The "geographical personal" Hungaricum

Territorial dispersion in the world of places of birth, biography and death of persons playing an important role in Hungarian culture

Abstract

Persons appearing in library materials have two basic geographical defining characteristics: their place of birth and place of death, which are expressed as geographical names. These places can be considered as Hungaricums regarding persons.

Only a part of the relevant persons were born or died in Hungary at any given time. A significant part of them were born and lived outside the territory of the present state but within historical Hungary, while another significant part were born outside this territory and died mostly in Hungary. The latter two features are noteworthy because, unlike with most other national cultures, relevant geographical locations abroad are likely to have a proportionately high share. This reflects an above-average inclusive feature of Hungarian culture in terms of places of birth. This proportion is outstanding for the German-speaking area.

As for the places of death, it is noteworthy that their number is above-average in the Western world, including primarily Western Europe, the United States and South America. At the same time, there is almost no continent or country/colony in the world that is not associated with a place of death. The other above-average densities appear in the Eastern theatre of war, Russia and the Soviet Union, including Central Asia and areas in the Far East.

For international comparison, accurate data are not yet available. It can be assumed that in terms of places of death the situation may be somewhat similar to Austria and Germany.