkény, etc.).

Travelling along the upper Maros - passing through a few villages with Hungarian minority populations (Palotailva, Gödemesterháza, etc.) - one reaches the Gyergyó Basin at Maroshévíz whose population is one-third Hungarian. In Gyergyó region, the century-old Gyergyóremete-Ditró-Hágótõalja line continues to be the Hungarian-Rumanian ethnic border. The most important Hungarian settlements north of this border include the resort of Borszék with 80% Hungarian majority population, and Galócás, Salamás, Gyergyótölgyes and Gyergyóholló, all with Hungarian minority communities. The economic center of the basin is Gyergyószentmiklós with a population of 18,888 Hungarians and 2,169 Rumanians.

The route into the neighboring Székely Basin of Csík leads through two Rumanian majority populated villages (Vasláb, Marosfõ). Csíkszereda, the seat of the former Csík and the present Hargita county, lies at the intersection of the road from Segesvár to Moldavia and the road along the River Olt. In 1948 the total population of Csíkszereda was only 6,000, whereas today there are already 45,769 inhabitants. Today, over 16% of the city or 7,488 people is Rumanian due to its central location and the immigration of Rumanians from Moldavia. Among the other larger settlements in Csík, it is worth mentioning two other towns, copper-producing Balánbánya with a 30% Hungarian, 70% Rumanian population, and spa Tusnádfürdõ with its two thousand Hungarian inhabitants (the smallest Transylvanian town). A few other villages are also significant (Csíkszentdomokos, Csíkszépvíz, Mádéfalva, Csíkszentkirály, Csíkszenttamás etc.). Kászonaltíz is the most important settlement in the former Kászonszék district located in the basin between Csíkszék and Háromszék.

The former county of Udvarhely, was disbanded as an unit approximately four decades ago, and is now the southwestern part of the current Hargita county. Székelyudvarhely, near the size of Csíkszereda with 39,959 inhabitants and with an 97.6 percent ethnic Hungarians, is the capital of this most homogeneous part of the Székely Region. Outside of Székelyudvarhely, most of the jobs in this less urbanized region characterized by small settlements are provided by the agro-industry in Székelykeresztúr, the iron-ore industry, metallurgy in Szentegyházas, the ceramic industry of Korond and salt mining and refining in Parajd.

The southernmost territory of the Székely Region is Kovászna county, formerly known as the region of Háromszék (`Three Districts') composed of the subregions of Sepsi, Orbai and Kézdi. Sepsiszentgyörgy, with a 67,220, inhabitants is the capital of Kovászna county and the second largest Székely town. Today, Hungarians comprise only three-quarters of this south Székely county seat. There is a significant percentage of ethnic Rumanians in Kovászna, Bereck, Kézdimartonos, Zabola and Zágon as well due to their presence dating back to the middle ages and the period of modern history.

The following Hungarian villages in Olt valley were never under the administration of any Székely district and do not currently belong to Kovászna county, yet they form an integral part of the Hungarian ethnic territory of the Székely Region: Apáca, Örményes, Alsórákos (with its basalt and limestone quarries) and Olthévíz (famous for its construction material industry). Based on the above, the Hungarian-Rumanian ethnic border in the southern Székely Region extends along the Újszékely-Székelyderzs-Homoródjánosfalva-Olthévíz-Apáca-Árapatak-Kökös-Zágon-Kommandó line.

Hungarian Ethnic Enclaves in Historical Transylvania

The regions with the most ancient Hungarian settlements in Transylvania are the Mezõség region and the area surrounding the Szamos rivers. The devastations of the previous centuries hit these territories especially hard. Today, Hungarians inhabit only a few linguistic enclaves and numerous scattered communities with a five to twenty Hungarian percentage. The most ethnic Hungarian settlements in the valley of the Big Szamos are Magyarnemegye, Várkudu, Bethlen, Felõr, Magyardécse, Árpástó, and Retteg, and those near the lower part of the Little Szamos including Dés, Désakna, Szamosújvár, Kérõ, Bonchida, Válaszút and Kendilóna. In the Mezõség Region, located between the Maros and Szamos Rivers, Hungarian settlements include e.g. Mezõbodon, Mezõkeszü, Vajdakamarás, Visa, Szék, Zselyk, Vice, Ördöngõsfüzes, Bálványosváralja, Szentmáté and Cegõtelke.

The largest Hungarian community of Transylvania with 75-120 thousand people live in Kolozsvár with a total population of 328,602, where the Little Szamos, Nádas creek and numerous national and international roads meet. The villages of the region of Kalotaszeg (Kõrösfõ, Kalotaszentkirály, Magyarvalkó, Jákótelke, Bogártelke, Magyar-vista, Méra etc.), one of the most valuable folk relics of Hungarian culture, are located west of Kolozsvár City - considered to be the cultural capital of Hungarians of Transylvania - and near the upper part of the Nádas creek and Sebes Körös. The ethnic Hungarian profile of the Kalotaszeg region's seat, Bánffyhunyad, has changed significantly due to the settlement of Rumanian highlanders from a broader periphery.

Some Hungarian villages of the Erdõfelek Hills (Györgyfalva, Tordaszentlászló, Magyarléta, Magyarfenes, Szászlóna) provide a link between the Hungarians of the Kalotaszeg and Torda regions. In the former Székely district of Aranyosszék[4] and its surroundings, the population percentage of Hungarians declined primarily in Székelyko-csárd, Hadrév, Felvinc, Aranyosegerbegy and Szentmihály as a result of the increased settling of Rumanians and the urbanization of the Torda region and Maros valley. The highland villages, on the other hand, were able to preserve their Hungarian majorities (Torockó, Torockószentgyörgy, Kövend, Bágyon, Kercsed, etc.).

As one of the most important components of the migration's motivation, the highways, railroads and the employment as well as commuting opportunities reshaped or left untouched the ethnic composition of the Maros and Küküllõ regions in a similar fashion. Among the formerly Hungarian majority populated settlements along the nationally and regionally significant roads and in the industrial centers, Rumanians became a majority in, for example, Radnót, Marosludas, Marosugra, Marosújvár, Nagyenyed and Dicsõszentmárton. The former Hungarian character of deserted tiny and small villages whose young populations have outmigrated, however, has remained and even increased in certain places (Magyarbece, Magyarlapád, Nagymedvés, Magyarózd, Istvánháza, Csávás, etc.). A majority of ethnic Hungarians in the territory between the Little Küküllõ and Olt inhabit larger industrial centers (Medgyes, Segesvár, Kiskapus, Nagyszeben) or remote villages (Halmágy, Kóbor, Dombos, Nagymoha, Sárpatak, Bürkös, etc.) and Vízakna.

In Hunyad county, the Hungarians mostly inhabit towns in the Zsil valley (Petrozsény, Lupény, Vulkán, Petrilla), Vajdahunyad, Déva, Kalán and Piski. The few hundred descendants of the medieval Hungarians and the Székely-Hungarians from Bukovina who settled in this region at the turn of the century live mainly in Bácsi, Hosdát, Gyalár, Haró, Nagyrápolt, Lozsád, Csernakeresztúr and Rákosd - in the last three village as the absolute majority of the local population.

Brassó, the largest city in Transylvania with a population of 323,736, is the main traditional urban center of the Székelys - aside from Marosvásárhely. For this reason, growth of the Hungarian population of the city has been uninterrupted since the Second World War (31,574 in 1992). Four Csángó-Hungarian[5] - Rumanian villages of the city's agglomeration belt (Bácsfalu, Türkös, Csernátfalu, Hosszúfalu) were united under the name of Szecseleváros, where the percentage of the Hungarian ethnic group has dropped to 27.2 due to an influx of Rumanians who settled there after the establishment of the electrical industry.

