Hungarian Geography & Ethnicity

Hungary's Geography, Ethnicity & History

On the map Hungary appears as a non-Slavic wedge separating the southern Slavs
(Bulgarians and the peoples of the former Yugoslavia) from those of the north - the
Czechs, Slovaks and Poles. As a non-Slavic people surrounded mostly by Slavs,
Hungarians sometimes feel like lonely outsiders.

Ethnically most Hungarians are descendants of the warlike Magyars who pushed into
Europe a thousand years ago from their original homeland in Central Asia. Thus our
language is not an Indo-European tongue but rather part of the Finno-Ugric group. The
Hungarian language is distantly related to the languages spoken by other ancient settlers
from Central Asia: the Finns, the Estonians and the Lapps.

Invaded by the Mongols in 1241, Hungary was also occupied for 150 years by the Turks
after losing the decisive battle of Mohacs in 1526. The embattled Hungarians were
defeated again in 1849 by the Austrians and Russians and then somehow managed to
end up on the losing side in both World War I and World War II. Centuries of defeats and
invasions may explain a certain tendency to pessimism and cynicism. History >

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