The Age after the Ottoman Empire

In the second half of the 17th  century, Kanjiza was completely deserted by the Serbs: merely the walls of the ruining ancient fortification marked the village. By the fall of Otoman Empire the Roman Catholic alliance,- headed by the Habsurg dominated Austria, - liberated most of the territory of Hungary in 1686. Kanjiza was liberated on October 20 of the same year, and this day is still celebrated as the day of the municipality. During the liberation war against the Turks the Hungarians left even Martonos. The Vienna war council, depending on the state of emergency, settled first Martonos (in 1687) than -after the Karloca Peace Treaty (1699)-, Kanjiza with migrated Serbs who were engaged as border guard soldiers. The soldiers were organized in cavalrly and infantry troops and renewed the Kanjiza and Martonos fortifications that became part of the Tisa region border guard system in 1700. The newly settled Kanjiza fortification, that was called Foldvar (FEUDVAR, 1560) in the times of the Turkish Empire, was named OKANIZSA (Vetus-, Alt-, Stara Kanjiza).
During the early years of the 18th century the Turks were expelled from the left (Bansag) banks of the Tisa, so the river ceized to be a border, therefore, the Tisa border guard region was abolished in 1741 and declared a civilian region in 1751. Part of the border guards left the territory in order to keep their privilages, while a certain number stayed there: they were given land, the officers were declared noblemen and in protecting their collective rights, a Tisa priviliged district was formed, including Martonos and Kanizsa, although this district was part of the Bacs-Bodrog County. Kanizsa was awarded the title of borough and the right to establish a haven. To substitute the migrated Serbs, the Hungarian Chamber settled Hungarians from the north part of the country to Kanizsa in 1753 and to Martonos in 1771 and later, in 1772, to Horgos. The legal status of Hungarians was equalled with the Serbs in 1774 and from that time on, Okanizsa - due to the prevailing number of its population - was known also as Magyarkanizsa (Hungarian Kanizsa, while the neighbouring Rev- , later Kiskanizsa on the opposite bank of the river, was attributed with "Torok" /Turkish/ after 1699, and this name was kept even after 1718 untill recent days). The Puszta of Adorjan was anexed to Kanizsa in 1700 and the Kanizsa farmers started to utilize it in the second half of the 17th century, while later tobacco grower cotters settled and reconstructed the settlement from the Middle ages.
In the first half of the 19th century, within the privileged district, Kanizsa developed more rapidly than the neighbouring Martonos, though it still lagged behind its south neighbour, Zenta. The town was "pressed" in the corner of the Tisa by the capricious river-bed of the Koros creek from the north and an enormous meadow (once the lake Miruth) from the south, while the west border was dominated by saliferous land and a lack of plough lands. The territory that was adequate for agriculture and intensive farming, streched some 12-15 kilometers from the settlement, at the border of the so called "Orompart" area. Due to these georaphical conditions, a large number of farms were formed arround the settlement, having wealthy owners who were not taking part in the life of the borough as actively as those from Zenta. Martonos- because of its unfavourable georgaphical location and far away from the Kanizsa-Szeged road - was even in a more disadavantageous position. Because of its favourable location at the road between Szeged and Subotica and the crossroad to Zenta, Horgos developed the most rapidly. But Kanizsa, having a haven and crossed by the Subotica Temesvar "mail" road, became a busy town. The first guilds in Kanizsa were formed in 1777. The town had an outstanding mill industry as well: more than thirty mills worked at the banks of the river in the thirties, not to mention those at land and the windmills. The markets- held on Thursdays, that was awarded by a document from 1751- were quite busy . (It is worth mentioning, that the days for market nowadays, are still Thursday and Sunday in Kanjiza.)

Dobos János mgr.