Hungarians in the Partium Region (Arad, Bihar, Szilágy, Szatmár and Máramaros counties)

The majority of the Hungarian national minority of the Partium region, estimated to be approximately 700,000 inhabitants, primarily inhabits cities along the main traffic lines on the periphery of the Great Hungarian Plain, approximately 40 kilometers from the Hungarian-Rumanian border.

More than half of the ethnic Hungarians of the overwhelmingly Rumanian Máramaros county live as 17-31 % minority in Nagybánya, the county seat famous for its non-ferrous metal processing plants. Hungarians also comprise a similar population proportion (20-30%) in the other towns of the county (Felsõbánya, Kapnikbánya, Máramarossziget, Szinérváralja), with the exception of Borsa, Magyarlápos and Felsõvisó. Hungarians that comprise an important community, in some places a majority can be found only in some villages located near the periphery (Rónaszék, Aknasugatag, Hosszúmezõ, Kistécsõ, Domonkos, Erzsébetbánya, Magyarberkesz, Koltó, Katalin, Monó, Szamosardó etc.).

Due to the attraction of Kolozsvár, Nagyvárad, Szatmárnémeti and Nagybánya, as well as to its unfavourable local potentials for economic development, the Szilágyság region was not the target of large waves of immigration. In fact, it became one of Transylvania's largest population discharging counties. This situation only led to a relative stability of the ethnic structure of the villages. The large degree of migration within the Szilágyság region led to a decline in the percentage of the Hungarian population of towns - according to the ethnic composition of their attraction zones - especially the four decades ago Hungarian majority populated Zilah, Szilágysomlyó or Szilágycseh. Hungarians became a minority in the first two of the above-mentioned towns. The largest Hungarian communities of the county live in Zilah (13,638), Szilágysomlyó (4,886), Kraszna (3,936), Sarmaság (3,829), Szilágycseh (3,774), Szilágynagyfalu (2,404) and Szilágyperecsen (2,259).

The Rumanian colonies established between the two world wars (Decebal, Traian, Dacia, Paulian, Lucãceni, Aliza, Gelu, Baba Novac, Criseni, Horea, Scãrisoara Nouã, etc.) following the land reform and the villages of the recently re-Germanized population of Swabian origin (e.g. Béltek, Mezõfény, Mezõterem, Csanálos, Nagymajtény) disrupted the previous homogenity of Szatmár county's Hungarian ethnic territory along the Rumanian-Hungarian border. The 92-95 % majority Hungarian population in the new county seat of Szatmárnémeti and old county seat of Nagykároly in 1941 decreased, according to the Rumanian statistics, to 41-53 % by 1992, despite the significant natural growth in their numbers. In addition to the above-mentioned towns, a significant number of Hungarians can be found in Tasnád, Mezõpetri, Szaniszló, Kaplony, Börvely, Erdõd, Béltek, Bogdánd, Hadad, Szatmárhegy, Lázári, Batiz, Sárköz, Halmi, Kökényesd, Túrterebes and Avasújváros.

The third largest Hungarian community in Transylvania with 74,228 people lives in Nagyvárad, the seat of Bihar county, whose Hungarian population proportion is currently 33.3 %, according to the 1992 Rumanian census. The compact ethnic Hungarian population of Bihar is located north of the county's capital and west of the Fugyivásárhely-Szalárd-Szentjobb-Micske-Margitta line. Among the notable local centers in this area, Margitta, Érmihályfalva, Székelyhíd, Bihardiószeg and Bihar are worth mentioning. Significant medieval language enclaves also preserve Hungarian culture in the upper regions of the Berettyó and Sebes/Rapid Körös rivers (Berettyószéplak, Bályok, Mezõtelegd, Pusztaújlak, Pósalaka, Örvénd, Mezõtelki, Élesd, Rév etc.). In Southern Bihar, for the last three centuries the majority Hungarian populated territories have shrunk to the environs of Nagyszalonta, Tenke and Belényes (Árpád, Erdõgyarak, Mezõbaj, Bélfenyér, Gyanta, Köröstárkány, Kisnyégerfalva, Várasfenes, Körösjánosfalva, Belényessonkolyos, and Belényesújlak). Of the above-listed settlements, Tenke, Körösjánosfalva and Belényessonkolyos have already lost their Hungarian majority - due to the heavy influx of Rumanians as well as natural assimilation.

More than half of the Hungarians of Arad county dwell in the county seat, Arad with 29,832 Hungarians and the rest primarily live in environs of Arad and Kisjenõ. Among these, the relatively largest Hungarian population can be found in Magyarpécska (now united with the mainly Rumanian and Gypsy inhabited Ópécska), Kisjenõ, Kisiratos, Nagyiratos, Borosjenõ, Pankota, Nagyzerénd, Simonyifalva, Ágya, Zimándújfalu and Kispereg.

Hungarian Ethnic Enclaves in the Bánát

The total number of the Hungarians living in the rural ethnic enclaves and urban diaspora of the Bánát is estimated to be approximately 90,000 (1992 census data: 70,772 ethnic Hungarians). This number has stagnated due to the settlement of Hungarians and Székelys from other Transylvanian territories to Temesvár, Resica and other industrial centers - thereby evening out the natural decrease of the population and assimilation. Due to the above mentioned factor as well as to the increasing regional concentration of the Hungarians of the Bánát, 45% of the Hungarians of this region claim to be from Temesvár City. In addition to inhabiting this city of 334,115 people, significant numbers and percentages of ethnic Hungarians live only in around 30 settlements, for example, Pusztakeresztúr, Porgány, Nagyszentmiklós and Majláthfalva in the northwest, Nagybodófalva, Szapáryfalva, Igazfalva, Nõrincse, Vásáros and Kisszécsény in the northeast, and Dézsánfalva, Omor, Detta, Gátalja, Végvár, Ötvösd, Józsefszállás, Torontálkeresztes and Magyarszentmárton in the south. In the Temesvár agglomeration, the percentage of the Hungarian population drastically decreased in the formerly majority Hungarian populated settlements of Gyõröd, Újmosnica, Magyarmedves and Újszentes due to considerable immigration of the Rumanians and the natural decrease of the local Hungarians.

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[1]Transylvania (Hungarian: Erdély; Rumanian: Ardeal, Transilvania; German: Siebenbürgen, Slovak, Czech: Sedmohradsko; Serbian, Croatian: Erdelj). Historical region between the Eastern Carpathians, the Transylvanian Alps (Southern Carpathians) and the Bihar Massiv (Rumanian: Apuseni Mts.) between the 9th century and 1920 in East Hungary, since then in Central Rumania. In the Middle Ages Hungary was divided - in the regional attitude of the people of the country - into two parts: west of the Bihar Massiv called in Latin "Ultrasilvania" (territory on this side of the forest, Hungarian: Erdõn inneni, Erdõ elõtti terület) and east of it called in Latin "Transsilvania" (territory beyond the forest, Hungarian: Erdõn túl, Erdõelve = Erdély). The German name "Siebenbürgen" (Land of seven castles) based on the seven bailiff (Hungarian: ispánsági) castles of Transylvania in the 11th century: Dés, Doboka, Kolozsvár, Torda, Küküllõ, Gyulafehérvár and Hunyadvár.

In the text we use the broader sense of the word ("Greater-Transylvania") to label the entire area having belonged to Hungary and ceded to Rumania in 1920. This territory includes not only the historical Transylvania but the regions of Rumanian Banat and Partium (Körös - Crisana region + Máramaros - Maramures).

[2]Partium (Hungarian: "Részek"). As a geographical collective term included in the 16th and 17th century the territories of the Principality of Transylvania outside - mostly west - of the historic Transylvania (Máramaros, Kõvárvidék, Közép-Szolnok, Kraszna, Bihar, Zaránd and Szörény counties). Nowadays it is often in use from Hungarian side to name the former Hungarian territories annexed to Rumania in 1920 - apart from historic Transylvania and Banat: ca. the present-day Rumanian counties Arad, Bihar, Szilágy, Szatmár and Máramaros or the former Rumanian provinces Crisana and Maramures.

