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Hortobágy National Park, Hungary

The 800 km2 Hortobágy national park in eastern Hungary is rich in cultural history and folklore (pronounced [ˈhortobaːɟ] in Hungarian). Part of the Alföld (Great Plain), the park was chosen as a World Heritage Site in 1999 after being named a national park in 1973 (the first in Hungary).The Hortobágy is the largest semi-natural grassland in Europe and the largest protected area in Hungary.Up until recently, it was thought that the current structure and pH of the soil were caused by the clear-cutting of massive woods during the Middle Ages, followed by actions to regulate the Tisza River's flow.Alkalinization in Hortobágy is said to have begun ten thousand years ago, when the Tisza first swept across the Great Hungarian Plain, severing numerous streams from their Northern Mountain origins.

Hortobágy is much older. During the Ice Age, grazing animals and wild horses completed the structure, and then domesticated animals took over.The site's landscape, long cultural history (spanning over four millennia), and evidence of traditional pastoralism practices led to its inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999.

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