Pannonian Basin

The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large, mainly lowland area in southeastern Central Europe, briefly described as a sedimentary basin. It was the core territory of the historical Kingdom of Hungary. Under the geopolitically changed conditions created by World War I and the ensuing Treaty of Trianon, the geomorphological term Pannonian Plain was also used for roughly the same region, referring to the lowlands in the area occupied by the Pannonian Sea during the Pliocene. However, Hungarian geographers consider the term "Pannonian Plain" not only unhistorical but also topographically highly erroneous. Regarding the name as such, they are arguing in terms of ancient history, namely that the northern and eastern boundary line of the namesake Roman province of Pannonia was formed by the River Danube. The Roman province Pannonia was bounded on the north and east by the Danube river, thus the Great Hungarian Plain was not part of that province. Situated at the westernmost end of the Eurasian Steppe, the Carpathian Basin historically served as a settlement zone for various peoples migrating westward across the Steppe, including the Huns, Avars and Magyars, and later for groups such as the Pechenegs and Cumans.