Békés County (former)

Békés County Comitatus Bekesiensis (Latin) Békés vármegye (Hungarian) Komitat Békés (German) Békešská župa (Slovak)
County of the Kingdom of Hungary (11th century-1541) County of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom (1541-1566) County of the Kingdom of Hungary (1699-1786, 1790-1853, 1860-1946)
Coat of arms
Capital	Békés; Gyula (1405-1946)
Area
• Coordinates	46°39′N 21°16′E
• 1910	3,670 km^2 (1,420 sq mi)
Population
• 1910	298,710
History
• Established	11th century
• Ottoman conquest	1566
• County recreated	1699
• Merged into Békés-Csanád-Csongrád County	1 June 1786
• County recreated	26 April 1790
• Merged into \-Csanád County	10 January 1853
• County recreated	20 October 1860
• Monarchy abolished	1 February 1946
Today part of	Hungary

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

Map of Bekes, 1891.

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

Ethnic map of the county with data of the 1910 census (see the key in the description).

Population by mother tongue^[a]

Census	Total	Hungarian	Slovak	Romanian	German	Other or unknown
1880[1]	229,757	152,877 (69.84%)	53,517 (24.45%)	5,347 (2.44%)	6,611 (3.02%)	530 (0.24%)
1890[2]	258,386	188,781 (73.06%)	56,876 (22.01%)	6,019 (2.33%)	6,110 (2.36%)	600 (0.23%)
1900[3]	278,731	201,619 (72.33%)	64,467 (23.13%)	6,069 (2.18%)	6,191 (2.22%)	385 (0.14%)
1910[4]	298,710	219,261 (73.40%)	66,770 (22.35%)	6,125 (2.05%)	6,048 (2.02%)	506 (0.17%)

Population by religion^[b]

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
Békés	Békés
Békéscsaba	Békéscsaba
Gyoma	Gyoma
Gyula	Gyula
Orosháza	Orosháza
Szarvas	Szarvas
Szeghalom	Szeghalom
Urban districts (rendezett tanácsú város)
Gyula

Gyula Castle

Notes

1. Only linguistic communities > 1% are displayed.
2. Only religious communities > 1% are displayed.

References

1. "Az 1881. év elején végrehajtott népszámlálás főbb eredményei megyék és községek szerint rendezve, II. kötet (1882)". library.hungaricana.hu. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
2. "A Magyar Korona országainak helységnévtára (1892)". library.hungaricana.hu. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
3. "A MAGYAR KORONA ORSZÁGAINAK 1900". library.hungaricana.hu. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
4. "KlimoTheca :: Könyvtár". Kt.lib.pte.hu. Retrieved 2021-09-29.