Hungarian

Hungarian, also called Magyar, member of a people speaking the Hungarian language of the Finno-Ugric family and living primarily in Hungary, but represented also by large minority populations in Romania, Croatia, Vojvodina (Yugoslavia), Slovakia, and Ukraine. Those in Romania, living mostly in the area of the former Magyar Autonomous Region (the modern districts [judete] of Covasna, Harghita, and Mureş), are called Szeklers.

The proto-Hungarians were apparently an ethnic blend of Ugric and Turkish peoples living in western Siberia. By the early 5th century ad they had migrated southwestward and were roaming over the Khazar Turkish empire, centred near the Caspian Sea. By ad 830, however, they were appearing on the west banks of the Don River and, as a body, consisted of seven tribes, who had been joined by three dissident tribes of Khazars known as Kavars. By the late 9th century the Hungarians had entered their present location, subjugating the resident Slavs and Huns there. Until they were checked a half century later, the Hungarians were the scourge of Europe, raiding as far afield as Bremen, Orléans, and Constantinople (the English word ogre, a corruption of “Hungar,” attests to their notoriety).

Hungary was, and is, an exposed crossroads of Europe; it has been invaded or overrun repeatedly, and it has expanded and contracted over the centuries. (The Szeklers, meaning Frontier Guards, received their name, it seems, because they were Hungarians sent to Transylvania to protect Hungary’s eastern flank.) Surrounded by heterogeneous Slavs, Germans, and Romanians, the Hungarians have been subject to a continuous mixture of physical types and cultural influences. Two major influences were the Turks, who conquered and occupied the country in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the Austrian Habsburgs, who followed and exercised a strong Germanizing influence. Nevertheless, national consciousness was not quenched; Hungary received autonomy in 1867 and independence in 1918; an indigenous art, music, and literature persisted over the years, and such folk arts as embroidery and ceramics are still important.

No religious statistics have been released in Hungary since World War II; but before the war about 65 percent of the population was Roman Catholic, 25 percent Protestant, 6 percent Jewish (almost completely eliminated during the war), and 3 percent Greek Orthodox.