Солтүстік-Шығыс Венгрия әкімшілік аймағы

County in north eastern Hungary

Borsod–Abaúj–Zemplén (Borsod Abaúj Zemplén vármegye, ; ) is an administrative county (comitatus or vármegye) in north eastern Hungary (commonly called "Northern Hungary"), on the border with Slovakia (Košice Region). It shares borders with the Hungarian counties Nógrád, Heves, Hajdú–Bihar and Szabolcs–Szatmár–Bereg. The capital of Borsod–Abaúj–Zemplén county is Miskolc. Of the seven statistical regions of Hungary it belongs to the region Northern Hungary. Borsod Abaúj Zemplén is the second largest county of Hungary both by area (after Bács–Kiskun) and by population (after Pest County). It is the only Hungarian county with two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (the Caves of Aggtelek Karst and Slovak Karst and the Tokaj Wine Region Historic Cultural Landscape).

The county bears the name of three historic counties of Hungary, each of them was centered around a castle. Borsod is named after the castle to which it belonged. The castle was possibly named after its first steward, Bors (in old Hungarian language the d suffix was a derivation suffix for place names, thus the name Borsod means 'place belonging to Bors.') The name Bors itself is of Hungarian origin, derived from the Turkish loan word bors, which means 'black pepper / peppercorn' or a Slavic personal name Bor(i)š, Borša. The castle itself was a motte castle, and stood near modern day Edelény. Abaúj is a shortened form of the name of its castle, Abaújvár. The Aba portion refers to the Aba clan which ruled the area in the Middle Ages, while új vár means 'new castle.' The castle stood near the village of Abaújvár. Zemplén is named after its castle as well. The name is derived from the Slovak word zem or the Slavic zemlja, meaning 'earth, soil, ground' or 'country.' The castle, like its name indicates, was a motte with earthen walls; its remnants can still be seen near the Slovak village Zemplín. Note that besides these three castles, there were other castles in the old counties which became the modern Borsod Abaúj Zemplén, such as the well known Füzérvár.

The county's coat of arms was created in 1991 from the coats of arms of the former counties now forming parts of Borsod Abaúj Zemplén. From left to right: Coat of arms of Abaúj Torna county. – Coat of arms of Zemplén county. – Coat of arms of Borsod county. – Coat of arms of Gömör / Gömör Kishont county (with its red background color changed to the same blue as used in the coat of arms of Abaúj). The flag is vertically divided into two equal sections (red and blue), with the coat of arms on it, and the county's name embroidered with gold thread under the coat of arms. Its ratio is 2:1. The use of both coat of arms and flag is regulated by the county council.

After World War I and the Treaty of Trianon Hungary had to give up its northern parts to Czechoslovakia. Abaúj Torna had to give up 48% of its area, 72% of Zemplén became part of Czechoslovakia, only Borsod remained fully within Hungary. The neighboring county of Gömör Kishont retained 7.5% of its area, and remaining parts were merged with Borsod. The county seats were Miskolc (Borsod Gömör Kishont), Szikszó (Abaúj Torna) and Sátoraljaújhely (Zemplén). Under the First Vienna Award, arbitrated by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy following the Munich Agreement, Hungary re annexed territories that has been ceded to Czechoslovakia. During World War II Kassa was the capital of Abaúj Torna. After Allied Victory in Europe, the pre 1938 borders were reinstated. The administration of the country needed to revert to pre war status quo, since most of the land grabs proved temporary. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians remaining in Slovakia were forcibly expelled. In 1950 the Hungarian parts of the former counties Borsod Gömör Kishont, Abaúj Torna and Zemplén were united, forming the county of Borsod Abaúj Zemplén, with Miskolc being the county capital. During the Socialist era the region was developed into the centre of heavy industry. Whole new towns came into existence in place of small villages (Tiszaújváros, Kazincbarcika), the industrial character of existing cities became more important (Miskolc, Ózd.) Urbanization was rapid, workers from all over the country were arriving in these cities and towns, and the population of Miskolc reached its highest level in the 1980s (around 211.000.) The end of the Socialist era and the recession of the 1990s hit hard, the unemployment rate is one of the highest of the country, and the local governments try to get over the crisis by strengthening the touristic potential. This seems to be a good idea, since Borsod Abaúj Zemplén is a geographically diverse area with rich natural and cultural treasures.

In 2015, it had a population of 667,594 and the population density was 92/km2. Year County population Change 1949 630,621 n/a 1960 725,303 15.01% 1970 776,750 7.09% 1980 809,468 (record) 4.21% 1990 761,963 5.87% 2001 744,404 2.30% 2011 686,266 7.81%2015 667,594 2.79%2018 648,216 2.99%

No. English andHungarian namesArea(km2)Population(2011)Density(pop./km2)SeatNo. ofmunicipalities1Cigánd DistrictCigándi járás 389.99 16,042 41Cigánd152Edelény DistrictEdelényi járás 717.86 33,314 46Edelény453Encs DistrictEncsi járás 378.39 21,390 56Encs294Gönc DistrictGönci járás 549.67 19,275 35Gönc325Kazincbarcika DistrictKazincbarcikai járás 341.70 66,470 195Kazincbarcika226Mezőcsát DistrictMezőcsáti járás 351.27 14,446 41Mezőcsát87Mezőkövesd DistrictMezőkövesdi járás 723.87 42,434 59Mezőkövesd238Miskolc DistrictMiskolci járás 972.80 250,530 258Miskolc399Ózd DistrictÓzdi járás 385.57 54,285 141Ózd1710Putnok DistrictPutnoki járás 391.25 19,290 49Putnok2611Sárospatak DistrictSárospataki járás 477.67 24,946 52Sárospatak1612Sátoraljaújhely DistrictSátoraljaújhelyi járás 321.38 23,058 72Sátoraljaújhely2113Szerencs DistrictSzerencsi járás 432.07 38,106 88Szerencs1614Szikszó DistrictSzikszói járás 309.25 17,507 57Szikszó2415Tiszaújváros DistrictTiszaújvárosi járás 248.87 31,842 128Tiszaújváros1616Tokaj DistrictTokaji járás 255.81 13,331 52Tokaj11 Borsod Abaúj Zemplén County 7,249.67 686,266 95Miskolc358

Due to the emphasis on industrialization during the former Socialist regime and the county's richness in brown coal, Borsod Abaúj Zemplén has become one of the leading industrial regions of the country, "the Ruhr Area of Hungary". The most important centres of heavy industry were Miskolc, Ózd, Tiszaújváros and Kazincbarcika. With the fall of the Socialist regime the industry faced a crisis, and Borsod Abaúj Zemplén is among the counties that have the highest rate of unemployment and also the lowest rates of GDP per capita in Hungary. The county is the site of the Borsod Power Plant, one of the largest biomass power plants in Hungary.