Hungarians
Magyarok

1st row: Saint Stephen I • Matthias Corvinus • Gábor Bethlen • Béla Bartók 2nd row: Tivadar-K Csontváry • János Bolyai • Loránd Eötvös • József Eötvös 3rd row: Zoltán Kodály • János Arany • István Széchenyi • Francis II Rákóczi
Total population
c. 14-15 million
Regions with significant populations
Hungary 9,979,000[1]
Neighbours of Hungary c. 2.2 million  Romania 1,237,746  (2011) [2]  Slovakia 458,467  (2011) [3]  Serbia 293,299   (2002) [4]  Ukraine 156,566  (2001) [5]  Austria 40,583  (2001) [6]  Croatia 16,595  (2001) [7]  Slovenia 6,243  (2002) [8] Rest of Europe c. 0.3-0.5 million  Germany 120,000  (2004) [9]  United Kingdom 80,135  (2001)  Czech Republic 14,672  (2001) [10]  Turkey 6,800  (2001) [11]  Russia 3,768  (2002) [12]  Ireland 3,328  (2006) [13]  Macedonia 2,003  (2002) [14] North America c. 2 million  United States 1,563,081  (2006) [11]  Puerto Rico 1,050 South America 0.2 - 1 million [11]  Brazil 80,000 [15]  Argentina 40,000-50,000 [16] Oceania  (AUS / NZL) 70,000 [11]  Australia 67,616 [17]  New Zealand 1,476 Asia c. 10,000  Thailand 3,029  Philippines 1,114 Africa 10,000 [11]
Languages
Hungarian
Religion
Predominantly Roman Catholic, Protestant (primarily Reformed and Lutheran; also Unitarian), but also including Greek Catholic, Jewish and Unaffiliated.

Hungarians, also known as Magyars (Hungarian: magyarok), are a nation and ethnic group who speak Hungarian and are primarily associated with Hungary. There are around 14-15 million Hungarians, of whom 10 million live in today's Hungary (as of 2011).^[18] About 2.2 million Hungarians live in areas that were part of the Kingdom of Hungary before the 1918-1920 dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the Treaty of Trianon, and are now parts of Hungary's seven neighbour countries, especially Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine. Significant groups of people with Hungarian ancestry live in various other parts of the world, most of them in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Canada and Australia. Unlike the Hungarians living on the former territory of pre-1918-20 Kingdom of Hungary, only some of the ethnic Hungarians in other areas preserve the Hungarian language and traditions. The Hungarians can be classified into several subgroups according to local linguistic and cultural characteristics; subgroups with distinct identities include the Székely, the Csángó, the Palóc, and the Jassic people.

Name[link]

The exonym "Hungarian" is thought to be derived from the Bulgar-Turkic On-Ogur (meaning "ten" Ogurs),^[19] which was the name of the Utigur Bulgar tribal confederacy that ruled the eastern parts of Hungary after the Avars, and prior to the arrival of Magyars. The Hungarians must have belonged to the Onogur tribal alliance and it is quite possible they became its ethnic majority.^[19] In the Early Middle Ages the Hungarians had many different names as "Ungar" or "Hungarus".^[20]

The Hungarian people refer to themselves by the denomination "Magyar", instead of the term "Hungarian", which is used by foreigners.^[19]

The "H-" prefix is an addition in Medieval Latin. The medieval Kingdom of Hungary was known in Latin as either Regnum Hungariae or as Regnum Ungariae.

The Hungarian endonym is Magyar. There are several theories about the origin and meaning of the word "Magyar."^{[citation needed]}

Ethnic affiliations and genetic origins[link]

The linguistic heritage of the Hungarians comes from Finno-Ugric peoples. A branch of Uralic speakers migrated from their original homeland near the Ural mountains and settled in various places in eastern Europe, until they conquered the present-day area of Hungary between the 9th and 10th centuries. Genetically, the present-day Hungarian population preserves much of an older European genetic makeup.^[21][22] In the Middle Ages, according to genetic and palaeoanthropological studies, the majority of Hungarians showed features of European biological descent.^[23][24]

Andronovo Culture, 2100–1400 BCE

Pre-fourth century AD[link]

During the fourth millennium BC, the Uralic-speaking peoples who were living in the central and southern regions of the Urals split up. Some dispersed towards the west and northwest and came into contact with Iranian speakers who were spreading northwards.^[25] From at least 2000 BC onwards, the Ugrian speakers became distinguished from the rest of the Uralic community. Judging by evidence from burial mounds and settlement sites, they interacted with the Andronovo Culture,^[26] furthermore, type of Hungarians of the Conquest period shows related features to that of Andronovo people.^[27]

Fourth century to c.830 AD[link]

In the fourth and 5th centuries AD, the Magyars moved to the west of the Ural Mountains to the area between the southern Ural Mountains and the Volga River known as Bashkiria (Bashkortostan) and Perm Krai.

