Hungarians

Magyars are an ethnic group primarily associated with Hungary. In English they are usually called Hungarians, except in some historical texts.

The word Hungarian has also a wider meaning, because – especially in the past – it referred to all inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hungary irrespective of their ethnicity (i.e. not only to the Magyars). Specifically, the Latin term natio hungarica referred to all nobles of the Kingdom of Hungary irrespective of their ethnicity.

There are around 10 million Magyars in Hungary (2001). Magyars have been the main inhabitants of the Kingdom of Hungary that existed through most of the second millennium. Following its disappearance with the Treaty of Trianon, Magyars have become minority inhabitants of Romania (official: 1,440,000; see: Hungarian minority in Romania), Slovakia (official: 520,500, estd: 580,000), Serbia and Montenegro (293,000; largely in Vojvodina), Ukraine and Russia (170,000), Austria (70,000), Croatia (16,500), the Czech Republic (14,600) and Slovenia (10,000). Significant groups of people with Magyar ancestry live in various other parts of the world (e.g. 1,400,000 in the United States), but unlike the Magyars living within the former Kingdom of Hungary, only a minority of these preserves the Hungarian language and tradition.

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 participation on the part of the population.

History after 896

The Magyar leader Árpád is believed to have led the Hungarians into the Carpathian Basin (and the Pannonian plain) in 896. Magyar expansion was checked at the Battle of Lechfeld. Hungarian settlement in the area became approved by the Pope by the crowning of Stephen I the Saint (Szent István) in 1001 when the leaders accepted Christianity. The century between the Magyars' arrival from the eastern European plains and the consolidation of the Hungarian Kingdom in 1001 were dominated by pillaging campaigns across Europe, from Dania (Denmark) to the Iberian peninsula (Spain).

Since the end of the 13th century (except for the Ottoman period 1538/1541 - early 18th century), the multi-ethnic Kingdom of Hungary, founded by the Magyars in the 10th century, occupied the entire Carpathian Basin. Despite its name, the state as a whole was inhabited by many nationalities besides the Magyars (e.g. by 71.1% other nationalities in 1781). After WWI, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was divided through the Treaty of Trianon, into several national states along ethnic lines.

Origin of the word "Hungarian"

The word derives from the old Slavic word og(ъ)r- for the proto-Magyars. Through Germanic languages, the word got into other European languages ((H)ungarus, (H)ungarn, Vengry etc.). The Slavic word is thought to be derived from the bulgaro-turkic Onogur, which could have arisen because the proto-Magyars were neighbours (or confederates) of the Empire of the Onogurs in the 6th century, whose leading tribal union was called the "Onogurs" (meaning "ten tribes").

The H- in many languages (Hungarians, Hongrois, Hungarus etc.) is a later addition. It was taken over from the word "Huns", which was a similar semi-nomadic tribe living some 400 years earlier in present-day Hungary and having a similar way of life (or according to the older theories the people from which the Magyars arose). In ancient times, through the middle ages, and even today, the identification of Hungarians with the Huns has often occurred in history and literature, however this identification began to be disputed around the late 19th century, and is still a source of major controversy among scholars who insist that there could be no direct connection between the two.

Hun names like Attila and Réka are still popular among Hungarians, and forms derived from Latin Hungaria are used like in the racetrack Hungaroring (mostly due to the strong English language pressure in tourism and international matters).

Magyar is today simply the Hungarian word for Hungarian. In English and many other languages, however, Magyar is used instead of Hungarian in certain (mainly historical) contexts, usually to distinguish ethnic Hungarians (i.e. the Magyars) from the other nationalities living in the Hungarian kingdom.

Ethnic affiliations and origins of the Hungarian people

The origin of the Hungarians (more correctly Magyars) is partly disputed. Besides the most widely accepted Finno-Ugric theory from the late 19th century based primarily on linguistic and archaeological arguments and critised by some as relying too much on linguistics, there are also other theories, for example the theory asserting that the Magyars are descendants of the Sumerians and/or the Huns, based primarly on medieval legends, whose origin, authenticity and reliability however is strongly disputed. Most scholars dismiss such claims, especially those about Sumerian origins, as mere speculation.

The following section shows the Finno-Ugric theory of the origin of modern Hungarian people. For some other theories see Hungarian prehistory.

Finno-Ugric is a group of related languages, which does not mean that the peoples currently speaking those languages are equally related. Same holds true, for example, for Indo-European languages. The Ugric Hungarian language is about as distantly related to Finnic languages like Finnish and Estonian as, e.g., European German language is related to Hindi and Nepali.

East of the Ural mountains (before the 4th century AD)

According to this theory, in the 4th millennium BC, the earliest settlements of Ugrians and Samoyeds were situated east of the Ural Mountains, where they hunted and fished. From there, some of the Finno-Ugric speaking peoples, perhaps including the ancestors of today's Finns, settled in the valley of the Kama river (on the other side of the Ural Mountains) around 3000 BC. The Ugrians, in turn, i.e. the ancestors of the Magyars, were settled in the wood-steppe parts of western Siberia (i.e. to the east of the Urals) – from c. 2000 BC. onwards at least. Their settlements were identical with the north-western part of the Andronovo Culture. Some more advanced tribes coming from the southern steppes taught them how to do agriculture, breed cattle and produce bronze objects. Around 1500, they started to breed horses and horse riding became one of their typical activities.

