Kiskunfélegyháza is located in the middle of the Great Hungarian Plain, 130 kilometres (81 mi) southeast from Budapest. M5 motorway, Highway 5, 451, Budapest–Cegléd–Szeged railway line and railway lines to Szolnok, Kiskunhalas and Szentes also cross the town.[1] The surrounding country is covered with vineyards, fruit gardens, and tobacco and corn fields.[2]
Name
Félegyháza means "half church" in Hungarian, while prefix Kiskun refers to the region Kiskunság ("Little Cumania").
Numerous Roman urns and other ancient relics have been dug up in the vicinity.
Conquering Hungarians arrived in the 9th century, adopted Christianity and settled down in the region by the 10th century.[3] The first settlements devastated by the Mongols in 1241–42, the region became uninhabited. King Béla IV invited Cuman settlers,[4] who also adopted Christianity, farming lifestyle and the Hungarian language.[3] The town was existing in 1389 when a document mentions Feledház, an earlier name for the settlement.[5] The town was ruined in 1526 by Ottoman troops and was uninhabited until the Christian troops liberated the area.[2][3][4]
^ abcdKároly Kocsis (DSc, University of Miskolc) – Zsolt Bottlik (PhD, Budapest University) – Patrik Tátrai: Etnikai térfolyamatok a Kárpát-medence határon túli régióiban, Magyar Tudományos Akadémia (Hungarian Academy of Sciences) – Földrajtudományi Kutatóintézet (Academy of Geographical Studies); Budapest; 2006.; ISBN963-9545-10-4, CD Atlas
^ abcdAntal Papp: Magyarország (Hungary), Panoráma, Budapest, 1982, ISBN963 243 241 X, p. 860, pp. 405-407