In the early 8th century, some of the Magyars moved to the Don River to an area between the Volga, Don and the Seversky Donets rivers.^[28] Meanwhile, the descendants of those Magyars who stayed in Bashkiria remained there as late as 1241.

The Magyars around the Don River were subordinates of the Khazar khaganate. Their neighbours were the archaeological Saltov Culture, i.e. Bulgars (Proto-Bulgarians, Onogurs) and the Alans, from whom they learned gardening, elements of cattle breeding and of agriculture. Tradition holds that the Magyars were organized in a confederacy of tribes called hétmagyar (lit. seven Hungarians). The tribes of the hétmagyar were: Jenő, Kér, Keszi, Kürt-Gyarmat, Megyer, Nyék, and Tarján.

Magyar Migrations, 300-900 AD	Magyar location, 600 AD	Migration to Carpathian Basin, 895-955 (Hungarian: honfoglalás)

c.830 to c.895[link]

Around 830, a civil war broke out in the Khazar khaganate. As a result, three Kabar tribes^[29] of the Khazars joined the Magyars and they moved to what the Magyars call the Etelköz, i.e. the territory between the Carpathians and the Dnieper River (today's Ukraine)^{[citation needed]}. Around 854, the Magyars faced a first attack by the Pechenegs.^[28] (According to other sources, the reason for the departure of the Magyars to Etelköz was the attack of the Pechenegs.) Both the Kabars and earlier the Bulgars may have taught the Magyars their Turkic languages. The new neighbours of the Magyars were the Varangians and the eastern Slavs. From 862 onwards, the Magyars (already referred to as the Ungri) along with their allies, the Kabars, started a series of looting raids from the Etelköz to the Carpathian Basin–mostly against the Eastern Frankish Empire (Germany) and Great Moravia, but also against the Balaton principality and Bulgaria.^[30]

Entering the Carpathian Basin (after 895)[link]

Prince Árpád crossing the Carpathians. A detail from the Arrival of the Hungarians, Árpád Feszty's and his assistants' vast cyclorama (over 1800 m²), painted to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the Magyar conquest of Hungary, now displayed at the Ópusztaszer National Memorial Site in Hungary.

Hungarian campaigns in the 10th century. The prayer "Sagittis hungarorum libera nos Domine" ("Lord save us from the arrows of Hungarians") comes from this period.

The entry of the Hungarians into the Carpathian basin, from the Chronicon Pictum, 1360.

Population growth of the Hungarians (900–1980)

The Treaty of Trianon: Hungary lost 72% of its land and 3.3 million people of Hungarian ethnicity.

In 895/896, under the leadership of Árpád, some Hungarians crossed the Carpathians and entered the Carpathian Basin. The tribe called Megyer was the leading tribe of the Hungarian alliance that conquered the centre of the basin. At the same time (c.895), due to their involvement in the 894–896 Bulgaro-Byzantine war, Magyars in Etelköz were attacked by Bulgaria and then by their old enemies the Pechenegs. The Bulgarians won the decisive battle of Southern Buh. It is uncertain whether or not those conflicts were the cause of the Hungarian departure from Etelköz.

From the upper Tisza region of the Carpathian Basin, the Hungarians intensified their looting raids across continental Europe. In 900, they moved from the upper Tisza river to Transdanubia (Pannonia)^{[citation needed]}, which later became the core of the arising Hungarian state. At the time of the Hungarian migration, the land was inhabited only by a sparse population of Slavs, numbering about 200,000,^[28] who were either assimilated or enslaved by the Hungarians.^[28]

After the battle of Augsburg (955), the Hungarians stopped their raids against Western Europe.

Many of the Hungarians, however, remained to the north of the Carpathians after 895/896, as archaeological findings suggest (e.g. Polish Przemyśl). They seem to have joined the other Hungarians in 900. There is also a consistent Hungarian population in Transylvania, the Székelys, comprise 40% of the Hungarians in Romania.^[31][32] The Székely people's origin, and in particular the time of their settlement in Transylvania, is a matter of historical controversy.

