The Hungarian tribes arrived to the Carpathian Basin with the last wave of the Great Migration at the end of the IXth century (see their route on this map). Under the leadership of Árpád the Hungarians easily conquered the sparsely populated territory. Some critical minds (always looking for the bad side of everything) do not miss the chance to point out here that the Hungarians were actually chased by another nomadic tribe, the Petchenegs. Anyway, in the first century after their settlement the Hungarians were leading regular raiding campaigns to the West and to the South, thus reaching the same reputation in continental Europe as the Vikings in coastal areas. As you can imagine, they were very popular indeed!

A famous XIX c. painting about Árpád (by another Árpád, FESZTY Árpád) and the six other chieftains leading the Hungarians into their new homeland. Árpád became the ruler of the Hungarians by uniting seven Hungarian tribes. According to the tradition the seven chieftains sealed the union by the symbolic act of drinking from each other's blood. (See another painting by SZÉKELY Bertalan ) .