Natsional’nosti [Nationalities]

Below is published the chapter “Nationality” from the Russian translation of the book Hungary and Its Inhabitants (St. Petersburg, 1873) by the English historian and traveler Arthur John Peterson. The book contains interesting information about the ethnic groups that inhabited Hungary, including about the Rusins. Peterson emphasized that the Rusins in Hungary originally belonged to the Orthodox Church. Later, having joined the so-called “holy union” proclaimed by the Council of Florence, they became Greek Catholics. Officially, they were called “Catholics of the Greek Rite”. According to Peterson, the number of Rusins in Hungary was counted in different ways; in any case it was at least half a million. In the whole of the Austrian Empire, their number reached 2.500.000. Hungarian peasants called them Russians, Orosz, and inhabitants of the Russian Empire Muscovites, Muszka. In terms of their status, the Rusins were the last of the six largest nationalities of Hungary. Rusins who lived in villages located in the valleys were subjected to Magyarization. Peterson also noted that a fairly large number of people (more than 100 thousand) who considered themselves Hungarians yet belonged to the Greek Church lived in Hungary. Peterson believed these were the Magyarized Rusins.

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