[3] Székely Region (Hungarian: Székelyföld; German: Szeklerland; Rumanian: Pamîntul Secuilor; Latin: Terra Siculorum). An area populated - since the 12th century - almost exclusively by Székely-Hungarians in the center of present-day Rumania, bordered by the Eastern Carpathians. The clan division of this privilegized borderland was followed - in the 14-15th century - by the establishment of special territorial administrative units (Hungarian: "szék"), namely Marosszék, Csíkszék, Kászonszék, Udvarhelyszék, Sepsiszék, Kézdiszék and Orbaiszék. Due to the war devastations, the mass immigration of the Rumanians, the shattering of the Hungarian ethnic territory in Northwest and Central Transylvania during the 16th and 17th century, the direct ethnic-territorial connection discontinued between the Hungarian ethnic block of the Great Hungarian Plain and the Székely Region. Since then the Székely ethnic block is completely encircled by Rumanians. The special status of this region came to an end after the administrative reorganization of Hungary in 1876. The entire Székely ethnic block was formally united in the frame of an autonomous province of Rumania ("Hungarian Autonomous Province") only for a short period, between 1952 and 1960.

[4] Aranyosszék ("Golden District"). Small Székely-Hungarian ethnographical - till 1876 administrative - region including 22 settlements in West-Central Transylvania, between the towns of Torda and Nagyenyed. It was founded by the Hungarian king Stephen V with Székelys from Kézdiszék (today north of Covasna county) on the territory of the deserted royal estate of Torda between 1264 and 1271. The historical seat of Aranyosszék district was Felvinc (Rumanian: Unirea).

[5]Csángó (Rumanian: Ceangãu; German: Tschango): general name of the persons separated from the Székely-Hungarians, outmigrated from the Székely Region. The Csángó Hungarian ethnographical group includes first of all the Roman Catholic Hungarians in Moldavia, but the Hungarians in the Upper-Tatros /Trotus Valley around Gyímes /Ghimes and the Hungarians in the Barcaság /Bîrsa /Burzenland region, west of Brassó /Brasov/ City, the last two situated in the Eastern Carpathians. The number of the Csángós of Hungarian ethnic identity in Moldavia is decreasing due to the intensive, forced Rumanization (1930: 20,964, 1992: 6,514). The number of - till the end of the 19th century predominantly Hungarian speaking - Roman Catholics in Moldavia exceeded the 184,000 in 1992. Similarly to the - dominantly English speaking and Roman Catholic - Irish in Ireland, only one part of the Csángós, of the Moldavian Roman Catholics of Hungarian ethnic origin can be estimated as Hungarian native speaker (ca. 50,000, see Diószegi L.-R. Süle A. 1990). They live mostly around the towns Bákó /Bacãu and Roman towns, in the Szeret /Siret river valley.

http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/hmcb/hmcb05.htm

[Hermeticist]

THE HUNGARIANS OF SLOVAKIA

In the most recent census held in the Slovak Republic (March 3, 1991), according to the ethnicity 567,296 and according to the mother tongue 608,221 inhabitants declared themselves to be Hungarian. Similar to census data of Hungary and other countries, the above-mentioned figure differs from the estimated size of the given ethnic group, in this case the number of people claiming and cultivating Hungarian national traditions and culture. In the case of Slovakia, according to ethno-historical, demographic and migration statistics, but apart from the linguistical assimilation in our opinion the estimated number of the Hungarian native speaker could be 653,000 in 1991. This figure corresponds to the population of the Hungarian counties of Gyõr-Moson-Sopron and Komárom. According to the latest census data, the Hungarian national minority represents 10.7% of Slovakia's population, 4.4% of the total number of Hungarians in the Carpathian basin and 22.3% of the Hungarians of the Carpathian Basin living beyond Hungary's borders.

THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

A majority of the Hungarian national minority of Slovakia lives on the plains (62%). Their settlements can be found along the Danubian (55%) and East-Slovakian (7%) lowlands. With the exception of the alluvial soil along larger rivers, the Hungarian-inhabited plains almost entirely used for agriculture are characterized by meadow soil (southern part of Csallóköz[1], along the river Dudvág and Bodrogköz[2]) and chernozem (northern part of Csallóköz, the regions between Vág-Nyitra and Zsitva-Garam). From the viewpoint of the Carpathian Basin, the Danubian Lowland can be considered as part of the Little Hungarian Plain (Kisalföld). Its most important rivers are the Danube, Little-Danube and Vág, their floodplains bordered by groves. The Nyitra, Zsitva, Dudvág considered tributaries of the Vág, are also worth mentioning. Csallóköz and the territory between the Little Danube and Vág are excellent for agricultural production and play a significant role in the republic's food-supply. (Fig. 8)

One-third of the Hungarians inhabit hills (along the Garam and Ipoly Rivers) and the Ipoly, Losonc, Rima and Kassa basins. In adapting to the hilly environment, the majority of settlements in these regions (Bars, Hont, Nógrád, Gömör and Abaúj) remained in the "small and tiny village" category. This creates special difficulties in the supply of the communities with fundamental institutions. These hilly regions, covered mostly by brown earth and brown forest soil, contain a few important rivers (Garam, Ipoly, Sajó, Hernád) and brooks (Szikince, Kürtös, Rima, Balog, etc.).

Only one of out of twenty Hungarians in Slovakia inhabit the highlands. A majority of them live among the rendzina soilcovered dolomite and limestone cliffs such as the Gömör-Torna (Slovakian) Karst, the Rozsnyó basin, and the Karancs-Medves Region with bazalt cones (Somoskõ Mt., Ragács Mt., the hill of Béna etc.) in the southern corners of Slovakia's Nógrád and Gömör. The most important water sources of the above-mentioned regions are the Gortva, Torna and Bódva brooks.

ETHNIC PROCESSES DURING THE PAST HUNDRED YEARS

By the year of the first Hungarian census that gathered "mother tongue" data (December 31, 1880), the percentage of Hungarians in the population of Slovakia's present day territory decreased to 23.1%, numbering 574,862 persons (Tab. 7.). By this time, the dynamic shift of the Hungarian-Slovak linguistic border towards the south, at the expenses of the Hungarians had slowed down and sTab.ilized along the Pozsony-Galánta-Érsekújvár-Nyitra-Léva-Losonc-Rozsnyó-Jászó-Sátoraljaújhely-Ungvár line. In the Nyitra-Komárom-Léva triangle and around Kassa and Tõketerebes, however the century-old ethnic process brought about linguistic peninsulas and enclaves with strongly mixed ethnic structures. The population of these areas became actively bilingual and bicultural. In later censuses in the period of Hungarian national economic prosperity near the turn of the 19th century, a growing number of the Jewish, German and part of the urban Slovak population of these areas demonstrated an increased willingness to associate themselves with the state-forming Hungarian ethnic community.

The fact that between 1880 and 1910 the number of the Hungarian population increased by 306,000 people, its share surpassing 30 per cent by 1910, can be attributed mainly to the self-declaration as Hungarians of the assimilated Jews, Germans and Slovaks. The growth of the Hungarian population was the most spectacular in the urban settlements of Kassa, Pozsony, Zólyom, Aranyosmarót, Nyitra, etc. (Tab. 8, Fig.9).

