Kecskemet

The name of the city stems from the Hungarian word kecske, meaning 'goat', and -mét, meaning 'pass'.

The first archaeological trace of a human in the area is about 5,000 years old. The Sarmatians invaded the area in the 1st Anno century BC; since then, the area has been continuously inhabited by a variety of cultures. János Hornyik, the first town historian, believed that the settlement known as Partiskum of the Sarmatian Jazygian was here. The consensus among historians is now that it is more likely that permanent settlement occurred only after the Hungarian conquest. In the rarly 13th century, there were seven villages in the area, each with a population of 200–300, which were formed near the village church, a typical rural pattern. They were all destroyed by the First Mongol invasion. Some of the villages revived at the time of colonisation by the Cumans. …

Kecskemét was established at the meeting point of a large sandy region and a sandy yellow soil. Its elevation is 120 m (394 ft) above sea level. The territory west of the city is covered by wind-blown sand and is characterised by the almost parallel northern-southern sand dunes and the plain between them. In the late 18th and the early 19th centuries, the pastures become depleted. Overgrazing by cattle had destroyed natural vegetation cover, and the movement of sand seriously endangered the town. The concentrated reforestation and planting of fruit and vines were carried out to restabilise the soil. Kecskemét is in the centre of Kiskunság, one of Hungary's famous regions. The Kiskunság National Park was established in 1975 to preserve the many different regional species of plants and animals. It is a 'mosaic'-type national park and has units that are not connected. …