Békés (former county)

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Békés County

County of the Kingdom of Hungary

11th century – 1946

Capital

Gyula

History

- Established

11th century

- Disestablished

1946

Area

- 1910

3,670 km² (1,417 sq mi)

Population

- 1910 est.

298,700

Density

81.4 /km² (210.8 /sq mi)

Today part of

Hungary

Békés is a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory, which was smaller than that of present Békés county, is presently in south-eastern Hungary. The capital of the county was Gyula.

[edit] Geography

Békés county shared borders with the Hungarian counties Csongrád, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Hajdú, Bihar, Arad and Csanád. The river Körös/Criş flowed through the county. Its area was 3671 km² around 1910.

[edit] History

Map of Békés county

Békés county arose as one of the first comitatus of the Kingdom of Hungary, in the 11th century. After World War II, the territory of Békés county was expanded with:

the north-eastern part of former Csanád-Arad-Torontál county (the Hungarian part of pre-1918 Arad county and the north-eastern part of pre-1918 Csanád county)
a part of former Bihar county (the area around Sarkad and Okány)
a part of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county (the area around Dévaványa)

[edit] Subdivisions

In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Békés county were:

Districts (járás)
District	Capital
Békés	Békés
Békéscsaba	Békéscsaba
Gyoma	Gyoma
Gyula	Gyula
Orosháza	Orosháza
Szarvas	Szarvas
Szeghalom	Szeghalom
Urban districts (rendezett tanácsú város)
Gyula