In order to understand better the significant changes in "mother tongue" statistics, it is necessary to observe the number and percentage of the so-called bi- or multi-lingual population whose ethnic affiliation is not easily determined. On the territory of present-day Slovakia, in 1910 33% of the Hungarians and 18% of the Slovaks belonged to this polyglot category. Among present urban settlements, the percentage of those who, based on language, could be considered equally Slovak or Hungarian was especially high in Jolsva, Vágsellye (70-75%), Kassa, Ógyalla and Verebély (30-40%). The same phenomenon was observed in the rural settlements around Kassa and Tõketerebes, and the area between Nyitra and Verebély (35-45%).

In 1920, as a result of the events of the First World War and the Peace Treaty of Trianon, the territory of present-day Slovakia - with the exception of the environment of Oroszvár - was officially detached from Hungary and ceded to Czechoslovakia. Following the changes in the state authorities - till 1924 - approximately 88,000 ethnic Hungarians (administrative and military personnel, landowners, etc.) moved to the new Hungarian state territory (Rónai A. 1938). At the same time, approximately 72,000 Czech military personnel, civil servants and investors immigrated to the territory of Slovakia.

By the census 1930 the number and percentage of Hungarians significantly decreased by 300,000 or 12.6 % comparing with census data 1910 (Tab. 7, Fig. 10). All this mainly was due to the statistical assimilation of those with uncertain ethnic identity and those with two or three ethnic affiliations, the partial assimilation of the former voluntarily "Magyarized" urban inhabitants of Jewish and German ethnic origin into the new state-forming ethnic group of "Czechoslovaks", as well as statistical manipulations, pressure on the Hungarians at the time of the census, separation of around 47,000 Hungarians into the "foreigner" statistical cathegory (Popély Gy. 1991). Grouping the large, dominantly Hungarian-speaking Jewish and Gypsy population into a separate statistical ethnic category also contributed to this decrease. The Hungarians of the Nyitra region became an enclave, the continuous Hungarian-language territory along the Ipoly river was severed between Balassagyarmat and Nagykürtös, and the Hungarian-language enclaves situated east of Kassa and southwest of Tõketerebes almost completely disappeared in the Czechoslovakian statistics. At the same time and as part of the Czech nationalist land reform, Czech and Slovak village colonies were esTab.lished along the entire length of the Hungarian-language territory such as Hviezdoslavov, Miloslavov, Lipové, Srobárová, Lipovany and Bottovo.

In the originally Hungarian majority-populated towns along the linguistic border, the settling of ethnic-"Czechoslovak" and -German (from the Czech Sudetenland) military and ethnic-"Czechoslovak" civil service (Kõvágó J. 1946) complemented by the "Czechoslovakization" of the majority of the Jewish and bilingual population resulted in the decrease of the percentage of the Hungarian ethnic population. For instance, in the case of Kassa City, the percentage of the Hungarian population shrank from 66.5 % to 14.3 %. In the other cities along the linguistic border, the "Czechoslovak" and Hungarian ethnic groups reached an equilibrium (Érsekújvár, Galánta, Léva, Rimaszombat, Rozsnyó) (Fig. 11). At the same time, in the current territory of Pozsony, the 23 thousand Slovak population of 1910 increased to 87 thousand with the Czechs by 1930.

After twenty years of existence, in 1939 the Republic of Czechoslovakia disintegrated. Before that, however, at the Vienna Court of Arbitration on November 2, 1938 Czechoslovakia was forced to give back the southern territories of 11,927 square kilometers with a population of 84.4 % Hungarian native speaker (1938 census data) to Hungary. With these areas once again under Hungarian administration, the number of Hungarians in the territory of present-day Slovakia rose by 176,000 between 1930 and 1941 censuses. This was due to the replacement of Czech and Hungarian military and civil service personnel, immigration from the former territory of Hungary, the voluntary, organized emigration of 50,000 Slovak, 31,000 Czech colonists, expulsion of 5,000 Slovaks and the changed behaviour of the bilingual-bicultural "Slovak-Hungarian" population of very uncertain ethnic identity at the official declaration of the mother tongue or ethnicity at the census. As any change of state authority, this also was best depicted in the sudden change of the ethnic composition of the cities (Tab. 8).

After the Second World War, the Czechoslovak government wished to solve the problem of Hungarians living in the southern annexed territories the same way it resolved the problem of the German minority, by deportation. This is how approximately 31,000 Hungarians who moved to the present-day territory of Slovakia between 1938-1945 (Janics K. 1980) were expelled till July 1, 1945. In addition to those who were expelled, 15,000 people who became outlaws and lost their civil rights, fled to Hungary.

Because the Western superpowers did not support the complete deportation of the Hungarians, a protracted population exchange between Hungary and Czechoslovakia took place in 1947 and 1948. In order to speed up the forced "population exchange", approximately 44,000 Hungarians were resettled throughout the Western Czech (Sudeten) Lands in abandoned German villages. In the end, approximately 74,000 Hungarians were deported from Slovakia and 73,273 inhabitants that qualified as Slovaks resettled from Hungary in the frame of this population exchange (Zvara, J. 1965). On the whole, 120,490 Hungarians were forced to leave their home-settlements annexed to Czechoslovakia between 1945-1948.

The so-called "re-Slovakization" played the most significant role in later statistical changes of the Hungarian population. According to "re-Slovakization", those Hungarians who declared themselves to be Slovaks could remain in Slovakia. As a result of this policy, petitions of the above nature submitted by 282,594 frightened Hungarians were accepted (Vadkerty K. 1993).

The inhabitants of the Czech, Slovak colonies esTab.lished in the period of the First Czechoslovak Republic also returned, and new Slovak villages were formed in the Hungarian ethnic territory as a result of the agrarian reform such as Jatov, Rastislavice, Siatorská Bukovinka. Slovaks who had already developed a strong affiliation with Hungarian culture were resettled from Hungary to the Hungarian majority-populated southern territories of Slovakia. Once again in a Hungarian environment, these people maintained their bilingualism and uncertain ethnic identity between the Slovakian and Hungarian ethnic groups. Measures introduced before the victory of the Czechoslovak Communist Party in February 1948 aimed to realize a homogenous Slovak nation and to "reverse" the Hungarian conquest of one thousand years ago, thereby reducing the number of Hungarians by 407,000 compared to 1941. The sudden drop of their percentage was shocking especially in certain cities and towns such as Kassa (from 76% to 4%), Érsekújvár, Vágsellye, Léva (from ca. 90% to 10%).

Among the rural areas, the greatest Hungarian ethnic loss could be observed in the surroundings of Léva, Zseliz, Kassa and Tõketerebes (Fig. 12). Of course, even in this period there were territories where the percentage of Hungarians decreased only minimally, or sometimes even increased. These, the most ethnically homogeneous territories of the Hungarians of Slovakia, lying along the border were the following: Csallóköz region, the northern foreground of Párkány, the eastern foreground of Ipolyság, South Gömör, the Torna region and the Bodrogköz area. As the shocking events of the 1940's faded, more and more, former scared and "re-Slovakized" Hungarians reassumed their Hungarian ethnicity in the census statistics. In 1970, there was already a record of 552,006 people claiming Hungarian ethnicity and 600,249 declaring Hungarian as their mother tongue. At best, the latter figure corresponds to the number recorded 80 years ago and falls far behind the 761,434 people whose native language was Hungarian in 1941 (Tab. 7).

In the past decade, the mobility of the Hungarians was increasingly determined by living conditions and the growing spatial disparity between labor supply and demand. The contrast between the urban center and its periphery became more acute, increasing the mobility of the more and more open Hungarian rural society along the border. This was primarily manifested in the resettlement of young Hungarians to towns along the linguistic border that have become Slovak-majority populated, mostly in Pozsony and Kassa. As a result, the percentage of Hungarians in those settlements where Hungarians comprised a minority between 1970 and 1991 increased from 17% to 22.4 %, while the population percentage of Hungarians living in predominant majority (75 % < ) decreased from 63% to 52 % (Fig. 13.)

