Hungary
The Magyar plain, the Danube, and a language like no other in Europe
Hungary lies in the Carpathian Basin, a broad lowland of golden plains and the slow-curving Danube, settled more than eleven centuries ago by the Magyars, whose Finno-Ugric language stands apart from every neighbor. With roughly 9.6 million people and Budapest straddling the river as one of Europe's grand capitals, Hungary is famed for its thermal spas, paprika-rich cuisine, the Tokaj wine region, and a fierce national pride forged through centuries of conquest and revolution at the meeting point of East and West.
Most of the country is the flat, fertile Great Hungarian Plain, the Alföld, grazing land of the storied puszta. To the west lie the gentler hills of Transdanubia and Lake Balaton, Central Europe's largest lake, while the Mátra Mountains in the northeast rise to Kékes at 1,014 meters. The Danube and Tisza rivers define the country's geography and agriculture. A continental climate brings hot summers and cold winters, and the basin's geothermal waters feed the bathhouses for which Hungary is renowned.
Saint Stephen founded the Christian Kingdom of Hungary around the year 1000, and the realm later spanned much of Central Europe before Ottoman and Habsburg domination. The 1867 Compromise created Austria-Hungary, but the 1920 Treaty of Trianon stripped away two-thirds of the kingdom's territory, a loss still keenly felt. The 1956 uprising against Soviet rule became a symbol of resistance. Today Hungary, an EU member since 2004, preserves a distinctive culture in music, mathematics, and a cuisine built around goulash and paprika.