Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén vármegye
Counties of Hungary
Descending, from top: Hills near Boldogkőváralja, Sajó river near Sajónémeti, and Castle of Diósgyőr
Region		Northern Hungary
County seat	Miskolc
Districts	16 districts Cigánd District Edelény District Encs District Gönc District Kazincbarcika District Mezőcsát District Mezőkövesd District Miskolc District Ózd District Putnok District Sárospatak District Sátoraljaújhely District Szerencs District Szikszó District Tiszaújváros District Tokaj District
Government
• President of the General Assembly	Dezső Török (Fidesz-KDNP)
Area
• Total	7,249.67 km2 (2,799.11 sq mi)
• Rank	2nd in Hungary
Population  (2018)
• Total	648,216[1]
• Rank	2nd in Hungary
GDP [2]
• Total	HUF 1,672 billion €5.370 billion (2016)
Postal code	34xx–39xx
Area code(s)	(+36) 46, 47, 48, 49
ISO 3166 code	HU-BZ
Website	baz.hu

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (

.

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is the second largest county of Hungary both by area (after

Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape

).

Origins and meanings of name

The county bears the name of three

historic counties of Hungary

, each of them was centered around a castle.

• motte castle, and stood near modern-day Edelény
  .
• Abaúj is a shortened form of the name of its castle, Abaújvár. The Aba portion refers to the Aba clan which ruled the area in the Middle Ages, while új vár means 'new castle.' The castle stood near the village of Abaújvár
  .
• Zemplén is named after its castle as well. The name is derived from the Slovak word zem or the Slavic zemlja, meaning 'earth, soil, ground' or 'country.' The castle, like its name indicates, was a motte with earthen walls; its remnants can still be seen near the Slovak village Zemplín
  .

Note that besides these three castles, there were other castles in the old counties which became the modern Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, such as the well-known Füzérvár.

Coat of arms and flag

The county's coat of arms was created in 1991 from the coats of arms of the former counties now forming parts of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén. From left to right: Coat of arms of Abaúj-Torna county. – Coat of arms of Zemplén county. – Coat of arms of Borsod county. – Coat of arms of Gömör / Gömör-Kishont county^[4] (with its red background color changed to the same blue as used in the coat of arms of Abaúj).

The flag is vertically divided into two equal sections (red and blue), with the coat of arms on it, and the county's name embroidered with gold thread under the coat of arms. Its ratio is 2:1. The use of both coat of arms and flag is regulated by the county council.^[4]

Geography

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is one of the most

.)

Rivers

• Tisza, which forms a natural border between Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg countries
• Sajó, a tributary to Tisza
• Bodrog, a tributary to Tisza
• Hernád, a tributary to Sajó

Highest points

• Istállós-kő, Bükk Mountains (959 m.)
• Nagy-Milic, Zemplén Mountains (894 m.)

History

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county was created after

).

From the Conquest until the Turkish occupation (900s–1526)

The historical

Abaúj

belonged to the Castle of Újvár (in the modern village of Abaújvár) and Zemplén belonged to the Castle of Zemplén (today in Slovakia.)

At this time the area of Borsod also included the later county

. In the 12th century the former Abaúj comitatus was split into Abaúj, Heves and Sáros counties, while Torna was separated from Borsod. For the next hundreds of years the borders remained unchanged.

About two-thirds of the areas of these counties were royal property, the others were ruled by clans, for example the Miskóc clan (after whom the city of Miskolc was named.) The area was inhabited mostly by castle serfs and foreign settlers (

Church

. Most of Borsod was ruled by the Bors-Miskóc clan, while Abaúj was the estate of the Aba clan.

By the 14th century most of the area was owned by

in 1312, and also gained power over Northern Hungary.

The differences between towns and villages became important during the Anjou age of Hungary. In Borsod and Abaúj the Free Royal Town of Kassa (today's Košice, Slovakia) and Miskolc emerged as the most important towns. The Castle of Diósgyőr had its prime under Louis the Great, it was one of the favourite residences of the royal family.

In the 16th century wine growing gained more importance. Today

, the center of the wine district.)