Natural assimilation, due to intermarriage between ethnic groups in territories with a Slovak majority (in 1982, 27.1% of Hungarian men and 24.7% of Hungarian women chose Slovak partners) was made even more probable by a large degree of migration. For decades, even centuries there has been significant territorial disparity in emigration and birth control, the average age of the Hungarian population is quite high on the territories between Párkány-Zseliz-Ipolyság, in the region near Ajnácskõ and Pelsõc, and along the Bodrog-Latorca rivers. On the other hand, the Hungarians of Csallóköz and in part those in Pozsony and the Galánta district demonstrate the most favorable demographic indicators. Their natural birth rate of 6 per mille in 1983 by far exceeded not only that of the neighboring Hungarian counties of Gyõr-Moson-Sopron and Komárom (-0.3 - -0.6 per mille), but also that of the demographically most fertile Hungarian county, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County (2 per mille).

THE PRESENT SETTLEMENT TERRITORY OF THE HUNGARIANS
OF SLOVAKIA

From the administrative perspective, 67.5 % of the ethnic Hungarians of Slovakia live in the Western Slovakian Region. Dunaszerdahely (87.2%) and Komárom (72.2%) can be considered the most "Hungarian" of all the districts. In the districts of Rimaszombat, Érsekújvár and Tõketerebes the Hungarians are in close equilibrium with the Slovaks, 41-46%.

Of the Hungarians in Slovakia a considerable number (at least 100 persons) and percentage (at least 10%) inhabit 550 settlements. They comprise an absolute majority (50 % <) in 432 settlements and almost exclusive majority (90%<) in 164 settlements. Due to their geographic and historical preferences, Hungarians mostly inhabit large and medium-size villages (1,000-5,000 inhabitants), but 16.7 % of them also live in small towns with 10,000-30,000 inhabitants (Fig. 14).

According to the ethnic data of the 1991 Czechoslovak census, the largest Hungarian communities are concentrated in Komárom, Pozsony, Dunaszerdahely, Érsekújvár, Kassa, Rimaszombat, Párkány, Gúta, Somorja and Nagymegyer (Tab. 9). Our estimates for 1980 differ to a certain extent: Pozsony (43,000), Kassa (35,000), Komárom (22,900), Érsekújvár (17,000), Dunaszerdahely (15,500), Léva (12,800). According to the official 1991 census data, the percentage of ethnic Hungarians exceeds that of the Slovaks only in 13 towns. Of these, the most Hungarian are Nagymegyer, Dunaszerdahely, Gúta and Királyhelmec (Tab. 10).

The inhabitants of the Pozsony district are the western-most representatives of the Hungarians of Slovakia (Figs. 12, 15). The most significant settlements of the Hungarians of this region (Szenc, Magyarbél, Fél, Éberhárd), belong to the Pozsony/Bratislava agglomeration. Due to the favorable geographical location of these settlements, the immigration of Slovaks continues to increase, causing the decrease in the population percentage of the Hungarians.

In the Dunaszerdahely district with the strongest Hungarian character, a significant number of Slovaks inhabit only the towns of Dunaszerdahely, Somorja, Nagymegyer. The most significant villages of the district - all dominantly Hungarian - include Nagymagyar, Illésháza, Nagylég, Bõs, Várkony, Ekecs, Nyárasd, Vásárút and Diósförgepatony.

The center of the Galánta district, with 41-52% Hungarian inhabitants, is located at an important railway junction. A majority of the Hungarians living in this district work at the "Duslo" chemical combinate in Vágsellye, the nickel foundry in Szered, and the machine and food industry in Galánta and Diószeg. Most of the Hungarian villages of this district are located between the Little Danube and the Pozsony-Érsekújvár railway line such as Jóka, Nagyfödémes, Felsõszeli and Alsószeli.

In Komárom district, the other one in Slovakia with a Hungarian majority, most of the Hungarians live in the towns of Komárom, Gúta and Ógyalla. Other centers in the network of settlements of this district are Naszvad, Marcelháza, Perbete, Bátorkeszi, Nemesócsa and Csallóközaranyos. The Komárom shipyard and the Ógyalla brewery are the two main industrial employers of the region.

A majority of the Hungarian population of the Érsekújvár district, which lies between the Vág and the Danube Rivers and extends along the Pozsony-Budapest international railway line, lives in the proximity of the famous cellulose and paper-producing Párkány. Most Hungarians that live in the vicinity of half-Slovak and half-Hungarian Érsekújvár, an important railway junction and the center of the electro-technical refrigerating machine industry, inhabit Tardoskedd, Udvard, Szimõ and Zsitvabesenyõ.

Nyitranagykér, located in the northern part of the Érsekújvár district, together with Nagycétény and Nyitracsehi close by on the territory of the Nyitra district, form an important Hungarian enclave. The Hungarian percentage of the population in the Hungarian villages at the southern slopes of the Tribecs mountain range in Nyitragerencsér, Alsócsitár, Barslédec, Ghymes, Zsére, Kolon, Pográny, Alsóbodok is gradually decreasing because of agglomerational development in the Nyitra vicinity, the Slovak immigration, the linguistic assimilation and identity losing.

The Hungarian linguistic border in the Léva district, enlarged since the incorporation of the Ipolyság and Zseliz districts, was driven back in the direction of the Ipoly as a consequence of the evacuations preceding the battles along the Garam river in 1945 and the ruthless post-war deportation of the local Hungarians. In the district seat Léva, known mostly for its textile industry, the percentage of Hungarians is 15.2% according to 1991 Czechoslovak census data. (In 1941 it was 87.2 %). In the immediate proximity of Léva, Hungarians inhabit only a few small villages (Zsemlér, Alsószecse, Felsõszecse, Várad, Vámosladány etc.). The significant Hungarian population of Mohi was resettled elsewhere in the last decade due to the new nuclear power-plant constructed in that location.

In the strongly mixed ethnic surroundings of Zseliz, the greatest number of Hungarians live in Nagyölved, Farnad, Nagysalló and Oroszka - the location of one of Slovakia's most important sugar factories. In the environs of Ipolyság, the most Hungarians inhabit Palást and Ipolyvisk.

The increasingly diminishing and disconnected ethnic Hungarian territory on the right bank of the Ipoly river is part of the Nagykürtös district. In addition to the largest Hungarian community of Ipolynyék, we must also mention Lukanénye, Csáb, Ipolybalog, Bussó and Ipolyhídvég, in order of size.

In the Losonc district, the northern part of the former Nógrád county, the most important Hungarian communities mainly live in the villages of Ragyolc, Gömörsid, Fülekpüspöki, Béna, Sõreg, Csákányháza etc. in an ethnic territory also containing Slovakian colonies in the vicinity of the towns of Losonc and especially of Fülek, known for its enamelled pots and furniture.

In Southern Gömör, in the district of Rimaszombat which was enlarged with the formerly almost entirely Hungarian districts of Feled and Tornalja, the most important Hungarian settlements are Rimaszombat, Tornalja towns and Rimaszécs, Feled, Ajnácskõ, Várgede, Vámosbalog, Sajógömör. The Slovak population of the villages located near the Hungarian border is insignificant.

Upstream along the Sajó, in the territory of the Rozsnyó district we reach the northernmost part of the Carpathian Basin's ethnic Hungarian territory. In the Sajó valley settlements of the Hungarian-inhabited borderland, especially in Rozsnyó and Pelsõc, the percentage of Hungarians is diminishing due to the considerable immigration of Slovaks. In contrast, the percentage of Hungarians is increasing in the villages of the Gömör-Torna Karst of peripherial location (Szilice, Szádalmás, Hárskút, Várhosszúrét etc).

