Puszta

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title: "Puszta" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["eurasian-steppe", "geography-of-hungary", "plains-of-hungary", "natural-regions-of-europe"] description: "Temperate grassland biome in Hungary" topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puszta" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Temperate grassland biome in Hungary ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox ecoregion"]

Field	Value
name	Puszta
image	PusztaKéi01.jpg
image_size	300px
biogeographic_realm	Eurasian Steppe
biome	temperate grassland
country	Hungary
coordinates
::

|name = Puszta |image = PusztaKéi01.jpg |image_size = 300px |image_alt = |caption = |map = |map_size = |map_alt = |map_caption = |biogeographic_realm = Eurasian Steppe |biome = temperate grassland |animals = |bird_species = |mammal_species = |border = |borders = |area = |country = Hungary |countries = |state = |region_type = |elevation = |coordinates = |geology = |seas = |rivers = |climate = |soil = |conservation = |global200 = |habitat_loss = |habitat_loss_ref = |protected = |protected_ref = |embedded =

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/Hortobagy-ziehbrunnen.jpg" caption="Typical draw well in the puszta in the [[Hortobágy National Park"] ::

The Hungarian puszta () is a temperate grassland biome of the Great Hungarian Plain. It is an exclave of the Pannonian Steppe, and lies mainly around the River Tisza in the eastern part of Hungary, as well as in the western part of the country and in the Burgenland of Austria.

It covers a total area of about 50,000 km2. The characteristic landscape is composed of treeless plains, saline steppes and salt lakes, and includes scattered sand dunes, low, wet forests and freshwater marshes along the floodplains of the ancient rivers. It is strongly associated with traditional Hungarian breeds of domestic animal including the Hungarian Grey breed of cattle, the Mangalitsa breed of woolly pig, the Nonius breed of horse and the Racka breed of horned sheep, and also with the traditions of the csikós mounted herdsmen.

Name

The adjective puszta is of Slavic origin and means 'abandoned', 'bare', 'bleak', 'deserted' and 'uninhabited'.

History

From the late Pleistocene era the landscape of the Alföld or Great Hungarian Plain consisted in large part of arid alkaline grasslands devoid of trees – the puszta. The extent of the puszta over much of the Alföld was drastically reduced by the extensive drainage and irrigation works carried out during the nineteenth century, and it survives principally in the Hortobágy National Park, established in 1972 in eastern Hungary and centred on the village of Hortobágy in Hajdú-Bihar County.

Climate

The climate is continental. Landscape is widely cultivated, the original Puszta landscape now being found only in a few places, for example in Hortobágy National Park.

Agriculture

Most of Hungary's vegetable and grain crops are grown on the Great Plain. The region has a sandy soil and is sunny; the city of Szeged is often called City of Sunshine (Napfény városa). In addition to cattle, sheep, and pigs, the region also produces poultry and foie gras.

Fauna

Three hundred species of birds are found here.

References

References

1. Gergely, Anikó. (2008). "Culinaria Hungary". H.F. Ullmann.
2. (5 August 2006). "A napfény városa".
3. [s.n.] (2021). [https://eds.s.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=7119850c-4456-4f54-a2fa-318aa0e201f3%40redis&bdata=Jmxhbmc9ZW4tZ2Imc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=134489815&db=f6h Puszta]. ''Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia'', sixth edition. New York: Columbia University Press. Accessed January 2022.
4. 9789630583589.
5. 9781566192910
6. Cesare Della Pietà, Mariella Bussolati, Hans Silvester (May 1987). La puszta di Hortobágy (in Italian). ''Silva''. '''I''' (2): 70–85.
7. [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/474/UNESCO Hortobágy National Park - the ''Puszta'']. UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Accessed January 2022.
8. 9781402039959.

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