Budapest – capital city of Hungary

Known as the ‘Paris of the East’, Budapest or Buda-Pesth is the prime political, cultural & commercial center of Hungary. On 17 November 1873, with the uniting of right bank ‘Buda’ (Ofen) and ‘Óbuda’ (Alt-Ofen) with ‘Pest’ on the left bank, Budapest became the only city to occupy both banks of River Danube.

The earliest history of Budapest begins at the Roman town, Aquincum founded in AD 89 on the site of a Celtic settlement near the place which later became Óbuda. From AD 106 until the end of the 4^th century AD, it remained the capital of the province of lower Pannonia. Aquincum was the base camp of Legio II Adiutrix. The area of Campona (known as Nagytétény in modern times) belongs to Buda as well. Pest became the site of Contra Aquincum or Trans Aquincum, a smaller picket point. The word Pest or Peshta is believed to originate from the Bolgar language because at the time of the reign of the Bulgarian Khan Krum (796-814), the town was under Bulgar dominion. The area also became a homeland for the Avars and some Slavic peoples.

The region was occupied around the year 900 by the Magyars of Central Asia, the ancestors of ethnic Hungarians. Pest soon recovered rapidly from the destruction by Mongol invaders in 1241. Buda, the seat of a royal castle since 1247, became the capital of Hungary in 1361.

The conquest of the most part of Hungary in the 16th century by the Ottoman Empire interrupted the growth of the cities. In 1541, Buda and Pest were invaded. While Buda remained the seat of a Turkish pasha and administrative center, Pest was abandoned till it was re-captured in 1686 by Austria's Habsburg rulers.

Pest became a bustling commercial town and enjoyed the faster growth rate in the 18^th - 19^th century. It also contributed overwhelming to majority of the cities combined growth in the 19^th century. By 1800, its population was larger than the combined population of Buda and Óbuda. The fusion of the three cities under a single administration was first enacted by the Hungarian revolutionary government in 1849. However, it revoked on the subsequent restoration of Habsburg authority. Finally, it came into effect by the autonomous Hungarian royal government established under the Austro-Hungarian Ausgleich ("Compromise") of 1867.

Towards the end of World War II in 1944, Budapest was partly destroyed by British and American air raids. The following military blockade lasted for a short duration from December 24 1944 to February 13 1945. The major destruction was caused by the attacking Soviet and defending German and Hungarian troops. All bridges were disrupted by the Germans.

On January 1, 1950, the area of Budapest was significantly expanded. The new districts were carved out from the neighboring cities and towns. After the severe damage during the Soviet siege in 1944, Budapest soon recovered in the 1950s and 1960s.

By: Shuchita Bist

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