HUNGARY (in Hungarian, Magyar orszig, *Land of the Magyars*); Germ., Ungain; Fr., La Hongrie; Ital., Ungheria; Turk., Magyaristan; Latin, Hungaria: A country in the middle of the southern half of Europe, lying in the basin of the Danube. Until the break-up of the Austrian Empire in October 1918, the then kingdom of Hungary included Croatia-Slavonia, Dalmatia, Transyl vania and the territory of Fiume (qq.v.). Hungary proper has an area of 109,188 square miles, with a population of 18,142,200 (1910 census). In form it resembles a semicircle, and except for a small portion of the western side, it is separated by natural boundaries on three sides from the neighboring territories. En circled from the east round the north to the northwest by the long chain of the Carpathian Mountains for more than 1,000 miles, Hungary is bounded on the west by the river March and some offsets of the Noric Alps; on the southwest by the Drave; on the south and south east by the Danube and the Transylvanian Alps continuation of the Carpathian range. Thus Hungary proper may be considered as a large basin surrounded by mountains on every side except the south; but even here the natural boundaries of this geographical basin are com pleted at no great distance from the frontier by the highlands of Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia, that meet those of Wallachia and Transylvania at the *Iron Gates," a pass formed by the abrupt divisions of the mountains on either side of the Danube, through which that river flows in whirling rapids. The immense curve of the Carpathians starts from the gate of the Danube near Pressburg, sweeps round one-half of the country from west, through north and east, to south, here it again reaches the Danube at the Iron Gates near Orsova. The only portion of the frontier not clearly out lined by nature is that marching with the Rumanian border, a line which, after negotia tion with Rumania in 1887, was defined by the statute of The mountains of Hungary belong to a dual system, the Carpathians being the greater and the Transylvania Alps the lesser range. The first group is the source of a multitude of streams which flow toward the south, forming long fertile valleys; the second group, less wild.
but scarcely less beautiful, is rich in woodland scenery and is intersected by numerous passes. Between the Carpathians and the Alps lie the great Hungarian plains— the small and the greater AlfOld. From Budapest (the capital) to the borders of Transylvania, from Tokay to Belgrade, stretches one vast alluvial plain, marshy in some places, parched in others, here and there loamy, but on the whole of extraor dinary fertility. The Carpathian range is divided into three principal sections forming the northwestern, the northeastern and the south eastern highlands. The best known of the mountains is the High Tatra (Magas Tetra) in the north, which rises up in enormous propor tions without any foothills at all to a height of 6,000 feet above the plain. On its southern slopes a series of watering places has been created, which attract numerous visitors both in summer and winter. The loftiest peaks are those of Lomnicz, over 8,600 feet high, and Gerlacbfalva (now called Ferencz Jozsef ), 8,737 feet—the highest mountain in Hungary. The most extensive members of the Carpathian system are the southeastern highlands, abound ing in wondrously beautiful spots and form ing a grand natural fortress through which there run but few passes. The Vereczke Pass, in the northeastern frontier range, is famous in history as that by which the Magyars entered the country in 898 A.D. All the mountains of Hungary do not belong to the Carpathian system, for three branches of the Alps enter Hungarian territory on the west. One of these stretches along the shores of the Adriatic; a second extends east between the Save and the while the third flanks the long frontier line of the country between the Drave and the Danube, and after being intersected by the valleys of rivers and being reduced in many places to low-lying hills, ends at the Danube near Budapest in a low mountain range of over 2,000 feet in height, named the Balcony Wald. This branch of the Alps stretching towards the east, near Visegrad faces the spurs of the Car pathians, which also extends right down to the Danube where the mighty stream is en closed by wooded mountains, constituting a magnificent panorama.