Antal Reguli: between the West and East in Search of the Ancestral Home of the Hungarians

The scientific community of Hungary were aware that Hungarians are not indigenous population of the territory, which they called Hungary, that they came to this land. Therefore, the Hungarians since time immemorial had interested in this problem. Renewed interest in this problem arose in the early nineteenth century. It was due, on the one hand, the development of science, the emergence of the idea of Finno-Ugric kinship and, on the other hand, growth of national consciousness, the awareness of the Hungarians themselves as a separate nation and understanding its history. This issue was Central to national mobilization, the consolidation of Magyar humanitarian scientific elite. A major part in this problem solution was played by Antal Reguli, which became interested in this problem. A number of Hungarian public figures believed that the urheimat had to be sought in the East, in Russia. His stay in Sweden and Finland, communication with prominent Finnish scientists Adolf Arvidsson and Mathias Castren, studying the Finnish language only strengthened his desire to travel to Siberia. Being in Saint-Petersburg in 1841-1842 Antal Reguli was learning Russian language, communicating with academicians Carl Baer and Peter Keppen, improving his knowledge in physical anthropology, linguistics, history, and cartography. At the same time Reguli was planning an expedition and searching for expedition funding. Received a Hungarian Academy of Sciences scholarship, Antal Reguli returned to St. Petersburg in the late autumn of 1843, and finally went to a new journey to the habitats of Khanty and Mansi in the Northern Urals, which lasted up to 1845. He was the first Hungarian scholar who visited the region. He was able to visit almost all ethnolinguistic groups of Mansi, Khanty, Nenets. During this voyage substantial material on these peoples folklore and ethnography, that played a crucial role in solving the problem of Hungarians kinship with the Ob Ugrians were gathered. One of the most important scientific results of his expedition was the creation of ethnographic maps of the Northern Urals showing the locations of settlement, Mansi, Khanty, Nenets and Komi-Zyryans, and of their migrations, etc. Since Reguli's travel, the study of Ob-Ugric people became a priority in the Hungarian historical and linguistic science. After him the Hungarian scholars become frequent guests in the Urals and Western Siberia.

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