Northern Great Plain Region - Szolnok (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 227. Not illustrated. Chapters: Szolnok. Excerpt: Szolnok - Szolnok is located in the heart of the Great Hungarian Plain, at the confluence of the Tisza and Zagyva rivers. It lies about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east-southeast from Budapest. The climate of the area is continental, with hot summers following relatively mild winters. The region is one of the sunniest in Europe; the average precipitation is about 490 millimetres (19 in) annually. Szolnok was named for the first steward of the city, Szaunik or Zounok. The town was first officially mentioned under the name Zounok in 1075. In the following centuries it was recorded as Zounok, Saunic, Zounuc, and Zawnuch. The variety of spellings likely comes from phonetic discrepancies occurring when Hungarian sounds - originally written in runic Old Hungarian script - were recorded using the Latin alphabet. Another possibility revolves around speculation that the name Szaunik was not a personal name after all, but rather a title relating to the significant salt trade (salt, Hungarian: ) in the area. In most other languages, the city's Hungarian name is used without derivation (for example French: , Spanish: ). The city has its own name in a few languages (for example German: , Romanian: , Russian: ), deriving from these languages' historical relationship to the city. The area was first settled in the Paleolithic era. The first known inhabitants lived in temporary tent-like structures made from reeds, or in more permanent dwellings made of hides draped over wooden poles. They were hunters of mammoth, reindeer, deer, and boar. Archeologists have also found stone tools from this era, some made of flint. Fishing equipment such as hooks and weights from nets, dating from the Neolithic era, shows the increasing importance of fishing in the peoples' lives. These were usually made from clay, as...