Pannonian Basin

The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large basin in Central Europe. The geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewhat different sense, with only the lowlands, the plain that remained when the Pliocene Epoch "Pannonian Sea" dried out.
It is a geomorphological subsystem of the Alps-Himalaya system, specifically a sediment-filled back-arc basin which spread apart during the Miocene. Most of the plain consists of the Great Hungarian Plain (in the south and east, including the Eastern Slovak Lowland) and the Little Hungarian Plain (in the northwest), divided by the Transdanubian Mountains.
The Pannonian Basin lies in the southeastern part of Central Europe. It forms a topographically discrete unit set in the European landscape, surrounded by imposing geographic boundaries - the Carpathian Mountains and the Alps. The Rivers Danube and Tisza divide the basin roughly in half. It extends roughly between Vienna in the northwest, Košice in the northeast, Zagreb in the southwest, Novi Sad in the south and Satu Mare in the east.
In terms of modern state boundaries, the basin centres on the territory of Hungary, but it also covers regions of western Slovakia (the Eastern Slovak Lowland), southeastern Poland, western Ukraine, western Romania, northern Serbia (Vojvodina), the tip of northeast Croatia (Slavonia), northeastern Slovenia (Prekmurje), and eastern Austria. The name "Pannonian" comes from Pannonia, a province of the Roman Empire. Only the western part of the territory (known as Transdanubia) of modern Hungary formed part of the ancient Roman Province of Pannonia; this comprises less than 29% of modern Hungary, therefore Hungarian geographers avoid the terms "Pannonian Basin" and "Pannonian Plain". (For example: The Great Hungarian Plain was not part of Pannonia province.)
Terminology.
In English-language, the terms "Pannonian Basin" and "Carpathian Basin" are used synonymously. The name "Pannonian" is taken from that of Pannonia, a province of the Roman Empire. The historical province overlapped but was not coterminous with the geographical plain or basin, however the Great Hungarian Plain was not part of it. Pannonia Inferior covered much of the western half of the basin, as far as the Danube. Pannonia Superior included the western fringe of the basin as well as part of the Eastern Alps, as far as Virunum. The southern fringe of the basin was in Dalmatia and Moesia. The eastern half of the basin was not conquered by the Romans and was considered part of Sarmatia, inhabited by the Iazyges. Likewise, the parts north of the Danube (now in western Slovakia) were not in the empire; they were considered part of Germania, inhabited by the Quadi.
The term "Pannonian Plain" refers to the lowland parts of the Pannonian Basin as well as those of some adjoining regions like Lower Austria, Moravia, and Silesia (Czech Republic and Poland). The lands adjoining the plain proper are sometimes also called "peri-Pannonian".
The term "Carpathian Basin" is used in the Hungarian literature, while the West Slavic languages (Czech, Polish and Slovak), the Serbo-Croatian, German and Romanian languages use "Pannonian"; in Hungarian the basin is known as "Kárpát-medence", in Czech; "Panonská pánev", in Polish; "Panoński Basen", in Slovak; "Panónska panva", in Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian: "Panonski bazen"/Панонски базен, in German; "Pannonisches Becken", and in Romanian; "Câmpia Panonică" or "Bazinul Panonic". The East Slavic languages, namely Ukrainian, use terms "Tisa-Danube Basin" or "Middanubian Basin" ()
In Hungarian geographical literature various subdivisions of the Carpathian Mountains (Inner Western Carpathians, Inner Eastern Carpathians, Southern Carpathians, Western Carpathians and Transylvanian Plateau) are also considered parts of the Carpathian Basin on the basis of traditional geopolitical divisions.
Name.
Julius Pokorny derived the name "Pannonia" from Illyrian, from the Proto-Indo-European root "*pen-", "swamp, water, wet" (cf. English "fen", "marsh"; Hindi "pani", "water").
Geography.
[[File:Europe biogeography countries en.svg|right|thumb|300px|Biogeographic regions of Europe]]
Climate and natural resources.
Although rain is not plentiful, it usually falls when necessary and the plain is a major [[agriculture|agricultural]] area; it is sometimes said that these fields of rich [[loam]]y [[loess]] [[soil]] could feed the whole of [[Europe]]. For its early settlers, the plain offered few sources of metals or stone. Thus when archaeologists come upon objects of [[obsidian]] or [[chert]], copper or gold, they have almost unparalleled opportunities to interpret ancient pathways of trade.
Geomorphology.
[[File:LandscapeTemerin.JPG|Wheat field near [[Temerin]]|thumb|250px]]
The Pannonian plain is divided into two parts along the [[Transdanubian Mountains]] (Hungarian: "Dunántúli-középhegység"). The northwestern part is called "Western Pannonian plain" (or "province") and the southeastern part "Eastern Pannonian plain" (or "province"). They comprise the following sections:
Note: The [[Transylvanian Plateau]] and the [[Lučenec-Košice Depression]] (both parts of the [[Carpathians]]) and some other lowlands are sometimes also considered part of the Pannonian Plain in non-geomorphological or older divisions.
Regions.
Relatively large or distinctive areas of the plain that do not necessarily correspond to national borders include:
History.
Prehistory.
[[File:Pannonian sea01.png|thumb|250px|Approximate extent of Pannonian Sea during the [[Miocene Epoch]]]]
The Pannonian Basin has its geological origins in the [[Pannonian Sea]], a shallow sea that reached its greatest extent during the [[Pliocene Epoch]], when three to four kilometres of sediments were deposited.
