Makó

This article is about the Hungarian town. For other uses, see Mako (disambiguation).

Makó
Montage including images of downtown Makó
Coat of arms
Makó Location of Makó
Coordinates: 46°13′01″N 20°28′59″E / 46.217°N 20.483°E / 46.217; 20.483Coordinates: 46°13′01″N 20°28′59″E / 46.217°N 20.483°E / 46.217; 20.483
Country	Hungary
County	Csongrád
Area
- Total	229.23 km2 (88.5 sq mi)
Population (2009)
- Total	24,403
- Density	107.5/km2 (278.4/sq mi)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
- Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	6900
Area code(s)	62

Makó [ˈmɒkoː] (Romanian: Macǎu, Yiddish: מאַקאָוו Makov, German: Makowa, Slovak: Makov) is a town in Csongrád County in southeastern Hungary. It lies on the Maros River, near the Romanian border. The area of the town is 229.23 km² (89 sq mi) of which 196.8 km² (76 sq mi) is arable land. The climate is very warm with hot and dry summers. Makó and the surrounding region get the most sunshine in Hungary, about 85-90 sunny days a year. The sun shines more than 2,100 hours a year in Makó. However, the 100 year average of precipitation is only 585 millimetres (23.0 in) per year. The average medium temperature is 10.9 °C (51.6 °F).

Economy

Church in Makó

The main source of income for the population comes from agriculture

The town is famous for its onion and garlic produce. Both the climate and the soil structure make the town and its surroundings an ideal place for onion farming. Growing onions in the region goes back to the 16th century. The first records of significant garlic production goes back to the late 18th century. International recognition of the garlic grown in Makó has been prevalent since the Vienna Expo in 1873 and the Brussels Expo in 1888.

The mud of the Maros River has similar properties to some of the best in Hungary and the world. At times it is likened to that of the Dead Sea and the local spa has been one of the main attractions since 1961.

With the political changes in 1989, however, Makó lost most of its industry and unemployment (currently ca. 8%) became a serious issue. Even farmers experienced great difficulties. With the establishment of an industrial park, the town hopes to take advantage of its location at "The South-Eastern Gate of the European Union."

Makó is more recently famous due to the nearby Makó Trough, a basin-centered gas accumulation that could be one of the largest natural gas fields in continental Europe, provided the gas can be recovered economically. As of early March 2007, this had not yet been clearly demonstrated. At the 90% probability rate, Makó had certified recoverable resources of over 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas, according to a report by the Scotia Group, prepared for the field's exploration concession holder, the Canada-based Falcon Oil and Gas.

History

Once Makó used to be the capital of Csanád, a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary.

The town was once one of the largest centers of the Jewish population in Hungary. The synagogue has been rebuilt recently^[when?].

Many famous Hungarian people were born or lived in Makó. Perhaps the most recognized person among them is the American journalist, Joseph Pulitzer who was born there on April 18, 1847.

Jewish history

See also: History of the Jews in Hungary

Makov (Yiddish: מאַקאָוו) was the town in the county of Csanad. It has a total population of 33,722, of which 1,642 are Jews (1900).

Jews began to settle there about the middle of the 18th-century, under the protection of Stanislavich, the Bishop of Csanad, who, in 1740, assigned a special quarter to them. They soon formed a community, and by 1747 had established a ḥebra ḳaddisha.

The first rabbi of Mako was Judah ben Abraham ha-Levi (who occupied the rabbinate from 1778 to 1824).
He was succeeded by Salomon Ullman (1826–63). Ullman wrote a commentary on certain sections of Yoreh De'ah, under the title "Yeri'ot Shelomoh" (Vienna, 1854).
He was followed by Anton Enoch Fischer (1864–96), former rabbi of Duna-Földvar. Fischer introduced German and (later) Hungarian in his sermons.
The present (1904)^{[1904? Is this a typo?]} incumbent is Dr. A. Kecskemeti.

Mako has a Jewish school (of which Marcus Steinhardt has been one of the teachers for 40 years), established in 1851, a Jewish women's association, a Jewish students' aid society, and a Jewish women's lying-in hospital. ^[1]

Geography

The former community pasture of the town near the Maros River became part of the Körös-Maros National Park. The traditional name of the area, Csordajárás shows its former use as grazing ground for cattles.

People

See also: :hu:Híres makóiak listája

• Moritz Löw (1841–1900, Steglitz, Berlin), Jewish Hungarian-German astronomer^[2]
• Joseph Pulitzer (1847–1911), Jewish Hungarian-US journalist
• Emil Makai (1871–1901, Budapest), Jewish Hungarian poet^[3]
• József Galamb (1881–1955), Hungarian-US engineer
• André (Endre Antal Mihály) de (Sasvári Farkasfalvi Tóthfalusi) Toth (1912–2002), Hungarian-US producer
• Géza Vermes (born 1924), Jewish theologian, orientalist
• Palya Bea (born 1976), female singer (de)
• Krisztina Pigniczki
• Antal Páger
• István Dégi
• Kátai Tamás (born 1975), musician
• Béla H. Bánáthy (1919–2003), linguist, systems scientist, educator, founder of White Stag Leadership Development Program

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in Hungary

Makó is twinned with:^[4]

• Ada, Serbia^[4]
• Atça, Turkey, since May 2008^[5]
• Jasło, Poland, since June 1998^[6]
• Kiryat Yam, Israel^[4]
• Löbau, Germany^[4]
• Martinsicuro, Italy^[4]
• Miercurea Ciuc, Romania^[4]
• Radomsko, Poland^[4]
• Xinyang, China^[4]
• Zeliezovce, Slovakia^[4]

References

1. ^ This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia article "Mako", a publication now in the public domain., by Gotthard Deutsch, A. Kecskemeti
2. ^ "Löw, Moritz:". JewishEncyclopedia.com. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=571&letter=L. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
3. ^ "Makai, Emil:". JewishEncyclopedia.com. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=92&letter=M. Retrieved 2011-09-16. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} "Makó külkapcsolatai – előtérben a kultúra és a gazdaságélénkítés | Makó". Mako.hu. 2005-07-11. http://www.mako.hu/hu/node/279. Retrieved 2009-05-05. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ http://aydinim.net/news.asp?id=3832373038 (Turkish)
6. ^ "Jasło.pl - Oficjalny portal Miasta Jasła - Współpraca Międzynarodowa Jasła". Jaslo.pl. http://www.jaslo.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=107&Itemid=100. Retrieved 2009-05-05. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Official Pages of Makó (in Hungarian)
• Makó at Google Earth Community
• Pogrom Makó