Hungary /ˈhʌŋgəri/ (help (Hungarian: Magyarország; IPA: ['mɔɟɔrorsaːg]; listen (help), officially in English the Republic of Hungary (Magyar Köztársaság listen (help, literally Magyar (Hungarian) Republic), is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU and is a Schengen state. The official language is Hungarian (or, in Hungarian, Magyar), which, according to some, is part of the Finno-Ugric family, while other theories relate it to Central Asian or Middle Eastern languages. It is one of the four official languages of the European Union that is not of Indo-European origin.

Following a Celtic (after c. 450 BC) and a Roman (9 BC – c. 4th century) period, the foundation of Hungary was laid in the late Ninth Century by the Magyar chieftain Árpád, whose great grandson Stephen I of Hungary ascended to the throne with a crown sent from Rome in 1000. The Kingdom of Hungary existed with interruptions for 946 years, and at various points was regarded as one of the cultural centers of the Western world (Charles I, Louis I, Matthias Corvinus). A significant power until the 1910s, Hungary lost over two-thirds of its territory (along with 3.3 million ethnic Hungarians) due to the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, the terms of which have been considered harsh, and even humiliating by Hungarians. The kingdom was succeeded by a Communist era (1947–1989) during which Hungary gained widespread international attention regarding the Revolution of 1956 and the seminal move of opening its border with Austria in 1989, thus accelerating the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. The present form of government is parliamentary republic (since 1989). Today, Hungary is a high-income economy, and a regional leader regarding certain markers. Its current goal is to become a developed country by IMF standards.

Hungary was one of the 15 most popular tourist destinations in the world in the past decade, with a capital regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world. The country is home to the second largest thermal lake in the world (Lake Hévíz), the largest lake in Central Europe (Lake Balaton), and the largest natural grassland in Europe (Hortobágy).

Source: CIA Factbook, Wikipedia

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