pzc GEOGRAPHICA ANNONICA No7; p 27-30 icant Serbian population to move towards Hungary. Up until the Turkish Occupation Changing Serbian Ethnic – when the Serbian ethnic area reached its largest extent in present-day Hungary – there was a growth in the number and ratio Patterns in the 20th Century of the Serbian-speaking population of or- thodox religion, which contributed to their Within the Borders of gradual ethnic expansion. As a result of these migration processes, their ethnic pat- terns mark three well-defined, connected Present-day Hungary1 territories of various sizes. Since the 18th century - in parallel with Bottlik, Z* the more intensive migration of the Serbs towards the further South - then after World War I due to the options, then the lin- Abstract The main aim of the present paper uring the last three centuries the guistic assimilation to a smaller extent, the is to show the time - space dynamics of history of Serbs living in the cen- Serbs’ ethnic areas have gradually been de- the Serbian ethnic territory during the Dtre of the Balkans has been rath- creasing in present-day Hungary. This can 20th century in the present-day area of er stormy and burdened with wars. This be seen from sources since the beginning of Hungary, and also the changes and present shows in the considerable changes of their the 18th century – though sometimes insuf- state of their population number, their pro- ethnic territory as well. During the ad- ficient– and data from regular censuses. portion and linguistic-(ethnic) boundaries vancing of the Ottoman Army, the Serbs The bloody events of World War I and on regional and settlement level.In the last found themselves in the front line which the following peace treaties created a com- chapter we try to highlight the connection resulted in the relocation of their ethnic pletely new situation. Whereas approxi- between the ethnicity and the minority territories mainly to North and West. This mately half million Hungarian-speaking self-government system of the Serbian process lasted until the 18th century, dur- communities living in one block in Bácska minority in Hungary, too. ing which a considerable number of Serbs became part of the newly formed Kingdom settled down in Hungary and in various of Serbs-Croats and Slovenes (later Yugo- Key words ethnic geography, Serbian parts of Croatia, where having enjoyed a slavia), the majority of the Serbian settle- minority, Hungary, minority self-govern- special legal status, they became residents ments also became part of the new state. It ment bodies of the so-called military frontier zone. is only a couple of communities with signif- Meanwhile, due to their continous migra- icant Serbian population along the Dan- tion, a reduction of their original territo- ube (in the vicinity of Budapest), to the ries can be observed in Kosovo, Methohila East of Baranya county and South-East and in the territories of the later Sandžak Hungary forming part of our research, (Jelavich, B. 1996). that stayed within the borders of present- After World War I, following the estab- day Hungary. (Figure 1.) lishment of the Kingdom of Serbs-Croats After the withdrawal of the Serbian and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), the Ser- Army and the exploitation of the possi- bian ethnic area expanded mainly with- bilities of options, Serbs mainly living in in the territories of the new state, where- the Eastern part of Baranya county and in as outside the borders – in Hungary and the Tisza-Maros region, left the country in Romania – a considerable number of Serbs large numbers and moved to the other side found themselves in minority (Mihajlović, of the borders (Urosevics, D. 1969; Oltvai, 1919). Their more rapid regression can still F. 1991). Therefore only a small number of be seen. This process is primarily due to Serbs are still inhabitants of the 93.030 sq. the repatriations and options within the km present-day Hungary. borders of present-day Hungary. The drastic drop in their numbers is The disintegration of Tito’s Yugosla- demonstrated by data from 1920 and even via from 1991, then its entire collapse better from 1930, since it was due to the significantly rearranged the Serbian eth- options given that a significant number nic settlement pattern. As a result, on the of Serbs in Hungary could move to the independent territories of the former Yu- newly established SHS Kingdom 8later goslavia – Croatia, Bosnia and in the au- Yugoslavia)(Popović, D.I. 1957). (Figure tonomus Kosovo within Serbia until 1989 2.) As a result their numbers were 5443 – the number and proportion of Serbs in 1941 and there are only 36 settlements have drastically dropped, whereas in Ser- on the studied area where the ratio of Ser- bia, above all in Voivodina, the opposite bian native speakers is