Antiquity.
The plain was named after the Pannon named Medes. Various different peoples inhabited the plain during its history. In the first century BC, the eastern parts of the plain belonged to the [[Dacia]]n state, and in the first century AD its western parts were subsumed into the [[Roman Empire]]. The Roman province named [[Pannonia]] was established in the area, and the city of [[Sirmium]], today [[Sremska Mitrovica]], [[Serbia]], became one of the four capital cities of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century.
Middle Ages.
In the [[Age of Migrations]] and the early [[Middle Ages]], the region belonged to several realms such as the [[Hunnic Empire|Hun Empire]], the [[Kingdom of the Gepids]], the [[Ostrogothic Kingdom|Kingdom of the Ostrogoths]], the [[Kingdom of the Lombards]], the [[Avar Khaganate]], the [[West Slavs|West Slavic]] [[Samo's Empire|state of Samo]], the [[Bulgarian Empire]], the [[Francia|Frankish Empire]], [[Great Moravia]], the [[Pannonian Slavs#Principality|Lower Pannonian Principality]] and the [[Kingdom of Syrmia]].
The [[Principality of Hungary]] established in 895 by the [[Magyars]] and neighboring [[West Slavs]] was centred on the plain and included almost all of it (as did the former [[Avar Khaganate|Avar Kingdom]]). It was established as the [[Christianity|Catholic]] [[Kingdom of Hungary]] in AD 1000, with the coronation of [[Stephen I of Hungary]].
[[File:Pusztai pásztorok.jpg|thumb|210px|Cattle shepherds in the puszta of Hungary, c. 1852]]
The [[Kingdom of Hungary]] by the 11th century comprised the entire Pannonian basin, but the changing fates of this part of Europe during the [[Ottoman wars in Europe|Ottoman wars]] of the 14th to 17th centuries left the Pannonian basin divided between numerous political entities. After the [[Battle of Mohács]] in 1526, the central and eastern regions of the kingdom and the plain on which they lay were incorporated into the [[Ottoman Empire]], while the remainder to the north-west was subsumed into the holdings of the [[Habsburg Monarchy]] and retitled [[Royal Hungary]]. Under Ottoman administration, the plain was reorganised into the [[Eyalet of Budim]], the [[Eyalet of Egri]], the [[Eyalet of Sigetvar]] and the [[Temeşvar Province, Ottoman Empire|Eyalet of Temeşvar]].
Modern history.
The Pannonian Plain was frequently a scene of conflict between the two empires. At the end of the 17th century the [[Habsburgs]] won decisive battles against the [[Ottomans]], and most of the plain gradually came under Habsburg rule. Under Habsburg rule the region was eventually reorganised into the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], the [[Banat of Temeswar]], the [[Military Frontier]], the [[Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)|Kingdom of Croatia]], the [[Kingdom of Slavonia]] and [[Voivodeship of Serbia and Temes Banat]].
The Habsburg Monarchy was subsequently transformed into the [[Austrian Empire]] (in 1804) and later became [[Austria-Hungary]] (in 1867). Most of the plain was located within the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary, since all other Habsburg possessions in the plain were integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary until 1882. The autonomous [[Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia]], which was one of the [[Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen]], comprised the south-western portion of the plain.
With the dissolution of [[Austria-Hungary]] after World War I, the region was divided between [[Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)|Hungary]], [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]], [[Czechoslovakia]], [[German Austria|Austria]] and the [[Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes]] (renamed to [[Yugoslavia]] in 1929). The borders drawn in 1918 and 1919 are mostly preserved as those of the contemporary states of [[Austria]], [[Czech Republic]], [[Hungary]], [[Poland]], [[Slovakia]], [[Serbia]], [[Ukraine]], [[Croatia]],
and [[Romania]].
Major cities.
This is a list of cities in the Pannonian Basin with a population larger than 100,000 within the [[city proper]]:
External links.
[[Category:Pannonian Plain| ]]
[[Category:Aulacogens]]
[[Category:Basins of Europe]]
[[Category:Structural basins]]
[[Category:Sedimentary basins of Europe]]
[[Category:Back-arc basins]]
[[Category:Geology of Austria]]
[[Category:Geology of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:Geology of Croatia]]
[[Category:Geology of the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Geology of Europe]]
[[Category:Geology of Hungary]]
[[Category:Geology of Poland]]
[[Category:Geology of Romania]]
[[Category:Geology of Serbia]]
[[Category:Geology of Slovakia]]
[[Category:Structural basins of Slovenia]]
[[Category:Geology of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Landforms of Lower Austria]]
[[Category:Landforms of Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
[[Category:Landforms of Croatia]]
[[Category:Landforms of the Czech Republic]]
[[Category:Landforms of Slovenia]]
[[Category:Plains of Europe]]
[[Category:Plains of Austria]]
[[Category:Plains of Hungary]]
[[Category:Plains of Romania]]
[[Category:Plains of Serbia]]
[[Category:Plains of Slovakia]]
[[Category:Plains of Ukraine]]
[[Category:Geography of Vojvodina]]
[[Category:Banat]]
[[Category:Bačka]]
[[Category:Syrmia]]
[[Category:Pannonia]]