The city's earliest known name isUngvár, fromHungarianUng (River Uzh) andvár "castle, fortress", originally referring to a castle outside the city (probablyNevytske Castle[2]).[3][4]
The nameUzhhorod was coined in early 19th centurySlavophile circles as a literal translation of the nameUngvár.[3][4] The city officially adopted this name some time after 1920, underCzechoslovak administration.
The city was founded byearly Slavs, one tribe of whom was theWhite Croats, who settled the area of the modern Uzhhorod underKuber in the second half of the first millennium AD.[5][6] Warriors from Ukraine established the Ungvar fortress in 677 according to theChronicon Pictum. The settlement was the center of a new Slavic principality headed by a dynasty descended fromPorga's nephewKubrat. In the 9th century, the fortified castle changed into a fortified earlyfeudal town-settlement which according toGesta Hungarorum was originally subject to theOld Bulgarian PrinceSalan until falling toLaborec, a ruler who was loyal toGreat Moravia.[7]
In his 1861 seminal work 'Ungvár története: a legrégibb idöktől maig' (History of Uzhhorod: from ancient times to the present), Hungarian historian Károly Mészáros fromHajdúdorog writes: 'The first inhabitants of Ungvámak, before the city and its region came into the possession of the conquering Hungarians, were Slavs and Ruthenians'.[8]
According to the Hungarian medieval chronicleGesta Hungarorum byAnonymus, theMagyars led byÁlmos, Grand Prince of Hungarians, arrived in the region and stormed the – as he called it – 'Hungvar' fortress in 895 AD, then ruled byLaborec. Having taken over the castle, Almos appointed his sonÁrpád as prince of 'Hungvaria' and from Hungvar his warriors were called Hungarians.[9] As this may be viewed as naive folk etymology by a medieval writer (as magyars were called ”ungri” by chroniclers decades before 895), for further information on the ethnonym of the Hungarians see the articleName of Hungary.[citation needed] – In the Kingdom of Hungary, the small town began to extend its borders.King Saint Stephen made it the centre (castrum) ofUng County with a strong military presence to protect the north east border of Hungary. In 1241–1242, theMongols ofBatu Khan burnt the settlement. In 1248 the city was granted town privileges byKing Béla IV of Hungary. In the early 14th century, Uzhhorod was involved in the civil wars in the interregnum between Hungarian barons when the dynasty of Árpád died out. FinallyCharles I of Hungary from theAnjou dynasty, descendant of theHouse of Árpád by his mother occupied the throne. The Anjou House also ruled theKingdom of Naples and the Hungarian king Charles I invited theDrugeths into Hungary and gave the town to them. The Drugeth family became a member of theHungarian nobility. During that periodPhilip Drugeth builtUzhhorod Castle. Together with the castle, the city began to grow. From 1430, Uzhhorod became a free royal town.
During the 16–17th centuries, the Kingdom of Hungary fell into three parts. The middle was occupied by theOttoman Empire, the northwest was ruled by theHabsburg dynasty, the eastern part became thePrincipality of Transylvania, that hold the independent Hungarian statehood. During this period, the city was engaged in the religious and political fight between primarily HungarianProtestantTransylvania and the GermanCatholicAustria. Each one wanted to reunite the Kingdom of Hungary under their rule. In 1646 theUnion of Ungvár was proclaimed and theGreek-Catholic church was established, in a ceremony held in the Ungvár castle by theVatican Aegis. In 1707 Ungvár was the residence ofFerenc II Rákóczi, leader of the national liberation war of Hungarians against Habsburgs. From 1780 the city became the capital of theGreek Catholic Eparchy and from 1776 the center of a newly created school district.[10]
The beginning of the 19th century was characterized by economic changes, including the first factories in the city. The greatest influence on Ungvár among the political events of the 19th century was made by theHungarian Revolution of 1848-1849, during which the native Hungarian nobility sought both to shake off the suzerainty of theAustrian Empire and to have authority over their own people. 27 March 1848 was officially celebrated in the city as the overthrow of the monarchy in Hungary. It is now celebrated in Hungary on 15 March.
In 1872 the first railway line opened, linking the city to the important railway junction ofChop, then known as Csap.
