Békés was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory, which was smaller than that of present Békés county, is now in southeastern Hungary. The capital of the county was Gyula.
Geography
Békés county shared borders with the Hungarian counties Csongrád, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Hajdú, Bihar, Arad and Csanád. The river Körös flowed through the county. Its area was 3,670 km2 around 1910.
History Békés county arose as one of the first comitatus of the Kingdom of Hungary, in the 11th century. In 1950, the territory of Békés county was expanded with: the northeastern part of former Csanád-Arad-Torontál county (the Hungarian part of pre-1920 Arad county and the north-eastern part of pre-1920 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)
Demographics
+ Population by mother tongue Census Total Hungarian Slovak Romanian German Other or unknown 1880 229,757 152,877 (69.84%) 53,517 (24.45%) 5,347 (2.44%) 6,611 (3.02%) 530 (0.24%) 1890 258,386 188,781 (73.06%) 56,876 (22.01%) 6,019 (2.33%) 6,110 (2.36%) 600 (0.23%) 1900 278,731 201,619 (72.33%) 64,467 (23.13%) 6,069 (2.18%) 6,191 (2.22%) 385 (0.14%) 1910 298,710 219,261 (73.40%) 66,770 (22.35%) 6,125 (2.05%) 6,048 (2.02%) 506 (0.17%)
+ Population by religion Census Total Lutheran Calvinist Roman Catholic Eastern Orthodox Jewish Other or unknown 1880 229,757 82,780 (36.03%) 82,129 (35.75%) 50,838 (22.13%) 7,149 (3.11%) 6,255 (2.72%) 606 (0.26%) 1890 258,386 92,327 (35.73%) 91,339 (35.35%) 58,867 (22.78%) 7,477 (2.89%) 7,189 (2.78%) 1,187 (0.46%) 1900 278,731 98,882 (35.48%) 95,548 (34.28%) 66,857 (23.99%) 7,870 (2.82%) 7,358 (2.64%) 2,216 (0.80%) 1910 298,710 105,724 (35.39%) 98,596 (33.01%) 75,738 (25.36%) 8,374 (2.80%) 7,444 (2.49%) 2,834 (0.95%)
Subdivisions
In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Békés county were:
Districts (járás) District Capital BékésBékés BékéscsabaBékéscsaba GyomaGyoma GyulaGyula OrosházaOrosháza SzarvasSzarvas SzeghalomSzeghalomUrban districts (rendezett tanácsú város)Gyula
Notes
References