History after 900[link]

Medieval Hungary controlled more territory than medieval France, and the population of medieval Hungary was the third largest of any country in Europe. The Hungarian leader Árpád is believed to have led the Hungarians into the Carpathian Basin in 896. In 907, the Hungarians destroyed a Bavarian army in the Battle of Pressburg and laid the territories of present-day Germany, France and Italy open to Hungarian raids. These raids were fast and devastating. The Hungarians defeated Louis the Child's Imperial Army near Augsburg in 910. From 917 to 925, Hungarians raided through Basle, Alsace, Burgundy, Saxony, and Provence.^[33] Magyar expansion was checked at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955. Although the battle at Lechfeld stopped the Hungarian raids against Western Europe, the raids on the Balkan Peninsula continued until 970.^[34] Hungarian settlement in the area was approved by the Pope when their leaders accepted Christianity, and Stephen I the Saint (Szent István) was crowned King of Hungary in 1001. The century between the Magyars' arrival from the eastern European plains and the consolidation of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1001 was dominated by pillaging campaigns across Europe, from Dania (Denmark) to the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal).^[35] After the country's acceptance into Christian Europe under Stephen I, Hungary served as a bulwark against further invasions from the east and south, especially against the Turks.

At this time, the Hungarian nation numbered between 25,000^[36] and 1,000,000 people.^[28][37]

The name "Hungarian" has also a wider meaning, as it once referred to all inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hungary irrespective of their ethnicity.^[38]

The first accurate measurements of the population of the Kingdom of Hungary including ethnic composition were carried out in 1850–51. There is a debate among Hungarian and non-Hungarian (especially Slovak and Romanian) historians about the possible changes in the ethnic structure throughout history.

Some historians support the theory that the Magyars' proportion in the Carpathian Basin was at an almost constant 80% during the Middle Ages^{[39][40][41][42][43]} – non Magyars numbered hardly more than 20% to 25% of the total population^[39] and began to decrease only at the time of the Ottoman conquest,^[39][40][43] – reaching as low as around 39% in the end of the 18th century. The decline of the Magyars was due to the constant wars, Ottoman raids, famines and plagues during the 150 years of Ottoman rule.^[39][40][43] The main zones of war were the territories inhabited by the Magyars, so the death toll attrited them at a much higher rate than among other nationalities.^[39][43] In the 18th century their proportion declined further because of the influx of new settlers from Europe, especially Slovaks, Serbs, Croats, and Germans.^{[39][40][43][44]} Droves of Romanians entered Transylvania during the same period.^[40][44][45] As a consequence of the Turkish occupation and the Habsburg colonization policies, the country underwent a great change in ethnic composition.^[43] Hungary's population more than tripled to 8 million between 1720 and 1787, however, only 39% of its people were Magyars, who lived primarily in the centre of the country.^[39][40][41]

Other historians, particularly Slovak and Romanian ones, tend to argue that the drastic change in the ethnic structure hypothesized by Hungarian historians in fact did not occur. Therefore, the Magyars are supposed to have accounted only for about 30–40%^{[citation needed]} of the Kingdom's population since its establishment. In particular, there is a fierce debate among Magyar and Romanian historians about the ethnic composition of Transylvania through the times; see Origin of the Romanians.

In the 19th century, the proportion of Magyars in the Kingdom of Hungary rose gradually, reaching over 50% by 1900, mostly because of Magyarization. Spontaneous assimilation was an important factor, especially among the German and Jewish minorities and the citizens of the bigger towns. On the other hand, about 1.5 million people (of whom about two-thirds were non-Hungarian) left the Kingdom of Hungary between 1890–1910 to escape from poverty.^[46]

The years 1918 to 1920 were a turning point in the Magyars' history. By the Treaty of Trianon, the Kingdom had been cut into several parts, leaving only a quarter of its original size. One third of the Magyars became minorities in the neighbouring countries.^[47] During the remainder of the 20th century, the Magyar population of Hungary grew from 7.1 million (1920) to around 10.4 million (1980), despite losses during the Second World War and the wave of emigration after the attempted revolution in 1956. The number of Hungarians in the neighbouring countries tended to remain the same or slightly decreased, mostly due to assimilation (sometimes forced; see Slovakization and Romanianization)^[48][49][50] and emigration to Hungary (in the 1990s, especially from Transylvania and Vojvodina).

