History

Budapest was a populated area in the prehistoric ages, owing to its favourable location. The Celts settled down first in the territory. During the first century the Romans expanded their borders up to the Danube and then built Aquincum (the ruins can be found nowadays in Óbuda). At the end of the 4th century the Roman Empire collapsed. The conquering Hungarians arrived in the territory of the Pest side of the city at the end of the 9th century. In the 11th century an important crossing place was developed on the Danube (at the foot of the Gellért-hill). In the middle of the 13th century, the Mongols destroyed most of Pest and Óbuda. The Buda Castle was built after the devastation of Tartars. During the 15th century (during the reign of I. Hunyadi Mátyás), the renewed city became a centre of the Central European humanist literacy. From the 16th century the country had been under the domination of the Turkish Empire for 140 years. The present Budapest was rebuilt step by step from the end of the 17th century. The today's Town Hall was also built in that century. >> In the fist half of the 19th century, Pest became the intellectual centre of the country. Also the Chain Bridge (Lánchíd) was built up in this period. After the war of independence (1848-1849), through the so-called "Compromise" (Kiegyezés) in 1867, the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy was founded and it had a positive influence on the evolution of the city. Buda, Pest, and Óbuda merged in 1873, and Budapest was born. By the end of the 19th century, Budapest became the commercial, political and cultural centre of the country, and it had an enermous development. In 1897, the first metropolitan railway of the European continent was built in Budapest. >> Budapest suffered a lot during the second world war. Some parts of the city were destroyed in the bombardments. The Soviet occupation in 1945 enforced to build up the communist regime also in Hungary, which had its brand on the development of Budapest, too. On the 23rd of October of 1956, Budapest was the starting point and the centre of the Hungarian Revolution, which broke out in order to eliminate the communist dictatorship and to realize the indenpendence of Hungary. Despite of the heroic fight of the Hungarian, the multiple Soviet forces put the 1956 Revolution down with bloody violence, and ruined some parts of the city. Then the "socialism" of the Kadarian dictatorship followed, which started with bloody revenge, and finished with the "Goulash Communism". Free elections has been taken in Hungary (in every 4th year) since 1990. While parliamentary elections are held in April, local elections are usually called in October.