History of Hungary - Chronological Survey: 2500 BC - 1000 AD

2500-2000 BC The Magyars (ancestors of the Hungarians) emerge from among the Finno-Ugrian tribes inhabiting the region between the river Volga and the Ural Mountains. The Hungarian belongs to the Finno-Ugrian division ot the Ural-Altaic language family and is distantly related to Finnish and Estonian and yet more distantly to Turkish and Manchu (spoken once in Manchuria, China). Hungarian is one of the few languages with non-indo-European origins in Europe.

1000 BC Switch from fishing and hunting to raising livestock especially horses.

1000-500 BC The Magyars detach themselves from the other Ugrian peoples and come into contact with Turkish tribes.Beginning of referring themselves as Magyars.

7th century The Magyars begin their migration from the Ural mountains towards the Black Sea.

8th century They went on wandering westwards to the Don region, where they came under control of the flourishing Khazar empire. The expanding power of Scandinavian river pirates triggers a wave of nomad migration westwards.

830 The Pechenegs who flee westwards fall upon the Magyars, the Magyars in turn flee westwards and in 895 reach the farthest extremity of the European steppe - the plain of Hungary.

896 Conquest and settlement of the Carpathian Basin under the leadership of Árpád, son of Álmos , elected chief by the 7 tribes.

Early 10 th century Raids to plunder Byzantium. Their raids to Germany, Italy alarm Europe until their defeat at the battle of Lechfeld AD 955.

 

972-997 The rule of prince Géza and the arrival of Christian missionaries.
By marrying his daughters to Christian rulers, Géza puts an end to hostilities.
He realizes that in the interest of the long-term survival of the nation, Hungarians have to adapt themselves to Western standards. His work was finished by his son István, the first Hungarian king.

1000 King István adopts Christianity, converts country to Christianity, suppresses pagan rebells. The coronation takes place at Esztergom, a bishopric founded by him. Crown from Pope. Granted the title "Apostolic" on converting country to Christianity.

 

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