ABSTRACT
Pecsely is in the Transdanubian part of Hungary, inland from the shore of Lake Balaton. It nestles in a small valley surrounded by gentle hills that open towards the lake like an amphitheatre. The enclosing hills form a natural boundary separating the basin from the surrounding villages and marking a natural limit to the hatar, that is, land belonging to the village. The geographic unity of the Pecsely valley draws attention to the rigidity of the socially created boundaries that kept apart some tiny local communities in the basin until 1940. The Pecsely valley is not located directly on the shores of Lake Balaton, but inland, in what may be described as the second ring of villages surrounding it. The economic and landownership structure in each local unit of the valley found its way into stereotypic definitions. Several trends working in opposing directions may be identified among developments in the Pecsely valley in the first half of the twentieth century.
