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Geography
Hungary occupies the Carpathian Basin, a vast plain at the centre of Eastern Europe. The River Danube divides Hungary's 93,030sq km into the Great Plain, the puszta, on the east and Transdanubia (Nagyalföld) on the west. The Great Plain is, in size and appearance, reminiscent of the Ukrainian steppes and the American prairie. Hungary's 'mountains' are little more than hills, seldom exceeding 1,000m in height. The highest peak is Kékes (1,014m) in the Mátra range northeast of Budapest. Much of Hungary is less than 200m above sea level. Lake Balaton, southwest of Budapest, is the largest freshwater lake in Europe. Economy
Budapest is the commercial and industrial heart of Hungary. A burgeoning service sector, partly the result of booming tourism, is a major employer, though traditional manufacturing industries such as textiles, chemicals, iron and steel, also employ a significant part of the population. With the advent of the free-market economy, Hungary has attracted substantial foreign investment, most noticeably in the sectors of car assembly, high-tech electronics, and light manufacturing. Language
Magyar, the language of Hungary, is part of the Finno-Ugric language group, distantly related to Finnish, as well as to about a dozen or so other minor languages in Russia and western Siberia. It is a difficult language at which a guess can lead to real confusion. German, which up untill now has been Hungarians' second language, is now being overtaken by English, especially among the young. Climate
Budapest experiences a temperate continental climate characterised by cold winters (the average temperature drops to -2°C) and hot summers, when the average temperature rises to 22°C, but expect much higher temperatures (around 30°C) and be prepared for oppressive humidity, especially in August.
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