Budapest = Buda + Pest (Eastside + Westside)

The capital city of Hungary, Budapest, was created out of the unification of the separate historic towns of Buda, Pest and Óbuda in 1873. Whilst the area had been inhabited from early times, it was from this date that the city’s expansion into a world capital really began. Budapest is bisected by the River Danube, with the city as much a natural geographical centre as it is the country’s transport hub. Covering an area of two hundred square miles and divided into 23 administrative districts, it is home today to a population of 1.8 million people.

Flowing north to south through the centre of the city is the mighty River Danube. Buda and Óbuda, comprising roughly a third of the total, are situated mainly in the hills to the west, with commercial Pest on the plains to the east. There are three islands – Óbuda Island, Margaret Island and Csepel Island – and nine bridges, two of which carry railway lines.

History:
The Eravisci, a tribe of highly cultured Celts, had already settled at Gellért Hill in the third and fourth centuries B.C. They worked with iron, decorated their earthenware pots and even minted their own coins. Later, the Romans built a settlement at today’s Óbuda. They called it Aquincum and it was an important station along the limes which ran alongside the River Danube.During the reign of King Béla IV. When Hungary was invaded and devastated by the Mongols (1241-1242), King Béla ordered new castles and fortresses to be built all around the country.

Buda became the royal seat around the turn of the fifteenth century under the rule of Sigismund of Luxembourg, and the Royal Palace grew ever larger until its zenith was reached under King Matthias (ruled 1458-1490). Following the dire Hungarian defeat at the Battle of Mohács (1526) the Turks sacked and burned Buda.

Pest and Óbuda, too, suffered dreadfully as a result of the century-and-a-half of Turkish rule that followed. The Turks did, however, build baths fed by the hot springs. Their cupolas appear on contemporary engravings, and of course some of them are still extant today – the most visible legacy of that period.