Most of the population of Hungary is the titular nation - the Hungarians. Their number is about 93% of the total number of citizens of this country.
Hungarians
The Hungarian people (self-designation - Magyars) have an interesting history of their own formation. Linguists and archaeologists concluded that the ancestral home of this nation is the steppes of the Trans-Urals. It was here that the Ugrians wandered, from which Khanty and Mansi later also stood out (now they live in Western Siberia).
Magyar pushed a lack of resources to the west. As it has already happened several times (and will be in the Middle Ages), the wild east “fired” hordes in the direction of Europe. Hungary, whose population is the descendants of such nomads, already suffered from invasions.
First, the Hungarians settled in the Black Sea steppes of present-day Ukraine, and at the end of the 9th century they went to Transylvania. At that time, their leader was the legendary Prince Arpad. Members of his dynasty ruled the Hungarians until the XIV century.
The Magyars found themselves in their present homeland, from where they expelled the former inhabitants - Slavs and Avars. Soon the nomads adapted to the new conditions of existence, adopted the customs of their neighbors and began to lead a sedentary lifestyle. Nevertheless, these warlike people scared the neighboring states for a long time until they adopted Catholicism. The population of Hungary began to grow thanks to its stability and relative calm.
The population of Austria-Hungary
In the late Middle Ages, Hungarians became dependent on Austria. Its rulers of the Habsburgs, through dynastic marriages, united several nation-states into an empire that existed until 1918. The population of Austria-Hungary has long fought for their own rights and the preservation of national traditions. German dominance shook violently after the 1848 revolution. Then, to suppress the Hungarian demonstrations, the Russian emperor Nicholas I sent troops to help the Habsburgs. Independence was not gained, but a few decades later a two-pronged monarchy was formed. Hungarians and Austrians got the same rights in domestic politics. This led to an increase in national self-awareness, the popularization of language, etc.
National features
The territory of modern Hungary (93 thousand square kilometers) does not correspond to the range of settlement of this nation. So, for example, Romania in the XX century received Transylvania, in which many descendants of the Magyars live. Long-term existence under the rule of strangers did not prevent the people from preserving their identity. Hungarian language is very different from neighboring dialects (Germanic and Slavic groups). To the Germans, for example, he seems gibberish. This language has much in common with the languages of Finns, Estonians, Khanty and Mansi. With the adoption of Christianity, the inhabitants of the country adopted the Latin alphabet with some of their own characteristics.
Hungary, whose population is fairly homogeneous, ranked second in the Habsburg empire. This was officially fixed after numerous revolutions and conflicts of the 19th century. Even the state received the name of Austria-Hungary, which emphasized the status of these two peoples, while other minorities (Czechs, Serbs, Bosnia, etc.) appeared to be on the sidelines.
Capital
Thanks to privileges, Hungary developed rapidly. The population had a high literacy rate. A special pride of the nation was its capital, Budapest. Until the 19th century, in the mind of a European, the lands east of Vienna seemed wild. This stereotype was destroyed after Budapest appeared. Hungary for a long time did not have a normal capital due to the invasion of the Turks and poor infrastructure.
However, the new city, formed in 1873 after the confluence of Buda and Pest, became a real metropolis of that era. It was the cultural center of the nation, which soon gained independence after the horrors of the First World War. Today, 1.7 million people live in Budapest (it is the seventh largest city in Europe). The first subway after London appeared here.
Other cities
Other major states of the country are Debrecen, Miskolc, Pecs, Szeged. Their population has confessional and national proportions similar to the capital. The number of residents ranges from 100 to 200 thousand. The population density map clearly shows that it is evenly distributed throughout the country.
Minorities
Hungary, whose population was formed after numerous historical upheavals, also has significant national minorities. These are gypsies, Germans, Jews, Slovaks, Romanians, Serbs, etc. In total, they make up about 10% of the total number of inhabitants.
This is explained by the shadow of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, in which a cauldron of national contradictions was boiling. Many residents forcibly assimilated.
The largest religious group is Catholics (this is approximately every second resident of the country according to opinion polls). The presence of Calvinists (about 15%) who appeared in the country after the European Reformation is also noticeable.
Jewish communities prefer Budapest. Hungary was a safe haven for this people. In the neighboring Russian Empire in the 19th century an anti-Semitic policy was carried out (the Pale of Settlement, etc.), which forced many Jews to emigrate to the Danube. The Jewish community has been hit hard after the Holocaust. Also, many left for Israel after the formation of this state in the Middle East.
In 1993, a law on national minorities was passed in Hungary. He assigned them all sorts of rights. The initiative was adopted after the fall of the communist system, which was characteristic of all the countries of Central Europe, which were in the orbit of influence of the Soviet Union.