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Pest(Hungarian pronunciation:[ˈpɛʃt]) is the part ofBudapest,the capital city ofHungary,that lies on the eastern bank of theDanube.Pest was administratively unified withBudaandÓbudain 1873; prior to this, it was an independent city. In colloquialHungarian,"Pest" is sometimes also usedpars pro tototo refer to Budapest as a whole.
Comprising about two-thirds of the city's area, Pest is flatter and much more heavily urbanized than Buda. Many of Budapest's most notable sites are in Pest, including theInner City(Hungarian:Belváros), theParliament(Országház), theOpera,theGreat Market Hall,Heroes' Square,andAndrássy Avenue.
Etymology
editAccording toPtolemythe settlement was calledPessionin antiquity (Contra-Aquincum).[citation needed]Alternatively, the namePestmay have come from a Slavic word meaning "furnace", "oven" (Bulgarianпещ[ˈpɛʃt];Serbianпећ/peć;Croatianpeć), related to the wordпещера(meaning "cave" ), probably with reference to a local cave where fire burned.[1]The spellingPesthwas occasionally used in English, even as late as the early 20th century,[2]although it is now considered archaic.
History
edit
Pest was originally founded as aCelticsettlement, then a fortified camp established by theRomans(Contra-Aquincum) across the river from their military border camp atAquincum.Remains of the original Roman camp can still be seen at Március 15. tér.
During the Middle Ages, Pest was an independentcityseparate from Buda/Ofen, which became an important economic center during the 11th–13th centuries. The first written mention dates back to 1148.
Pest was destroyed in 1241Mongol invasion of Hungary,but was rebuilt shortly thereafter.
Demographically, in the 15th century Pest was mostly Hungarian, while Buda across the Danube had a German-majority population.[4]
In 1838 Pest was flooded by theDanube;parts of the city were under as much as eight feet of water, and the flood destroyed or seriously damaged three-fourths of the city's buildings.[5]In 1849 the first suspension bridge, theSzéchenyi Chain Bridge,was constructed across the Danube connecting Pest withBuda.Subsequently, in 1873, the two cities were unified withÓbudato becomeBudapest.
Notable people
edit- László Teleki(1811–1861), writer, statesman and magician
- Henrik Weber(1818–1866), painter
- Theodor Herzl(1860–1904), founder of the political Zionist movement
- Harry Houdini(1874–1926), illusionist and escape acts performer
See also
edit- Budapest
- Inner City (Budapest)
- Pest County
- Újpest(New Pest)
- Kispest(Little Pest)
- Pestszentlőrinc(Saint Lawrence of Pest)
- Buda
- Óbuda(Old Buda)
References
edit- ^Adrian Room (2006).Placenames of the World.McFarland & Company.p. 70.ISBN0-7864-2248-3.
- ^"Pesth (part of modern-day Budapest), Hungary".1902encyclopedia.
- ^abNyerges, András, ed. (1998).Pest-Buda, Budapest szimbólumai[Budapest arms & colours: throughout the centuries]. Budapest: Budapest Főváros Levéltára. p. 2.
- ^"Budapest".A Pallas Nagy Lexikona(in Hungarian).Retrieved2009-11-03.
- ^Nemes, Robert (2005).The Once and Future Budapest.DeKalb, Ill.: Northern Illinois University Press. p.107.ISBN0-87580-337-7.
Further reading
edit- Beksics, Gusztáv:Magyarosodás és magyarositás. Különös tekintettel városainkra.Budapest, 1883
External links
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