at least 1%. Among can be seen. these it is just Lórév where they are in ab- solute majority with a ratio of 69%. Their 1910-1990 number is also significant in Szigetcsép The first smaller Serbian minority groups where 14% of the population is of Serbian in Hungary could already be traced in the mother tongue. Their ratio is more than * Zsolt Bottlik, Research Fellow, Geographical Middle Ages, however, it was the advancing 10% in four settlements (Deszk, Battonya, Research Institute of Hungarian Academy of of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire to North Százhalombatta, Újszentiván) and they Sciences, Department of Human Geography and North-West that caused the first signif- live in diaspora with a ratio of 1-10% in 13 27 GEOGRAPHICA ANNONICA pzc Century Within th the Borders of Present-day Hungary Present-day of the Borders Changing Serbian Ethnic Patterns in the 20 Figure 1 The ratio of Serbs in Hungary and their bigger settlements according to their mother tongue in 1910; Source: Hungarian census data 1910 (mother tongue - native language) other settlements. Due to their big loss- in favour of the existence of the minori- area as well, therefore their settling process es it is only in the case of Battonya where ty groups with smaller numbers and ratio could cause the breaking up of the minor- their numbers exceed 1000 inhabitants. living in Hungary. It is especially true of ity communities, providing more opportu- The population of the other 11 larger Ser- the Serbian minority with more than nities for the Hungarian assimilation pres- bian groups is between 100 and 350. 5000 persons. Only the years preceding sure, eg., in case of the former settlements During and after World War II the eth- the change of regime bring some altera- in the vicinity of Budapest and Szeged with nic settlement pattern of the Serbs already tion and bigger publicity to these minori- a significant number of Serbs (Kocsis, K. living sporadically in present-day Hunga- ties. The reason for the decrease in number 1989). On the other hand, the economical- ry does not show a significant change. The and ratio of Serbian minority and also that ly more underdevelopped territories urge ethnic data in the 1949 census do not in all of their ethnic area is due to the weaken- the younger generation to migrate causing cases show the real situation, however, the ing of their national self-awareness which not only the decrease of their number and data referring to religion provide a more re- was caused by their assimilation. ratio but the disasterous ageing of the eth- liable picture. Based on the above mentioned The Serbs’ strong identity-conscious- nic population (eg., in East Baranya). data, the number of Serbs living in Hungary ness, the above-mentioned assimilation Studying the data from 1990 it becomes decreased only by 284 in eight years. Accord- processes and their numbers are partly re- obvious that the once so significant Serbian ing to census data, their ratio in their settle- lated to the geographical environment of presence has reduced. Although their ap- ments shows an average 2-3% change. There their settlements. The question is whether pearance in new settlements manifests it- existed 12 settlements with more than 100 their place of residence is the urban region, self in a slight change, the significant de- Serbs. The biggest settlement was Battonya which is the primary source of the main so- crease since the end of World War II is due with 485 Serbs and there were four settle- cial-economic modernization, or is it the to the linguistic assimilation. It can be ments with more than 300 Serbs (Magyarc- severely underpriviledged peripheral areas, seen that from the 18th century the ratio sanád, Lórév, Pomáz and Deszk). which offer worse living conditions. The of the Serbs undergoes a gradual decrease, The proletarian internationalism of aformentioned urban territories are obvi- there are less settlements where they are the period following World War II was not ously the majority of Hungarians’ target in majority, in fact , by 1990, with the ex- ception of Lórév, it falls below 25% in all PPP their settlements (Hoóz, I.-Kepecs, J.-Klin- ger, A. 1985). The greatest loss, over 10%, is in Lórév and Battonya, whose settlements are the most important in the Serbian eth- nic territory. In the case of Pomáz, Csobán- ka, Lippó, Szigetcsép and Százhalombat- ta the loss is 5-10%. This process requires the usage of the Hungarian language which might in a while result in the Serbian moth- Figure 2 Changes in the number of Serbs in present-day area of Hungary (1773-2001) er tongue being pushed into the back- 28 pzc GEOGRAPHICA ANNONICA Bottlik, Z. ground. Studying the position of the Ser- bian communities shows that they live in a rather scattered settlement pattern.