Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén

a megye in northern Hungary, near the Czechoslovak border. Area, 7,248 sq km. Population in 1968,772,000. Administrative center, Miskolc.

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén occupies the southern spurs of the eastern part of the Western Carpathians, which border on Czechoslovakia (the Cserhat and Zemplén hills and the northern part of the Bükk hills) and which reach altitudes of 900 meters; it also includes small adjacent sections of lowlands. There is a dense network of rivers, tributaries of the Tisza (Sajó, Hernad, Bodrog, and others). Broad-leaved and coniferous forests cover more than one-fifth of the megy’s area.

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is one of the most highly developed industrial regions of Hungary. Large lignite reserves (the Borsod basin) and the country’s only iron deposits (Rudóbánya) make the megye the main area of Hungary’s ferrous metal industry (factories in Miskolc, Ózd, and Bor-sodnadasd). In 1965 the megye was responsible for 100 percent of Hungary’s total output of iron ore, 19 percent of its coal, 64 percent of its production of pig iron, and 61 percent of its steel. Other major industries include machine building, glass and ceramics, textiles, and food. The chemical industry—with chemical combines in Kazincbarcika and Tizsapalkonya—produces chemical fertilizer (more than 70 percent of the country’s nitrogen fertilizer in 1965), plastics, synthetic fibers, and so forth. The main industrial center is Miskolc and its environs.

About one-half of the megye’s area is under cultivation. There are crops of wheat, corn, barley, rye, and oats, and on the southern slopes of the mountains there are truck gardens and vineyards (Tokay grapes). There is also a sugar beet crop. The meat and dairy industry has 160,000 head of cattle, hogs, and sheep.