From the Turkish occupation until the First World War (1526–1914)

After the

(leader of the Revolution against Habsburg rule in the early 18th century) had estates here, and the revolution itself was organised from here.

The region also had cultural importance. The

.

During the 18th century several towns bought their freedom from their

glassworks

and forges were built. Miskolc began to catch up with Kassa and take over the role as the leading city of the region, and because of this Borsod was the fastest developing county of the three counties. Many foreign settlers arrived, Slovaks, Greeks, Germans, Russians – even today there are whole villages with significant number of them. According to the census of 1787 Borsod, Abaúj and Zemplén had almost 500,000 inhabitants.

After the

Abaúj-Torna

.

Furthermore, a large population of Jews was established during this time period. The famous film mogul who created Paramount Pictures, Adolph Zukor, was born in Ricse, a town in this county.^[5]

From 1914 to today

After World War I and the Treaty of Trianon Hungary had to give up its northern parts to Czechoslovakia. Abaúj-Torna had to give up 48% of its area, 72% of Zemplén became part of Czechoslovakia, only Borsod remained fully within Hungary. The neighboring county of Gömör-Kishont retained 7.5% of its area, and remaining parts were merged with Borsod. The county seats were Miskolc (Borsod-Gömör-Kishont), Szikszó (Abaúj-Torna) and Sátoraljaújhely (Zemplén).

Under the

, the pre-1938 borders were reinstated. The administration of the country needed to revert to pre-war status quo, since most of the land grabs proved temporary. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians remaining in Slovakia were forcibly expelled. In 1950 the Hungarian parts of the former counties Borsod-Gömör-Kishont, Abaúj-Torna and Zemplén were united, forming the county of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, with Miskolc being the county capital.

During the Socialist era the region was developed into the centre of heavy industry. Whole new towns came into existence in place of small villages (Tiszaújváros, Kazincbarcika), the industrial character of existing cities became more important (Miskolc, Ózd.) Urbanization was rapid, workers from all over the country were arriving in these cities and towns, and the population of Miskolc reached its highest level in the 1980s (around 211.000.) The end of the Socialist era and the recession of the 1990s hit hard, the unemployment rate is one of the highest of the country, and the local governments try to get over the crisis by strengthening the touristic potential. This seems to be a good idea, since Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is a geographically diverse area with rich natural and cultural treasures.

Demographics

In 2015, it had a population of 667,594 and the population density was 92/km².

Year	County population[6]	Change
1949	630,621	n/a
1960	725,303	15.01%
1970	776,750	7.09%
1980	809,468 (record)	4.21%
1990	761,963	-5.87%
2001	744,404	-2.30%
2011	686,266	-7.81%
2015	667,594	-2.79%
2018	648,216	-2.99%

Ethnicity

Besides the Hungarian majority, the main minorities are the Roma (approx. 58,000), Germans (2,500), Slovaks (2,000) and Rusyns (1,500).

Total population (2011 census): 686,266
Ethnic groups (2011 census):^[7] Identified themselves: 643,950 persons:

• Hungarians: 576,814 (89.57%)
• Romani: 58,246 (9.05%)
• Others and indefinable: 8,890 (1.38%)

Approx. 89,000 persons in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.

Religion

Religious adherence in the county according to 2011 census:^[8]

• Catholic – 282,904 (
  Roman Catholic – 248,033; Greek Catholic
  – 34,816);
• Reformed – 135,677;
• Evangelical – 3,483;
• other religions – 10,500;
• Non-religious – 83,033;
• Atheism – 5,821;
• Undeclared – 164,848.

