the text - Corvinus Library - Hungarian History

the most important ones. Aside from raising crops, their inhabitants
had diverse occupations: they were mainly merchants to the transit
trade but were also engaged in river transport, in viticulture and
fruit-growing, as artisans, etc. They also had a significant role in
cattle- and hog-breeding. The most important strains of cattle all
originated there.
In the middle of the 16th century, the Turks struck hard at
Croatia, letting loose a flood of Croatian refugees into Hungary. A
parallel can be seen between the treatment of the Serbian and
Croatian settlers/refugees: the Croation nobles who lost their estates
received land held by the Crown. The Zrinyi family, which played
such a notable role in Hungary's history, thus became the main
players in the country's political life. Naturally, these Croatian
nobles brought in their own serfs or settled refugees on their estates.
The first big Croatian wave arrived in Hungary between 1520-1530
but between 1529 and 1532 in the sparsely inhabited counties of
Zala, Vas, Somogy, Sopron, and Moson some forty-thousand. *2
Croatians found a new home. Some thought of their stay here as
a temporary arrangement but after the fall of Buda in 1541 they had
to abandon all hope of a return. The government also felt obliged to
deal with this flood of refugees; therefore, in the 1560-70s it
systematically settled some 60-70 thousand Croatians in the counties
of Sopron, Moson, and Gyor, as well as the southern regions of
Austria. Some got as far as Sarospatak and even Moravia. It is
interesting to note that the records of the Croatians indicate, with
their names, a descriptive form of their places of origin; thus,
"Bosnian-Croat", presumably came from around Bosnia, and
"water-Croat" can be assumed to have come from the seashore. This
latter group was settled mostly in the County of Sopron, near Lake
Ferto. There, they formed the "southern-Slav crescent", a band of
connecting settlements along our western borders.*3
Together with the Serbian and Croatian massess, some
Bulgarian groups arrived too. It is hard to estimate their numbers.
After the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, great crowds of
Hungarians fled the occupied territories. In their stead, the Turks
forced Serbians to settle; some of these had even been obliged to
serve the Turkish army as auxiliaries. In exchange for their military
service, these were given exemption from taxation. This later
became one of the bone of contention between the Hungarians and
the Serbians as these auxiliary troops often ravaged the Hungarian
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