Somogy County

Somogy (Slovene: Šomodska županija) is an administrative county (comitatus or megye) in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary.

Somogy county

Somogy county lies in south-western Hungary, on the border with Croatia. It stretches between the river Dráva and the southern shore of Lake Balaton. It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Zala, Veszprém, Fejér, Tolna and Baranya. It is the most sparsely populated county in Hungary. The capital of Somogy county is Kaposvár. Its area is 6036 km².

History

Somogy was also the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory, which was slightly larger than that of present Somogy county, is now in south-western Hungary. The capital of the county was Kaposvár.

Regional structure

City with county rights

Towns

(ordered by population, according to the 2012 census)

Somogy County (former)

Somogy was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory, which was slightly larger than that of present Somogy county, is now in south-western Hungary. The capital of the county was Kaposvár.

Geography

Somogy county shared borders with the Hungarian counties Zala, Veszprém, Tolna, Baranya, Verőce and Belovár-Körös (the latter two part of Croatia-Slavonia). It covered the southern shore of Lake Balaton and the region south of the lake. The river Drave formed most of its southern border. Its area was 6530 km² around 1910.

History

In the 10th century, the Hungarian Nyék tribe occupied the region around Lake Balaton, mainly the areas what are known today Zala and Somogy counties. Somogy county arose as one of the first comitatus of the Kingdom of Hungary, in the 11th century.

Demographics

1900

In 1900, the county had a population of 345,586 people and was composed of the following linguistic communities:

Total: