Hungary – landlocked sovereign country located in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordering Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia.[1] Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU and a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian (also known as Magyar), which forms part of the Uralic family. It is one of the four official languages of the European Union that is not of Indo-European origin.
Following a Celtic (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (9 BC - c. 4th century) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late Ninth Century by the Magyar chieftain Árpád, whose great grandson István ascended to the throne with a crown sent from Rome in 1000. The Kingdom of Hungary existed with minor interruptions for more than 900 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centers of the Western world. It was succeeded by a Communist era (1947–1989) during which Hungary gained widespread international attention regarding the Revolution of 1956 and the seminal move of opening its border with Austria in 1989, thus accelerating the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. The present form of government is a parliamentary republic (since 1989). Hungary's current goal is to become a developed country by International Monetary Fund standards, having become already developed by most traditional measures, including GDP and HDI[2] (world ranking 36th and rising). The country's first ever term of EU presidency is due in 2011.[3]
Hungary was one of the 15 most popular tourist destinations in the world in the past decade,[4][5] with a capital regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world.[6][7] Despite its relatively small size, the country is home to numerous World Heritage Sites, UNESCO Biosphere reserves, the second largest thermal lake in the world (Lake Hévíz), the largest lake in Central Europe (Lake Balaton), and the largest natural grassland in Europe (Hortobágy National Park).
