Puszta Tour

Kecskemét was established at the meeting point of a large sandy region and a sandy yellow soil; its elevation is 120 m (394 ft) above sea level. The territory west of the city is covered by wind-blown sand, characterized by the almost parallel northern-southern sand dunes and the plain between them. At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, the pastures had become depleted. Overgrazing by cattle had destroyed the natural vegetation cover, and the movement of sand seriously endangered the town. Concentrated reforestation and planting of fruit and vines was carried out to stabilize the soil again.

Lajosmizse is situated at the meeting point of north-south and east-west routes. Once the area was covered with groves, then with wind-blown sand. The town stretches over a large area, and is still considered to be a settlement with many outlying parts. People lived here as early as the Bronze Age, and after the Magyar conquest the area became the dwelling place of the chief’s clan. Later it was a Crown possession, so that the inhabitants could freely graze their livestock on the king’s pastures. Around 1246, King Béla IV resettled Cumans whom he called back from Bulgaria, in this area destroyed during the Mongol invasion. Later, in 1596 during Turkish times, the Tartar hordes devastated the land, during the 15-year war, and the wasteland was leased by the inhabitants of Kecskemét, Nagykőrös and Jászberény for grazing. In 1702 the monarch sold the area to the Teutonic Knights, but the dwellers took joint action and redeemed the lands which had previously been obtained by the Invalides from Pest. This is the origin of the locals’ pride in the act of redemption.