In the vicinity of Kassa City, Hungarian communities can be found only in the territory of the former Szepsi district, not more than 10-15 kilometers from the Hungarian border (Torna, Szepsi, Szádudvarnok, Tornaújfalu, Debrõd, Jászó, Buzita, Jánok etc.). The Hungarians of this region that work in industry, make their living in the plants of Kassa - the East-Slovakian metropolis with over 235,000 inhabitants and the center of the historical Abaúj-Torna county - of Szepsi and Nagyida, as well as the cement works of Torna.

After crossing the Szalánci mountains (the northern, Slovakian side of the Tokaj-Eperjes Mountains), we reach the district of Tõketerebes, which includes the former Hungarian districts of Nagykapos and Királyhelmec. The Hungarians of this area live in a relatively compact ethnic block, between the Ung-Bodrog rivers and the Ukrainian and Hungarian border. The unity of the almost thousand-year-old Hungarian ethnic area is disrupted only by the new-settled Slovak population of the modest industrial centers of Nagykapos (34.5%), Királyhelmec (16.3%), Bodrogszerdahely (32.3%), Vaján (15.4%) - the location of one of Slovakia's largest thermal power plants, Tiszacsernyõ (30.8%) - the very important international railway border crossing. Most of the Hungarian rural population of the parts of the historical counties Zemplén and Ung located in Slovakia live in Lelesz, Bodrogszerdahely, Szomotor, Kisgéres, Nagytárkány, Battyán and Bély.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1]Csallóköz (Slovak: itn[yacute] ostrov, German: Gro§e Schütt-Insel). Region almost exclusively by Hungarians inhabited in Southwest Slovakia between the Danube (Hungarian: Duna, Slovak: Dunaj) and Little Danube (Hungarian: Kis-Duna, Slovak: Mal[yacute] Dunaj) rivers.

[2]Bodrogköz (Slovak: Medzibodroie). Region almost exclusively by Hungarians inhabited in Northeast Hungary and Southeast Slovakia between the Tisza, Bodrog and Latorca rivers.

http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/hmcb/hmcb03.htm

[Hermeticist]

THE HUNGARIANS OF VOJVODINA, CROATIA AND THE TRANSMURA REGION

The southern settlement area of Hungarian minorities in the Carpathian Basin inhabit Vojvodina[1], Croatia and the Transmura Region[2] of Slovenia. At the time of the the last Yugoslav census in 1991, 370,000 people declared themselves to be Hungarian in these territories. This Hungarian minority makes up 2.9% of the Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin and 14.6% of the Hungarians living outside the borders of Hungary. Due to an exceptionally adverse history, the Hungarians inhabiting the broad area of the Danube, Tisza, Drava river valleys and Southwest Pannonia protect Hungarian culture in compact ethnic blocks of varying size as well as in ethnic enclaves.

THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Approximately 95 % of the former Yugoslavia's Hungarian minority inhabit the southern part of the Great Hungarian Plain, referred to as Pannonian Plain in Yugoslavia (Fig. 31). This flatland territory - with the exception of the alluvial soil of the river regions, the brown forest soil of the Fruska Gora (Péterváradi) Mountains, and the meadow soils and the ameliorated peats of the Bánát - is covered to a large degree with chernozem. Having one of Europe's best agricultural lands and most favorable climates, the quantity and quality of wheat and corn yields are outstanding in this region. As a result, Vojvodina plays a determining role in Serbia's food supply. Extensions of the monotonous flatlands include Fruska Gora (Péterváradi) Mountains (538 meters) famous for its vineyards, the Versec Mountains (640 meters), the Bán (Vörösmarti) Mountains (243 meters), the loess plateau of Bácska (Telecska), the Titel Plateau (128 meters) and the Deliblát sand hills (250 meters). There has been a long tradition of controlling the rivers of Bácska and Bánát, for example, the draining of the Versec-Alibunár marshland. The enormous canalization projects of the last few decades, including the construction of the navigable Danube-Tisza-Danube canal between Bezdán-Óbecse-Palánka, aimed to provide the uniterrupted irrigation of the extremely important Vojvodina agricultural lands. The major rivers of the lowland regions inhabited by Hungarians are tributaries of the Danube. The Dráva, Vuka, Száva, Temes and Tisza, all flow directly into the Danube. The most important still waters for Hungarians include the Palics and Ludas Lakes near Szabadka and the Fehér /White Lake near Nagybecskerek. The marshy Kopács Meadow in the Baranya region, internationally renowned for its tourist attraction as well as hunting and fishing can also be found on Hungarian ethnic territory.

Heading west in Croatia, we find most of the scattered Hungarians in the flatlands along the Dráva and the hilly regions south of the Bilo Mountains (289 meters), in West Slavonia.

The native Hungarian population of the Transmura Region in Slovenia has occupied the Lendva Basin, the foot of Mount Lendva and the hills along the Kerka for over eight centuries. The most significant rivers of the narrow Hungarian-inhabited borderland are the Lendva, the Kebele, the Big and Little Kerka streams.

ETHNIC PROCESSES DURING THE PAST HUNDRED YEARS

By the time of the 1880 census, the number of Hungarians living in this area was ca. 330,000 (Tab. 20). They did not even reach 23 % of the population of the territory of present-day Vojvodina (Tab. 21). This appears to be an exceptionally low figure if we consider the fact that during the Middle Ages, present-day territory of Vojvodina and Eastern Croatia were almost completely ethnic Hungarian (Fig. 32). The number of Hungarians inhabiting this area greatly increased at the end of the 19th century and the turn of the century due to a high rate of the natural increase, state-initiated settlements (Székelykeve, Sándoregyháza, Hertelendyfalva, Tiszakálmánfalva, Gombos, Szilágyi, etc.), and especially spontaneous migration from the north (Southern Transdanubia, Central Great Hungarian Plain) towards the south (Slavonia, present-day Vojvodina). The outmigration from the overpopulated, above mentioned territories was motivated by economic reasons (first of all after the repeal of the Military Border in the south /1881/ and the parcelling of cheap landed properties).

As a result of the large degree of immigration and the natural assimilation, voluntary Magyarization of the mainly urban German, Jewish and Croatian (Bunyevatz) population - though at a much slower pace than in Slovakia and Transylvania - the number of Hungarians by the 1910 Hungarian census before World War I had increased by 190 % in Slavonia, 110 % in the Syrmia (Szerémség, Srem) region and 70 % in the Bánát (Fig. 33). The growth of the Hungarian population in the towns and language enclaves between 1880 and 1910 occurred at an even higher rate for example, in Újvidék, Zombor, Nagybecskerek, Pancsova, Verbász (Tab. 22).

The peace treaty of Trianon, after the end of the First World War annexed the historical South Hungarian territories (Southeast Baranya, Bácska, Southwest Banat, with only 28 % Serbian population in 1910) to the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs-Croats-Slovenes. Between the takeover in 1918 and 1924, and due to the forcible and clear anti-Hungarian mesures 44,903 Hungarians (military personnel, administration employees, intellectuals, landowners etc.) fled to the new Hungarian state territory (Rónai A. 1938). Due to the ethnic oppression the Hungarians and Germans were overrepresented among the overseas emigrées. In fact, in 1925 half of Yugoslavian emigrées were Hungarian and German. In the case of the Hungarians, this was a direct result of the fact that in this period, 44 % of the Hungarians of Vojvodina, adding up to then 41.4 % of the agricultural population of present-day Vojvodina, were landless. The high proportion of destitute Hungarians between the two world wars can be attributed to the fact that the land of ca. 332,000 acres confiscated from the departed Hungarian and German big landowners - in order to dilute the Hungarian ethnic territory near the border - were distributed exclusively among 45,000 Serbian and 3,000 Croatian (Bunyevatz) colonists. As a result, a row of Serb village colonies were established near the most important ethnic Hungarian centers (Bácstopolya, Szabadka, Magyarkanizsa and Magyarcsernye): Lipar, Karadjordjevo, Novi ednik, Novi Beograd, Velebit, Dusanovo, Velike Livade, Vojvoda Stepa, Banatsko Karadjordjevo etc.

The mass - voluntary and forced - Hungarian emigration, statistical separation of the previously voluntarily assimilated Germans, Croats (Bunyevats) and Hungarians with surnames of non-Hungarian origin from the Hungarians and manipulation of census data led to the decline of the Hungarian population especially in the ethnic enclaves of Slavonia, Baranya, the Transmura Region and generally in the towns of Bácska (primarily Szabadka and Zombor) (Figs. 33, 34, Tab. 22).

In 1941, Germany and her - internal and external - allies destroyed the Great-Serbian state, the Yugoslav Kingdom. After the declaration of the Independent State of Croatia (April 10, 1941) and the German occupation of Syrmia and Banat, the Hungarian troops reannexed Bácska, Baranya and Transmura regions occupied by the Serbian and French Army in November 1918, containing the most Hungarians of the former Yugoslavia. Parallel to the emigration and displacement of ca. 25,000 between 1918-1941 immigrated Yugoslav - mostly Serbian - state employees and colonists from Bácska to Serbia, there was a settlement of military and civil servants from the former Hungarian territory and of Hungarians from Bukovina (13,200) to the territories once again under Hungarian administration. In addition, a significant part of the non-Hungarian (i.g. Jewish, German) intelligentsia once again declared themselves to be Hungarian. Thus it is understandable that the ethnic Hungarian population of the region again rose in the statistics to over half-million. Moreover, for the first time since its existence, Újvidék - the current provincial seat of Vojvodina - was recorded as a majority Hungarian populated city with 50.4 % in 1941. (Tab. 22). The statistical increase of Hungarians in this region did not last long. In October 1944, the newly settled Hungarians (military forces, state personnel, politically compromised individuals and Székelys from Bukovina who had been settled in the colonies of the Serbian war veterans deported in 1941) fled. From those Hungarians who remained in Vojvodina ca. 20,000 innocent civilians became the victims of the bloody Serbian vendetta[3] in October and November 1944 (our estimation and see Cseres T. 1991).

After the bloody anti-Hungarian retaliation, the Yugoslav government was not adamant about either declaring the Hungarians collectively responsible, or resettling them. As a result of the rapidly normalizing political situation, the growing natural increase and the Magyarization (German to Hungarian identity change) of ca. 30,000 persons from the remained in Vojvodina Germans (mostly in the communes Zombor, Nagybecskerek, Apatin and Újvidék), the Hungarians were even able considerably to increase their population number in Vojvodina by the late 1950s. The population of the province had been altered by 226,000 - Serbian, Montenegrin etc. - settlers from the Balkans between 1945 and 1947 (Gaæesa, N.L. 1984). On the other hand, the assimilation, emigration and aging of the population in the Hungarian ethnic enclaves of Slavonia and partly in Southeast Baranya continued.

Beginning in the 1950s, the heavy migration caused by the high rate of Communist economic modernization and urbanization processes of the region significantly influenced national minorities, including that of the Hungarians. These migration processes, however, resulted in the increased disintegration and ageing - due to the migration and emigration of a large part of the young earners - of the previously closed rural society and ethnic communities. As illustrated in Fig. 35, between 1953 and 1991 the proportion of Hungarians living in decisively majority Hungarian inhabited (over 75 %) settlements especially declined, while the percentage of Hungarians living in "weak" (under 25 %) minority conditions increased. Emigrants from the scattered Hungarian settlements to centers with dominantly non-Hungarian speaking populations have embarked on the path of gradual linguistic assimilation due to ethnical mixed marriages and daily foreign language communication. Since the early 1960s, employment in Western Europe, especially in Germany, was a financially tempting possibility. It also contributed significantly to the decrease in the number of Hungarians. In most cases, people chose not to return. In 1971, the proportion of guest workers who were Hungarians from Vojvodina (27.5 %) surpassed the population percentage of Hungarians (21.7 %). In the past few decades, the Hungarians primarily living in the economically underdeveloped region of South Bánát (Versec, Torontálvásárhely, Sándoregyháza, Székelykeve, Fejértelep, etc.) tried their luck abroad. The natural population growth, especially the compact Hungarian ethnic block of the Tisza region continued to decrease due to Hungarian migration to urban settlements and emigration abroad, as well as a consequence of demographical natural decrease, resulted from the changed family size of that region. In many cases, ageing and emigration were mutually reinforcing factors of population decline. The same applies to the isolated, disadvantageously located Hungarian ethnic enclaves in Bánát, Bácska, and Slavonia (Rábé, Egyházaskér, Alsóittebe, Káptalanfalva, Doroszló, Kórógy, Ójankovác, etc.). Under such circumstances, it is not surprising that in the case of the Hungarian ethnic group, already in the mid-1970s the death rate surpassed the birth rate.

Incidentally, the compact Hungarian ethnic block near the Tisza, is an integral part of the demographic "crisis region" of the Carpathian Basin - characterized on the one hand by a low birth rate and on the other by a high suicide rate. This region, already in existence in the previous century, includes the Bánát region and Arad county in Rumania, Békés, Csongrád, Bács-Kiskun and Baranya counties in Hungary, and Baranya and Slavonia in Croatia. Due to the previously outlined migration processes, the percentage of Hungarians is decreasing in centrally located, urbanized areas - due to heavier non-Hungarian immigration - and is increasing in peripheral rural areas - along with population decrease and ageing.

Among the subjective factors influencing the number of Hungarians in Vojvodina, the most outstanding is the fact that at the time of the 1991 census, ca. 37,000 persons of Hungarian ethnic origin - as well as others - did not declare their national identity, but simply referred to themselves as "Yugoslav". At the time of the census 1991, 374,000 persons declared themselves as Hungarians in Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia. 91 % of them lived in Vojvodina, 6 % in Croatia and 2 % in Slovenia.

THE PRESENT SETTLEMENT TERRITORY OF HUNGARIANS OF
VOJVODINA, CROATIA AND TRANSMURA REGION

Hungarians in Vojvodina

At the time of the 1991 census, 339,491 people in Vojvodina were recorded as having declared themselves to be ethnic Hungarian. Only seven of the communes had an absolute Hungarian majority in this period (Magyarkanizsa, Zenta, Ada, Bácstopolya, Kishegyes, Csóka and Óbecse). Hungarians with 42.7 %, were in the relative majority in the Szabadka commune and represented a strong minority in the communities of Temerin (38.7 %) and Törökkanizsa (33.8%).

In accordance with the historical events and unique geographical environment of this region, its Hungarians inhabit primarily small towns (26.4%) and large villages (19.5%) (Fig. 36). Thus, the biggest Hungarian community (39,749) in Vojvodina (and also Serbia) - 51,000 according to our estimates - inhabitted the city of Szabadka, but more than ten thousand Hungarians lived in Zenta, Újvidék, Nagybecskerek, Óbecse, Bácstopolya, Magyarkanizsa and Ada (Tab. 23, Fig. 37). Considering the ethnic proportions, Magyarkanizsa, Ada, Zenta and Bácstopolya were the "most Hungarian" towns (Tab. 24). As regards the non-urban settlements, there are 49 with a Hungarian majority in Bácska, 25 in Bánát and 2 in Syrmia (Szerémség). Among these, only Kishomok could be considered exclusively Hungarian. These settlements that can be considered to be mostly Hungarian are almost all located in the Horgos-Bácstopolya-Bácsföldvár triangle, in the Hungarian ethnic heartland of Vojvodina that lies on the right bank of the Tisza. Apart from this, there are only 36 Hungarian majority populated ethnic enclaves in this region: e.g. Temerin, Gombos, Doroszló, Bácskertes, Bezdán, Ómoravica, and Pacsér in Bácska; Majdány, Szaján, Hódegyháza, Magyarcsernye, Torontáltorda, Torontálvásárhely, Székelykeve and Ürményháza in Bánát; Satrinca and Dobrodolpuszta in Syrmia (Szerémség, Srem).

