Karcag (former names Karczagújszállás, Kardszag (new accommodation), Karczag) is a town in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, the center of the Karcag district, the most populated settlement in the geographical, historical and ethnographic micro-region of Nagykunság.
The origin of the name
The name of the settlement was
deciphered in 1922 by the Turkish-linguist Gyula Németh, a
Turkologist-linguist. The word that gave the original name - qarssaq
- thus meant a fox of Turkish origin, originally a steppe fox.
The settlement name still used today is a geographical name
derived from a single-member personal name. The settlement probably
got its name from its former owner of the same name, who may still
have lived around 1330; from it may have come the work captains of
this region. His grandchildren, like the working captains of
Bortohma and Fábiánsebestyén, replaced Hegyesbort, which had melted
on the border of Karcag, in 1400. Karcag's accommodation was not
where the town's buildings are today: "Karcag's plot" used to be
located between the railway station and the main road 4.
Karcag's first name could therefore have been Karcagtelke; after the
depopulation of the medieval village, the settlement was revived
around today's Reformed church sometime before 1506 under the name
Karcagújszállás. The spelling of his name changed several times, but
until 1879 he retained the double word combination, suggesting
occasional depopulation and then resettlement. Later it has been
known as Swordsman, Karczag, and then since the middle of the 20th
century as Karcag.
It is located in the Great
Plain, on the plain of the Middle Tisza Region, the easternmost
settlement of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County; It is located 60-60 km
from both Szolnok and Debrecen. The Hortobágy-Berettyó canal
stretches on the northern and eastern borders, it is the only
serious river.
Neighboring settlements: from the north
Kunmadaras and Berekfürdő Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county villages; to
the northeast the Nádudvar in Hajdú-Bihar County and to the east the
towns of Püspökladány in Hajdú-Bihar; Bucsa in the Békés County from
the southeast, Kisújszállás from the south-southwest, and Kunhegyes
from the west. Its administrative area is in contact with the border
edge of Kenderes at one point in the west-southwest direction, and
there is not much that it is not adjacent to the village of
Ecsegfalva Békés county in addition to the above.
Together
with the towns of Kenderes and Kisújszállás, as well as the large
village of Kunmadaras and the village of Berekfürdő, it forms the
Karcag district, where it is based.
Karcag is the fifth
largest city in the country behind Budapest, Hódmezővásárhely,
Debrecen and Hajdúböszörmény, with a border of about 67,300 acres
(368.63 km2).
Approach
Road
The main road 4 from
Budapest to Záhony runs along the southern edge of the city center,
on the southern edge of the city center, and is the most important
road access route from Budapest-Szolnok and Nyíregyháza-Debrecen.
Among the settlements in the area, the 3401 road connects with
Kunmadaras, the 3403 road with Kunhegyes, and the 4206 road with
Bucsa and Füzesgyarmat. The western part of the city is connected to
the center and the main road 4 by the road 34 103, and the road 34
101 leads from the city center to the Forbidden Outskirts.
From the more distant, northern parts of the country, it can be
approached from the main road 3 at Füzesabony on the main roads 33,
then from Tiszafüred on the main roads 34, and from Kunmadaras on
the road 3401.
From the city bus station, in addition to the
settlements of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county and the county center,
mainly the neighboring county centers (Eger, Békéscsaba, Debrecen,
Miskolc, Szeged), the more distant, larger cities of the region (eg
Ózd, etc.) and the major tourism attractive lowland landscapes and
settlements (Lake Tisza, Szarvas, etc.) can be reached by bus. Of
course, the sprawling town also has local bus services.
Railway
MÁV's (Budapest-) Szolnok – Debrecen – Nyíregyháza –
Záhony railway line No. 100 (Budapest-) runs through the area of
the city, roughly to the west-east, which means the most important
railway connection with each of the settlements affected by the
line. The Karcag-Tiszafüred railway line 103 branches off to the
north from the line, which provides fixed track transport
connections with the northern parts of the country. Karcag can also
be reached via Püspökladány (on the Püspökladány-Biharkeresztes
railway line) with some trains to Biharkeresztes and from there to
Romania.
Karcag railway station is located in the southern
part of the city center, in relation to the current stations of line
100 between Kisújszállás railway station and Püspökladány railway
station; access to the road is provided by side road 34 302, which
branches off from road 4206. Among the previous, already closed
stops of line 100, the Karcag puszta stop (on the section towards
Kisújszállás) operated in Karcag (on the section towards
Kisújszállás) and the Apavára stop (on the section towards
Püspökladány); and line 103 also had four stops within the city
limits, in addition to the main station. These are: Karcag-Vásártér
stop on the western edge of the city, Cserhát railway station and
Karcag Ipartelep stop along the road to Kunmadaras, and Berekfürdő
stop on the northern border of the city; Of the latter, only the
fairgrounds and the Berekfürdő stops are open today.