According to the 1910 census, the city had 16,919 inhabitants, of which 13,590 (80.3%) wereMagyars, 1,219 (7.2%)Slovaks, 1,151 (6.8%)Germans, 641 (3.8%)Rusyns and 1.6%Czechs.[11] By religion, 5,481Roman Catholic, 5,305Jewish, 4,473Greek Catholic, 1,368Calvinist. At the same time, the municipal area of the city had a population composed of 10,541 (39.05%) Hungarians, 9,908 (36.71%) Slovaks, and 5,520 (20.45%) Rusyns.[12]
TheFirst World War slowed down the tempo of city development. On 10 September 1919,Subcarpathia was officially allocated to the Republic ofCzechoslovakia. Uzhhorod became the administrative center of the territory. During these years Uzhhorod developed into an architecturally modern city, withMalyi Galagov, a new government quarter, being built from scratch.[13]
After theFirst Vienna Award in 1938, Uzhhorod was given back toHungary from which it was separated after World War I.
In 1941 the Jewish population reached 9,576.[citation needed] On 19 March 1944, German troops entered the city. They established aJudenrat (Jewish council) and set up two ghettos, at the Moskovitz brickyard and Gluck lumberyard. During May 1944, all Jews were deported to Auschwitz in five different transports and subsequently murdered. Only a few hundred Jews survived.[14]
This period brought significant changes. On the outskirts of Uzhhorod new enterprises were constructed and old enterprises were renewed.[citation needed] On 29 June 1945, Subcarpathian Ukraine was annexed by theSoviet Union and became a westernmost part of theUkrainian SSR. This followed the assumption of local authority by the People's Committee of Transcarpathian Ukraine based in Uzhhorod and headed by a local Communist.[16] That year the Uzhhorod State University (nowUzhhorod National University) was also opened. Since January 1946 Uzhhorod was the center of newly formed Zakarpatska oblast.[1]
Since 1991, Uzhhorod has been one of 24 regional capitals within independent Ukraine. Of these, Uzhhorod is the smallest and westernmost.
Embankment of the Uzh River
In 2002, a bust ofTomáš Masaryk, Czechoslovakia's first president, was unveiled in a main square of the city. A similar bust was unveiled in 1928 on the 10th anniversary of Czechoslovak independence, but was removed by the Hungarians when they took over the region in 1939.[17]
On 15 April 2022, as part of thederussification campaign that swept through Ukraine following the February 2022Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Uzhhorod City Council decided to rename 58 streets connected to Russian figures.[18]
Uzhhorod has ahumid continental climate (Köppen:Dfb) with cool to cold winters and warm summers. The coldest month is January with an average temperature of −1.7 °C (28.9 °F) while the warmest month is July with an average temperature of 20.9 °C (69.6 °F).[19] The coldest temperature ever recorded is −28.2 °C (−18.8 °F) and the warmest temperature was 38.6 °C (101.5 °F). Average annual precipitation is 748 millimetres (29.4 in), which is evenly distributed throughout the year though the summer months have higher precipitation.[19] On average, Uzhhorod receives 2133 hours of sunshine per year.[20]
Climate data for Uzhhorod (1991–2020, extremes 1947–present)
According to a survey conducted by theInternational Republican Institute in April–May 2023, 85% of the city's population spoke Ukrainian at home, 9% spoke Russian, and 1% spoke Hungarian.[25]
The territory of the city of Uzhhorod is coterminous with Uzhhorod urban hromada, one of thehromadas of Ukraine which was established on 12 June 2020.[28][29]
^Mészáros, Károly (1861).Ungvár története a legrégibb idöktől maig (in Hungarian). Budapest: Ráth Mór Könyvkereskedésében.Ungvámak első lakosai, mielőtt tudniillik e város és vidéke a honfoglaló magyarok birtokába jutott volna, szlávok és pedig ruthen vagyis oroszszlávok voltak. Az elsőről bizonyságot teszen Béla király névtelen jegyzője
^PRECLÍK, Vratislav: "Profesor Masaryk a Podkarpatská Rus právě před sto lety" (Professor Masaryk and Subcarpatian Russia just hundred years ago), in Čas: časopis Masarykova demokratického hnutí, leden - březen 2019, roč.XXVII. čís. 125. ISSN 1210-1648, str.18 – 23
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