Ung County

Ung county (in Latin: comitatus Unghvariensis, in Hungarian: Ung (vár)megye in Slovak also: Užský komitát/ Užská župa / Užská stolica) is the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in eastern Slovakia (1/3) and western Ukraine (2/3).

Geography

Ung county shared borders with the Austrian crownland Galicia (currently in Poland and Ukraine) and the Hungarian counties Bereg, Szabolcs and Zemplén (Zemplín). It was situated between the Carpathian Mountains in the north, the rivers Tisza and Latorica in the south, and the river Laborec in the west. The rivers Latorica and Uzh (Hungarian: Ung, hence the name of the county) flowed through the county. Its area was 3230 km² around 1910.

Capitals

Initially, the capital of the county was the Uzhhorod Castle, later the town of Uzhhorod (in Hungarian: Ungvár).

History

Ung is one of the oldest counties of the Kingdom of Hungary. In the aftermath of World War I, most of Ung county became part of newly formed Czechoslovakia, as recognized by the concerned states in the 1920 Treaty of Trianon. The town of Záhony and the village of Győröcske remained in Hungary (county Szabolcs-Ung).

Following the provisions of the controversial First Vienna Award, all but the westernmost part of the county came under Hungarian control in November 1938. After World War II, this westernmost part was returned to Czechoslovakia. The rest (except Záhony and Győröcske) became part of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian SSR, Zakarpattia Oblast.

Demographics

Population by language (1910 census):

• Ruthenian = 61,711
• Hungarian = 53,824
• Slovak = 36,364
• German = 8,383

Religions (1910 census)

• Greek Catholic 55.0%
• Roman Catholic 21.3%
• Calvinist 12.4%
• Jewish 10.9%
• Lutheran 0.3%
• Greek Orthodox 0.1%

Subdivisions

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

The towns of Veľké Kapušany and Sobrance are presently in Slovakia; the other towns mentioned are in Ukraine.