Due to climatic changes in the early 1st millennium BC, the Ugrian subgroup known as the Ob-Ugrians – until then living more in the north - moved to the lower Ob river, while the Ugrian subgroup being the ancestor of the proto-Magyars remained in the south and became nomadic herdsmen. From the definitive departure of the Ob-Ugrians (around 500 BC), the ancestors of present-day Magyars can be considered a separate ethnic group – the proto-Magyars. During the following centuries, the proto-Magyars still lived in the wood-steppes and steppes southeast of the Ural Mountains, and they were immediate neighbours of and were strongly influenced by the ancient Sarmatians.

Bashkiria and the Khazar khaganate (4th century – c. 830 AD)

In the 4th and 5th centuries AD, the Proto-Magyars moved to the west of the Ural Mountains to the area between the southern Ural Mountains and the Volga river (Bashkiria).

In the early 8th century, a part of the proto-Magyars moved to the Don river (to a territory between the Volga, the Don and the Donets), a territory later called Levedia. The descendants of those proto-Magyars who stayed in Bashkiria were seen in Bashkiria as late as in 1241. Indeed, many historical references related both the Magyars (Hungarians) and the Bashkirs as two branches of the same nation. However, modern Bashkirs are quite different from their original stock, largely decimated during the Mongol invasion (13th century), and assimilated into Turkic peoples.

The proto-Magyars around the Don river were subordinates of the Khazar khaganate. Their neighbours were the archaeological Saltov Culture, i.e. Bulgars (Proto-Bulgarians, descendants of the Onogurs) and the Alans, from whom they learned gardening, elements of cattle breeding and of agriculture. The Bulgars and Magyars shared a long-lasting relationship in Khazaria, either by alliance or rivalry. The system of 2 rulers (later known as kende and gyula) is also thought to be a major inheritance from the Khazars. Tradition holds that the Magyars were organized in a confederacy of seven tribes called Jenő, Kér, Keszi, Kürt-Gyarmat, Megyer (Magyar), Nyék, and Tarján.

Etelköz (c. 830 – c. 895)

Around 830, a civil war broke out in the Khazar khaganate. As a result, three Kabar tribes out of the Khazars joined the Proto-Magyars and they moved to what the Magyars call the Etelköz, i.e. the territory between the Carpathians and the Dnjepr river (today's Ukraine). Around 854, the Proto-Magyars had to face a first attack by the Pechenegs. (According to other sources, the reason for the departure of the Proto-Magyars to Etelköz was the attack of the Pechenegs.) Both the Kabars and earlier the Bulgars may have taught the Magyars their Turkic languages; according to the Finno-Ugric theory, this is used to account for at least 300 Turkic words and names still in modern Hungarian. The new neighbours of the Proto-Magyars were the Vikings and the eastern Slavs. Archaeological findings suggest that the Proto-Magyars entered into intense interaction with both groups. From 862 onwards, the proto-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.

Entering the Carpathian Basin (after 895)

In 895/896, probably under the leadership of Árpád, a part of them crossed the Carpathians to enter the Carpathian basin. The tribe called Magyars (Megyer) was the leading tribe of the Magyar alliance that conquered the center of the basin. At the same time (c. 895), the proto-Magyars in Etelköz were attacked by Bulgaria (due to the involvement of the proto-Magyars in the Bulgaro-Byzantine war of 894-896), and then by their old enemies, the Pechenegs. It is uncertain whether or not those conflicts were the cause of the Magyar departure from Etelköz.

In the Carpathian Basin, the Magyars initially occupied the Great Moravian territory at the upper/middle Tisza river – a scarcely populated territory, where, according to Arabian sources, Great Moravia used to send its criminals, and where the Roman Empire had settled the Iazyges centuries earlier. From there, they intensified their looting raids all over continental Europe. In 900, they moved from the upper Tisza river to Transdanubia (Pannonia), which later became the core of the arising Hungarian state. Their allies, the Kabars, probably led by Kursan, probably settled in the region around Bihar. Upon entering the Carpathian basin, the Magyars found a largely Slavic population there, such as the Bulgarians, Slovaks, Slovenians, Croats etc., and minor remnants of the Avars (in the southwest). Influenced by the Slavic population of this territory, the Magyars gradually changed their pastoral way of life to an agricultural one, and borrowed hundreds of Slavic words. See History of Hungary for a continuation, and Hungary before the Magyars for the background.

Many of the "proto-Magyars", however, remained to the north of the Carpathians after 895/896, as archaeological findings e.g. in Polish Przemysl suggest. They seem to have joined the other Magyars in 900. There is also a consistent Hungarian population in Transylvania that is historically not related to the Magyars led by Árpád: the Székelys, the main ethnic component of the Hungarian minority in Romania. They are fully acknowledged as Magyars. The Székely people's origin, and in particular the time of their settlement in Transylvania, is a matter of historical controversy; see Székely for details.

Later genetic influences

Besides the various nations mentioned above, which mixed with the Magyars during their long way to and at their arrival in present-day Hungary, the Magyars also include "genes" from other people that (were) settled in this territory after the arrival of the Magyars, for example the Cumanians, the Pechenegs and Germans in the Middle Ages, the Turks – which occupied present-day Hungary from c. 1541 to c. 1700 -, and especially the various nations (Austrians, Slovaks, Serbs and others) invited to resettle the depopulated territories after the departure of the Turks after 1700. All of them added their contribution in composing the modern Hungarian nation.

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