Bánkuta

Not to be confused with Bánkút ski resort in Northern Hungary.

Bánkuta or Bánkút was a Puszta, praedium, formerly uninhabited place in South-Eastern Hungary. During the Middle Ages it was a village, its name derived from "bán" (leader) and "kút" (fountain, well). It is possible that it was founded by János Maróthy III or bán László Maróthy. By 1488 it is a royal possession, but during repeated wars with the Turks, it is destroyed. In 1823 there were only 12 inhabitants on the Bánkút puszta.

The community is resurrected starting in 1843. On 20 November 1844 it is officially resettled with tobacco farmers (renteers) on the north side of the road to Kamarás. It appears they came from the nearby Almáskamarás village and also from the Heves county, in northern Hungary. In 1851, Hungarian historian Elek Fényes described Bánkuta as having a population of 1,389 Roman Catholic Hungarians, with 52.8% of the village land being dedicated to growing tobacco. He also describes four farm stables, as well as a castle.

The community is again depopulated in 1852 by the landlord Samuel Wodianer, son of Philip Wodianer, who decided to stop the tobacco business given the decline in business profitability. He dismantled the whole village, with support from 150 soldiers and a few police officers, thus putting an end to Bánkút (Márki I. 223, II. 738 and Fényes I. 85). Of the 171 families living there, only six families were left. About 71 houses were also destroyed by the army on 9 March 1852, in an attempt to force the farmers to pay their duties to the landlord and evacuate the village (this evacuation was made permissible under the stipulations of the contract signed between the settled farmers and the landlord; the contract was in force between 1843 and 1846, when it expired). About 87-89 or even 92 families (one quarter of the families) found refuge near Zimand Ujfalu, founding a new village, called Bánkút-Zimand, later named Zimand-Bánkút and finally Zimandköz, today a village in Romania, called Zimandcuz. Most of families from Bánkút moved to Nagykamaras.

The former village, Bánkút Puszta, with only 36 inhabitants left in 1855, is again mentioned in the second military mapping of 1870-79, with the most recent known inhabitants settling in from the nearby Rózsa-major. Until 1920 was part of the Arad county. Today, it is a village in Békés county.

Chronology of the settlement's names

  • 1488: Banchwtha (Csánki I. 726)
  • 1557: Bánkuta (Káldy-Nagy, 27
  • 1567: Bánkút (Káldy-Nagy, 291)
  • 1766-85: Puszta Bankuta (Josephinische Aufnahme 1766-85. Magyarország I. katonai térképe. BmL., Gyula)
  • 1785: Praedium Bankuta (Mappa Ideális I. Comitatus Békésiensis. Anno 1785. Per Iosephum Vertics)
  • 1870-79: Bánkút Puszta (Magyarország II. katonai felvétele 1870-79. BmL., Gyula)
  • 1880-91: Bánkút Puszta (Magyarország III. katonai felvétele 1880-91. BmL., Gyula)
  • 1900: Puszta Bánkút (Magyarország távolságmutató térképe 1900. OSzK Térképtára)