The ancestors of the Hungarians migrated to this region over a thousand years ago in search of new pasture for their animals. After they settled down in the Carpathian Basin in 896 AD they preserved their way of life as cattle-breeders for a long while. Over the following centuries the country's territory became one of Europes biggest battlegrounds and the constant warfare did not favour the development of agriculture: the peasants were reluctant to plough and sow crops because they could never be certain who they would reap them for. It was easier to rescue cattle in times of trouble than grain ripening in the fields.

The custom of keeping the cattle outdoors all year round produced highly resistant strains.

This was not by chance. The climate of the Great Plain is the most extreme in Hungary: the difference between the hottest and the coldest temperatures recorded here is 72 °C. The ancient Hungarian breeds, the long-horned racka sheep and the long-horned grey cattle have been preserved in many of the nature conservation areas. They serve as living gene banks for breeders and save the breeds from extinction. The Hungarian shepherd dogs are very famous: the fearless and strong komondor and kuvasz and the intelligent, long-haired puli.  

Ópusztaszer, recalls the time of the Hungarian Conquest 1100 years ago. It is the place where, according to legend, Árpád and his chieftains campedfor 34 days and adopted the country’s first laws. This made it the site of the first Hungarian national assembly. Its memory is preserved in the National Historical Memorial Park. There is also an open-air ethnographic museum here, showing the typical settlement form of the Great Plain, the tanya, unique in Europe. Several of the most archaic types of Hungarian dwellings can also be seen here. Another attraction is one of the biggest paintings in Europe, the cyclorama by Árpád Feszty (1856- 1914), showing the entry of the Hungarians into the Carpathian Basin.  

The painting is 15 metres high and 120 metres long and its value is increased by the fact that it is one of the few intact surviving examples of a genre that was popular throughout Europe at the end of the 19^th century. They were all largely similar in size since the cycloramas were taken from city to city and displayed in structures built for the purpose. These static pictures can be regarded as precursore of the cinema and wide-screen adventure films.

The interesting feature of the cyclorama is that it stands the viewer in the centre of events to show the atmosfere of famous events and places, and even the sounds, since behind the restored Feszty cyclorama visitors can now hear the thundering of horses' hoofs, the creaking of carts and the horn calling the fighters to battle. In the foreground which "blends into" the painting, a small stream flows and objects from the period blur the boundary between the canvas and three-dimensional reality.

A century after the Hungarian Conquest, King Stephen (István) (975- 1038) - who was later made a saint for his missionari activity - organised his people, who preserved nomadic and shamanist traditions, into a strong Christian state. But over the centuries conquering armies occupied the country several times. The Mongols caused dreadful destruction in the 13^th century. In the 16^th century the Turks used more refined methods since they wanted to preserve tax-paying communities. Some of the inhabitants fled before the pillaging bands of Turkish armies and found refuge in towns placed under the rule of the Turkish sultan. These settlements - which the Turks called khas towns - were surrounded by a hedge, ditch orfence which generally provided sufficient protection against marauders. Because of their relative security these towns expanded rapidly, absorbing the razed and abandoned villages in their vicinity.

The typical settlement strutture of the region in modern times began to evolve in this period. Cattle bred on the grazing lands of the Great Plain were driven on the hoof to Italian and German market towns and this lively trade brought prosperity to the settlements along the route. The Turks ruled this region for 150 years and when they fìnally retreated the townsfolk rented land on the vast grazing lands and estates around the khas towns and began to farm. At first they occupied the areas closest to the town, but with the economic expansion they leased more and more landfrom the town, spreading out in concentrie circles. As a result the cultivated areas became increasingly remote from the dwelling places.

The first summer dwellings appeared on the lands furthest from the town: they were used as houses during the harvest and to shelter the animals in winter. Over the years these grew into separate economic units consisting of a few buildings and known as a tanya. As you travel around the Great Plain these clusters of white-washed buildings can be seen even today, stile in use as farms. As agriculture gradually replaced cattle-breeding, it brought the impoverishment of the half-wild shepherds grazing animals outdoors in all seasons, who were less able to adapt and lived outside family frames. They were called betyár - a word of Turkish origin meaning unmarried. Efforts were made to keep the unmarried shepherds away from the towns: in the 18^th century in the Kiskunság region, for example, they were allowed to spend only three days in the towns. This was the origin of the famous world of the puszta. The betyárs became penniless vagrants who lived from plunder and robbery and made merry in the inns of the puszta. Although the betyár were in reality tough and merciless outlaws, romantic legends like to portray them as noble heroes, as "good wild men" with the unspoiled morals of nature. The tales of most peoples have stories about such noble robbers who oppose the law and rob the rich but support the poor and outcasts. And although the age of the betyár has long passed, their colourful stories remain for our entertainment and instruction.