Hungary
Lat/Long: 47.0000, 20.0000
Hungary is a republic in central Europe. A landlocked country of 35,919 square miles, Hungary is bounded on the north by Slovakia, on the northeast by Ukraine, on the south and southeast by Romania, on the south and southwest by Serbia and Croatia, and on the west and northwest by Slovenia and Austria. Magyars began to occupy the mid-Danube and Tisza valleys as early as 893, and in 1000, Hungary became an independent kingdom and the population converted to Christianity. Hungary prospered, and by 1200 was a major European state. In 1241, the Mongols invaded Hungary, resulting in the death or dispersal of half the population. Recovery was swift, but in 1301, the Hungarian Árpád dynasty died out, and Hungary came under the authority of the French Angevin dynasty. Hungary experienced a renaissance under Magyar King Matthias Corvinus (1458-90), becoming the leading power in central Europe. Threatened by the power and expansion of the Ottoman Empire, Hungary succeeded in defending itself against Turkish armies until 1526, when the Ottoman Turks defeated Hungarian forces at the Battle of Mohács. Transylvania became independent, and the Ottoman Empire and Austria divided the remainder of Hungary between them. Hungary remained divided until the late seventeenth century, when the Austrian Hapsburgs expelled the Turks from Europe and assumed authority over Hungary. Hungary progressed economically under Hapsburg dominion, but by the early nineteenth century, Magyar nationalists were clamoring for independence. In 1848, reformers under Louis (Lajos) Kossuth succeeded in overthrowing Hapsburg rule, declaring an independent Hungarian republic. In 1849, Austrian troops, with Russian military assistance, crushed the uprising, abolished the republic, and sent Kossuth and his fellow revolutionaries into exile. Agitation for Hungary autonomy within the Austrian Empire continued, and in 1867, Magyar nationalists partially achieved their goal when Hungary became linked with Austria in the Dual Monarchy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 520; Courtlandt Canby, The Encyclopedia of Historic Places (New York: Facts on File, 1984), 1:402; Ivan T. Berend, Steven Béla Várdy, Carlile Aylmer Macartney, George Barany, and Nicholas A. Vardy, "Hungary," Encyclopedia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/place/Hungary, accessed 20 April 2021.