Zala County

Zala (Slovene: Zalska županija or županija Zala) is an administrative county (comitatus or megye) in south-western Hungary. It is named after the Zala River. It shares borders with Croatia and Slovenia and the Hungarian counties Vas, Veszprém and Somogy. The capital of Zala county is Zalaegerszeg. Its area is 3,784 square kilometres (1,461 sq mi). Lake Balaton lies partly in the county.

History

In the 10th century, the Hungarian Nyék tribe occupied the region around Lake Balaton. Their occupation was mainly in the areas known today as Zala and Somogy counties.

Parts of the western territory of the former county of Zala are now part of Slovenia (South-Prekmurje). In 1919 it was part of the unrecognized state of the Republic of Prekmurje, which existed for just six days.

Regional structure

Cities with county rights

Cities and towns

(ordered by population, according to the 2001 census)

Zala County (former)

Zala was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in southwestern Hungary, northern Croatia and eastern Slovenia. The territory of the county comprised what is now the Hungarian county Zala and part of Veszprém county, the Croatian region of Međimurje to the south-west of it, bordered by the river Drave, and a small region around Lendava in Slovenia. The capital of the county was Zalaegerszeg.

Geography

Zala county shared borders with the Austrian land Styria and the Hungarian counties Vas, Veszprém, Somogy, Belovár-Körös and Varasd (the latter two in Croatia-Slavonia). The river Drave formed its southern border, Lake Balaton its eastern border. The rivers Mura and Zala flowed through the county. Its area was 5974 km² around 1910.

History

Zala county arose as one of the first comitati of the Kingdom of Hungary.

In 1918 (confirmed by the Treaty of Trianon 1920), the south-west of the county became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia). The remainder stayed in Hungary. Yugoslavian part of it was occupied again by Hungary between 1941 and 1945 during World War II. In 1950, as part of the Communist reforms of local government, the county's borders were re-drawn again. A small part of former Vas county, north of Zalaegerszeg, went to Zala county. The part of Zala county north of Lake Balaton went to Veszprém County.