Kiskunfélegyháza lies in the heart of the region between the Danube and Tisza rivers and is the historical center of Little Cumania. Having been laid waste by the Turks in the 16th C, it was 1774 before the town flourished once more; in that year it was granted its municipal charter and thenceforth
developed into a thriving commercial town with increasing industry.
This historical area of land between the Danube and the Tisza on the Hungarian Plain was named after the Turkish-speaking nomadic people, the Cumans, who originally came from the steppes of southern Russia.
Driven out by the Mongols in the early 13th C, Cuman tribes found their way on to the Hungarian Plain and, after being converted to Christianity, gradually became integrated with the Magyars. In the 19th C, Little Cumania (Kiskunság) became one of the major agricultural regions and earned the name of "The Fruit Garden of Hungary". Most of the people are still engaged in agriculture, although in the late 1960s oil and natural gas were discovered here and the chemical, plastic and textile industries became attracted to Little Cumania.