Regional structure

No.	English and Hungarian names	Area (km2)	Population (2011)	Density (pop./km2)	Seat	No. of municipalities
1	Cigánd District Cigándi járás	389.99	16,042	41	Cigánd	15
2	Edelény District Edelényi járás	717.86	33,314	46	Edelény	45
3	Encs District Encsi járás	378.39	21,390	56	Encs	29
4	Gönc District Gönci járás	549.67	19,275	35	Gönc	32
5	Kazincbarcika District Kazincbarcikai járás	341.70	66,470	195	Kazincbarcika	22
6	Mezőcsát District Mezőcsáti járás	351.27	14,446	41	Mezőcsát	8
7	Mezőkövesd District Mezőkövesdi járás	723.87	42,434	59	Mezőkövesd	23
8	Miskolc District Miskolci járás	972.80	250,530	258	Miskolc	39
9	Ózd District Ózdi járás	385.57	54,285	141	Ózd	17
10	Putnok District Putnoki járás	391.25	19,290	49	Putnok	26
11	Sárospatak District Sárospataki járás	477.67	24,946	52	Sárospatak	16
12	Sátoraljaújhely District Sátoraljaújhelyi járás	321.38	23,058	72	Sátoraljaújhely	21
13	Szerencs District Szerencsi járás	432.07	38,106	88	Szerencs	16
14	Szikszó District Szikszói járás	309.25	17,507	57	Szikszó	24
15	Tiszaújváros District Tiszaújvárosi járás	248.87	31,842	128	Tiszaújváros	16
16	Tokaj District Tokaji járás	255.81	13,331	52	Tokaj	11
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County		7,249.67	686,266	95	Miskolc	358

Economy

Due to the emphasis on industrialization during the former

. With the fall of the Socialist regime the industry faced a crisis, and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is among the counties that have the highest rate of unemployment and also the lowest rates of GDP per capita in Hungary.

The county is the site of the Borsod Power Plant, one of the largest biomass power plants in Hungary.

Politics

County Assembly

The Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Council, elected at the 2019 local government elections, is made up of 29 counselors,^[9] with the following party composition:

Party		Seats	Current County Assembly
	Fidesz-KDNP	18
	Opposition coalition[a]	8
	Democratic Coalition	3

Presidents of the County Assembly

President[10]	Terms
Dezső Török (Fidesz-KDNP)	2014–

Members of the National Assembly

The following members elected of the National Assembly during the 2022 parliamentary election:^[11]

Constituency	Member	Party
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County 1st constituency	Katalin Csöbör		Fidesz–KDNP
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County 2nd constituency	János Kiss		Fidesz–KDNP
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County 3rd constituency	Gábor Riz		Fidesz–KDNP
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County 4th constituency	Zoltán Demeter		Fidesz–KDNP
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County 5th constituency	Richárd Hörcsik		Fidesz–KDNP
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County 6th constituency	Zsófia Koncz		Fidesz–KDNP
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County 7th constituency	András Tállai		Fidesz–KDNP

Municipalities

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County has 1

, 8 large villages and 322 villages.

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is the county of extremes: it is the home of the country's fourth largest city and second largest agglomeration, where one fourth of the county' population resides, on the other hand, the county is full of hamlets with population under 200. Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén has 28 cities/towns (as of 2019) and over 300 villages. With a total of 358 cities, towns and villages this county has the most municipalities in Hungary. Approximately half of the population lives in cities/towns.

City with county rights

(ordered by population, as of 2011 census)

• Miskolc (167,754) – county seat

Towns

Villages

municipalities are large villages.

Tourist sights

Castles

• Castle of Boldogkő
• Castle Cserépvár
• Castle of Dédes
• Castle of Diósgyőr
• Castle of Füzér
• Castle of Sárospatak
• Castle of Szerencs

Nature

• Dripstone cave of Aggtelek
• Bükk National Park
• Lillafüred

Gallery

• 
  Miskolc, the capital of the county
• 
  Tokaj wine region
• 
  Castle of Diósgyőr
• 
  Romanesque church in Vizsoly
• 
  L'Huillier-Coburg Palace in Edelény
• 
  Baradla Cave in the Aggtelek National Park
• 
  Károlyi Mansion in Füzérradvány
• 
  Blower Engine Room in Ózd

International relations

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County has a

relationship with:

Harghita County, Romania

Istanbul Province , Turkey

References and notes

References

Notes

1. Mindenki Magyarországa
   .

External links

• Official website (in Hungarian)
• Borsod Online (boon.hu) – The county portal
• Official site deutsches office