Between 1881 and 1914, Hungarian governments established at least 36 agricultural
colonies in today’s territory of Romania (nine new villages and 25 neighborhoods attached
to existing ones). After 1894, a separate government fund was created for land purchases
and the venture was entrusted to a Department of Colonization within the Ministry
of Agriculture. This article gives an archival-based account of the political, financial,
agricultural, and logistical aspects of the settlement program and compares it with
its better-researched Prussian model. Investigating it as a series of interactions
between settlers, the dedicated government agency, local potentates, and the surrounding
population, it identifies structural impediments to the endeavor. Although there was
a broad unity across political parties behind the idea of conquering new territories
for the ethnic nation, the settlement program rested on a fragile consensus within
the elite. Its expansion after 1900 was mainly due to Minister Ignác Darányi, whereas
the steps of other high officials give nuances to Hungarian nationalities policies.
When Prime Minister István Tisza dropped the program on the eve of the First World
War, it was already in a state of hibernation because the governing party had realized
that the settlers posed a political liability for them.