The fact that 43.4 % of the Hungarians live in settlements where they are in minority - in addition to other previously mentioned demographic characteristics - has had a negative influence on the change in the population of Hungarians in Vojvodina, their identity consciousness and their exposure to linguistic assimilation (Fig. 38).

Hungarians in Croatia

Living in ethnic enclaves and dispersed settlements and clinging less and less to their original ethnic identity, the Hungarians in Croatia have experienced the most threatening population decline out of all the Hungarians in ex-Yugoslavia during the last decades (Fig. 33, Tab. 20.). Their recorded and estimated number in 1991 was approximately 22,000 to 24,000, 40 % of which inhabited the Pélmonostor commune, the Croatian part of Baranya. In this region, between the Danube and Drava rivers, the 1910 Hungarian population proportion of 40 % decreased to 16.5 % in 1991, primarily as a result of the large scale traditional birth control, migration to Eszék, emmigration abroad and the registration of about the tenth of local Hungarians as "Yugoslavs". Vörösmart, Laskó, Kiskõszeg, Pélmonostor, Csúza and Várdaróc were the largest Hungarian communities in Baranya (Fig. 37). Újbezdán and Sepse were the most Hungarian of the region's eight Hungarian majority populated villages with 94 and 91 % respectively. In addition to inhabiting the region of Baranya, with excellent tourist and traffic facilities, a decisive majority of the Hungarian national minority in Croatia or 12,000 people inhabited Slavonia and the western part of Syrmia (Szerémség). Within this zone, most Hungarians inhabited Eszék, the region's center. But the Hungarian population was also significant in Kórógy, the only settlement in Slavonia with an absolute Hungarian majority. Unfortunately, the absolute Hungarian majorities of four decades ago in Lacháza, Ójankovác, Apáti, Csák and Szentlászló, plummeted to 6-45 % in 1991. Assimilation of the approximately one hundred years old dispersed Hungarian communities of the surroundings of Verõce, Belovár and Daruvár in Western Slavonia has reached even greater proportions.

Unfortunately due to the events of the 1991 war between the Serbs and Croats the above described ethnic situation completely changed. Out of the Hungarians a third from Baranya and a half from East Slavonia and West Syrmia, about 6,000 persons have fled their homes during the course of the war in August 1991 (Fig.39). The majority of these Hungarian refugees now live in Eszék City (2,500), Vinkovci (800) and in Hungary (2,500). In consequence of the war the Hungarian "ethnic islands" of the territories beeing today under Serbian and UNPROFOR control (UNPA Sector East, today part of "Republic Serbian Krayina"), in East Slavonia and West Syrmia (Szentlászló, Kórógy, Vukovár, Csák, Apáti, Ójankovác etc.) were completely annihilated, whereas the Hungarians in Baranya "only" in the operational areas (in the neighborhood of Eszék City: Dárda, Bellye, Kopács, Várdaróc; at the Danube bridgehead, Kiskõszeg and in the commune center, Pélmonostor) suffered heavy losses.

Hungarians in Slovenia

Only 2%, or 8,500 people of the former Yugoslavia's Hungarian population belongs to the Republic of Slovenia. Aside from those employed in Maribor and Ljubljana, a decisive majority occupy the settlements located between Õrihodos and Pince, the part of the Transmura Region (Prekmurje) that extends along the Hungarian border (Fig. 40).

The largest Hungarian community with 1,062 people can be found in Alsólendva, the region's economic and cultural center, where the 75 % population proportion of Hungarians in 1941 dropped to 27.9 % in 1991. The drop was due mainly to the mass settlement of Slovenes and Croats resulting from the large scale industrialization (electrical and oil industry) of the town. A relatively large number of Hungarians still inhabit Dobrónak, Lendvahosszúfalu, Csente and Petesháza. Of the 22 Hungarian majority populated villages, their proportion exceeds 90 % in Radamos, Pince and Göntérháza. The increasing migration from the critically ageing villages of the Hungarian frontier zone to the towns of Alsólendva, Muraszombat and Maribor has heavily decreased the number of Hungarians in this region as well. The simultaneous increase of the percentage of Hungarians is due to the fact that the autochtone population of these villages (the Hungarians) have a stronger bond with the native land, the cropland and agriculture than does the Slovenian colonists that settled here later (Genorio, R. 1985). The latter statement is true, of course, in the case of almost every Hungarian rural settlement lying close to the Hungarian border.

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[1] Vojvodina ("Voivodship", Hungarian: Vajdaság). Province in Serbia, north of the Sava and Danube rivers. Territory: 21,506 square kilometers, population number: 2 millions, capital: Újvidék /Novi Sad /180,000 inhabitants/. Between the 10th century and 1918 a part of South Hungary, since then a part of Yugoslavia, between 1945 and 1989 as an autonomous province of Serbia. Its only historical precedent was the province "Serbian Voivodship and Banat of Temesvár" created, separated from Hungary (1849) and repealed (1860) by the Habsburg absolutism as a part of the vengeance because of the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848-1849.

[2] Transmura Region (Hungarian: Muravidék, Murántúl, Vendvidék, Slovenian: Prekmurje). Northeast borderland of Slovenia north of the Mura river, between Austria, Hungary and Croatia. The region include the present-day communes of Muraszombat /Murska Sobota and Alsólendva /Lendava with an area of 947 square kilometers and 89,855 inhabitants (1991). Between the 10th century and 1919, then 1941 and 1945 a part of Hungary, in the period 1945 - 1991 a region of Yugoslavia. Since then it belongs to the Republic of Slovenia.

[3] This revenge was to retaliate the activity of the local divisions of the Hungarian Army and Gendarmerie in December 1941 and January 1942 against the Serbian irregular troops, partisans and civilians in Southeast Bácska. This pacification claimed lives of 2,550 Serbs and 743 Jews.

http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/hmcb/hmcb06.htm

[Macedonia]

Oh please , don't destroy even this forum !
This is the best forum , that I ever find in internet !

1-The Albanians aren't Muslims , but atheists !
2-Kosova is a historical Albanian land ! Even the most northern city of Kosova is called Albanic(Albanian:Albanik ; Greek:Alvanikon ; Slavic:Albanec) ! For some decades of Serb occupation the city was renamed as Leposavich , but this name isn't used anymore not even by the Slavs .
3-Greater Kosova ? I'm sorry , but this is exaggerated !

[Loyalist]

Originally Posted by Macedonia

Oh please , don't destroy even this forum !
This is the best forum , that I ever find in internet !

1-The Albanians aren't Muslims , but atheists !
2-Kosova is a historical Albanian land ! Even the most northern city of Kosova is called Albanic(Albanian:Albanik ; Greek:Alvanikon ; Slavic:Albanec) ! For some decades of Serb occupation the city was renamed as Leposavich , but this name isn't used anymore not even by the Slavs .
3-Greater Kosova ? I'm sorry , but this is exaggerated !

Is it just me, or is it starting to look like PANF around here?

[Hermeticist]

Originally Posted by Loyalist

Is it just me, or is it starting to look like PANF around here?

Non pro-Serb attitudes on Kosova are automatically related to "PANF spirit"???

[Loyalist]

Originally Posted by Hamvas

Non pro-Serb attitudes on Kosova are automatically related to "PANF spirit"???

Did I say anything about that?

[Hermeticist]

Originally Posted by Loyalist

Did I say anything about that?

Considering the post you quoted...