Szolnok

Szolnok (sôl`nôk), city (1991 est. pop. 78,700), E central Hungary, at the confluence of the Tisza and Zagyva rivers. It is a river port and a road and rail junction. Manufactures include furniture, textiles, chemicals, and paper. An old settlement, Szolnok was a flourishing salt-trading center from the onset of Arpad rule (late 9th cent.) until the 19th cent. The city also gained historical importance as a fortress disputed between the Magyars and the Turks. Szolnok has a large Franciscan convent, a college of engineering, and an artists' colony, founded in the 19th cent. Nearby are medicinal baths.

---

Szolnok 

a megye (county) in Hungary, located along the middle Tisza River, in the central and driest part of the Alfold. Area, 5,600 sq km. Population, 450,000 (1970). The administrative center is the city of Szolnok.

Szolnok’s economy has acquired an industrial-agrarian character as a result of socialist industrialization. The right bank is primarily farmland. The chief agricultural products are grains, mainly corn and hard varieties of wheat, as well as barley and rye. Sugar beets, sunflowers, and rice are also grown. The interfluve between the Zagyva and Tisza rivers is a major area for the breeding of dairy animals; swine and poultry are also raised.

In the past, industry in Szolnok was characterized by the processing of local agricultural products, primarily flour milling, sugar refining, and distillation. Today it is distinguished by the predominance of heavy industry. Machine-building enterprises include plants that produce agricultural machinery in Szolnok and refrigerators and construction machinery in Jäszbereny. Inorganic chemical enterprises include the Tisza Chemical Combine in Szolnok. Petroleum and gas are extracted in the county. Footwear enterprises include a factory in Martfii that produces approximately 7 million pairs of footwear annually. Szolnok also has pulp and paper, clothing, and wood-products industries.

---

Szolnok 

a city in central Hungary, the administrative center of Szolnok Megye (county). Population, 61,400 (1970).

Szolnok is an important transportation junction. It is a port on the Tisza River at the influx of the Zagyva. The Tisza Chemical Combine produces sulfuric acid, phosphatic fertilizers, dyes, and detergents. The city has steam-powered mills, and sugar and dairy goods are among the products produced. Pulp-and-paper, sawmilling, and furniture industries are also located here, as are enterprises that manufacture agricultural machinery and electrical engineering products. Szolnok also has clothing and tobacco factories and a large railroad repair shop.