After the "baby boom" of the 1950s (Ratkó era), a serious demographic crisis began to develop in Hungary and its neighbours.^[51] The Magyar population reached its maximum in 1980, after which it began to decline. This decline is expected to continue at least until 2050, at which time the population will probably be between 8 and 9 million.^[51]

Today, the Magyars represent around 35% of the population of the Carpathian Basin. Their number is around 12–13 million. While other ethnic groups increased their numbers two, three or even more times during the 20th century, the Magyar population stagnated. Between 1950 and 1980, the increase in Hungary's population was the fourth-slowest in the world, after East Germany, Bulgaria and St. Kitts and Nevis: 16.4% (from 9,204,799 to 10,709,463).

For historical reasons (see Treaty of Trianon), significant Hungarian minority populations can be found in the surrounding countries, most of them in Romania (in Transylvania), Slovakia, Serbia (in Vojvodina). Sizable minorities live also in Ukraine (in Transcarpathia), Croatia (primarily Slavonia) and Austria (in Burgenland). Slovenia is also host to a number of ethnic Hungarians, and Hungarian language has an official status in parts of the Prekmurje region. Today, more than two million ethnic Hungarians live in nearby countries.^[52]

There was a referendum in Hungary in December 2004 on whether to grant Hungarian citizenship to Magyars living outside Hungary's borders (i.e. without requiring a permanent residence in Hungary). The referendum failed due to insufficient voter turnout. On May 26, 2010, Hungary's Parliament passed a bill granting dual citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living outside of Hungary. The neighboring countries with sizable Hungarian minority expressed concerns over the legislation^[53].

Later influences[link]

Besides the various peoples mentioned above, the Magyars assimilated or were influenced by subsequent peoples arriving in the Carpathian Basin. Among these are the Cumans, Pechenegs, Jazones, Germans and other Western European settlers in the Middle Ages. Vlachs (Romanians) and Slavs have lived together and blended with Magyars since early medieval times. Ottomans, who occupied the central part of Hungary from c.1526 until c.1699, inevitably exerted an influence, as did the various nations (Germans, Slovaks, Serbs, Croats and others) that resettled depopulated territories after their departure. Similar to other European countries, Jewish, Armenians, and Roma (Gypsy) minorities have been living in Hungary since the Middle Ages.

Maps[link]

• 

  Kingdom of Hungary in the late 13th century

• Redmap.jpg

    Hungarian ethnicity in
  the Kingdom of Hungary (without Croatia-Slavonia), 1910
• 

    Hungarian ethnicity in
  the Kingdom of Hungary, 1880
• 

  Hungarians in Greater Hungary
  (census 1890)

• 

  Migrations of the Székely Hungarians

• 

  Hungarians in Romania

• 

  Hungarians in Harghita, Covasna, and Mureş counties of Romania (2011 data)

• 

  Hungarians in Vojvodina (2002 census)

• 

  Hungarians in Vojvodina, Serbia

• 

  Regions where Hungarian is spoken

• 

  Areas with ethnic Hungarian majorities in the neighboring countries of Hungary, according to László Sebők.^[54]

Traditional costumes[link]

Folklore and Landscapes[link]

• 

  Hungarians in Southern Transdanubia in Hungary

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  Voivodina Hungarians women's national costume

• 

  Csárdás folk dance in Skorenovac, Vojvodina, Serbia

• 

  Kalotaszeg folk Costume in Transylvania, Romania

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  Budapest, the Hungarian capital

• 

  Hungarian National Museum

• 

  Pécs, the Hungarian city was the European Capital of Culture in 2010

• 

  Sopron, "The Most Loyal Town"

• 

  Eszterháza, the "Hungarian Versailles"

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  A Hungarian town, Eger

• 

  Hollókő, Hungarian village part of the World Heritage.

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  Hungarian round-church at Öskü

• 

  Hungarian church from Dârjiu (Székelyderzs), Romania

• 

  Typical Hungarian Church in Magyarvalkó

• 

  Traditionally Hungarian house from Balatonfelvidék, Hungary

• 

  Traditionally Hungarian house from Transdanubia, Hungary

• 

  Rimetea (Torockó), hungarian village in Transylvania, Romania

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  Székelykő in Transylvania

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  The Hungarian Puszta

• 

  A Székely village in Covasna County, Romania

• 

  The Turul, the mythical bird of the origin myth of the Hungarian people

• 

  The "Tree of Life" on an ancient Magyar sabertache (tarsoly) plate

• 

  Hungarian Church at Óföldeák

See also[link]

Notes[link]