{{Hongaarsecomitaat 
|naam = Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén
|locatie = center|250px|Locatie van Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén
|regio = Noord-Hongarije
|hoofdstad =  Miskolc
|oppervlakte = 7.010
|inwoners = 560.279 (2001<ref>[http://www.statoids.com/uhu.html Census 1-2-2001]</ref>)
|bevolkingsdichtheid = 72
|kistersegek = 15
|gemeentes = 355
}}
'''Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén''' is een Heves in het zuidwesten en, over een zeer korte afstand, Nógrád in het westen en Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok in het zuiden. De hoofdplaats is Miskolc.

De op een na grootste stad in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is andere plaatsen hebben de status van stad, waarvan waarschijnlijk het wijnstadje Tokaj buiten Hongarije het bekendste is.

==Grondgebied==
De drievoudige naam van het comitaat wijst erop dat Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén een samenvoeging is van verschillende oude comitaten: het kwam tot stand uit een fusie van Zemplén, waarvan Borsod-Gömör-Kishont ook het resultaat van een samenvoeging was. In 1920 had Hongarije 92,5% van Gömör-Kishont, 72% van Zemplén en 48% van Abaúj-Torna aan de nieuwe republiek Tsjecho-Slowakije verloren. Borsod en het stukje Gömör-Kishont waren daarop meteen samengevoegd, en in 1950 kwamen de resten van Zemplén en Abaúj-Torna erbij. De hoofdstad van Zemplén was tot dat jaar Sátoraljaújhely en die van Abaúj-Torna Szikszó (vanaf 1920: de oude hoofdstad Košice (Hongaars: ''Kassa'') was Tsjecho-Slowaaks geworden).

==Kistérségek (deelgebieden)==
{|
|- valign=top |
|
*Abaúj–Hegyköz
*Bodrogköz
*Edelény
*Encs
*Kazincbarcika
*Mezőcsát
*Mezőkövesd
*Miskolc
| width=25 | 
|
*Ózd
*Sárospatak
*Sátoraljaújhely
*Szerencs
*Szikszó
*Tiszaújváros
*Tokaj
|}

==Steden en dorpen==
===Stad met comitaatsrecht===
*Miskolc

===Andere steden===
''(gesorteerd naar bevolkingsomvang, volgens de census van 2001)''
{|
|
*Ózd (39.114)
|width=15|
|
*Mezőcsát (6.578)
|-
|
*Kazincbarcika (32.934)
|width=15|
|
*Szikszó (6062)
|-
|
*Sátoraljaújhely (18.352)
|width=15|
|
*Emőd (5471)
|-
|
*Mezőkövesd (17.995)
|width=15|
|
*Tokaj (5.155)
|-
|
*Tiszaújváros (17.581)
|width=15|
|
*Nyékládháza (5.021)
|-
|
*Sárospatak (14.718)
|width=15|
|
*Szendrő (4.355)
|-
|
*Sajószentpéter (13.343)
|width=15|
|
*Borsodnádasd (3.605)
|-
|
*Edelény (11.220)
|width=15|
|
*Abaújszántó (3.422)
|-
|
*Szerencs (10.213)
|width=15|
|
*Cigánd (3.299)
|-
|
*Putnok (7.625)
|width=15|
|
*Gönc (2.254)
|-
|
*Felsőzsolca (7.157)
|width=15|
|
*Pálháza (1.114)
|-
|
*Encs (7.000)
|width=15|
|
|}

{{Infobox Hungarian county
|name    = Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén
|map     = HU county Borsod Abauj Zemplen.svg
|region  = Northern Hungary
|seat    = Miskolc
|area    = 7247
|population = 739.143
|density = 102
|cities  = 355
}}
left|100px|County coat of arms.

'''Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén''' () is the name of an administrative county (Nógrád, Heves, seven statistical regions of Hungary it belongs to the region Northern Hungary.

Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is the second largest county of Hungary both by area (after Bács-Kiskun) and by population (after Pest County).

==Origins and meanings of name==
The county bears the name of three historic counties of Hungary, each of them was centered around a castle.

* Borsod is named after the castle it belonged to. The castle was possibly named after its first steward, Bors (in old Hungarian language the -d suffix was a derivation suffix for place names, thus the name "Borsod" means "belonging to Bors".) The name ''bors'' itself is of Turkish origin and means "pepper" both in old and modern Hungarian language. The castle itself was a motte castle, and stood near modern-day Edelény.
* Abaúj is a shortened form of the name of its castle, ''Abaújvár''. The "Aba" part refers to the Aba clan which ruled the area in the middle age, while "új vár" means "new castle". The castle stood near the village of Abaújvár.
* Slovak word ''zem'' or the Slavic ''zemlja'', meaning earth, soil, ground or country. The castle, like its name indicates, was a Zemplín.

==Geography==
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is one of the most geographically diverse areas of Hungary. It lies where the Northern Mountains meet the Great Hungarian Plain, thus the northern parts of the county are mountainous – with some of the highest peaks and deepest caves in the country –, the southern parts are flat. The average temperature is lower than that of the country, the average humidity is higher (7–800 mm/year.) The region holds the country's record for lowest temperature: -35°C, February 16, 1940, the town of Görömböly-Tapolca (now Miskolctapolca.)

===Rivers===
* Tisza, which forms a natural border between Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg countries
* Sajó, a tributary to Tisza
* Bodrog, a tributary to Tisza
* Hernád, a tributary to Sajó

===Highest points===
* Istállós-kő, Bükk Mountains (959 m.)
* Nagy-Milic, Zemplén Mountains (896 m.)

==Economy==
Due to the emphasis on Socialist regime and the county's richness in brown coal, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén has become one of the leading industrial regions of the country, "the Ruhr Area of Hungary". The most important centres of heavy industry were Miskolc, Ózd, Tiszaújváros and Kazincbarcika. With the fall of the Socialist regime the industry faced a crisis, and Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén is among the counties that have the highest rate of unemployment and also the lowest rates of GDP per capita in Hungary. The region Northern Hungary is among the five regions having the lowest GDP in the European Union.

40% of the area is arable land.

==History==
Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county was created after Borsod-Gömör-Kishont, Zemplén. (see also: 1950 Administrative Reform in Hungary

===From the Conquest until the Turkish occupation (900s–1526)===
Before the Conquest of Hungary (late 9th century) the area was inhabited by comitatus (Hungarian: ''vármegye'' – "castle county", since each of them belonged to a castle) came into existence during the Middle Ages. Borsod county belonged to the Castle of ''Borsod'', Abaúj belonged to the Castle of ''Újvár'' (in the modern village of Abaújvár) and Zemplén belonged to the Castle of ''Zemplén'' (today in Slovakia.)

At this time the area of Borsod also included the later county Torna, and Abaúj also included the later counties Šariš and Heves. In the 12th century the former Abaúj comitatus was split into Abaúj, Heves and Sáros counties, while Torna was separated from Borsod. For the next hundreds of years the borders remained unchanged.

About two third of the areas of these counties were royal property, the others were ruled by clans, for example the Miskóc clan (after whom the city of Miskolc was named.) The area was inhabited mostly by castle serfs and foreign settlers (Germans.) By the 12th century more and more areas were owned by noble families and the Church. Most of Borsod was ruled by the Bors-Miskóc clan, while Abaúj was the estate of the Aba clan.

By the 14th century most of the area was owned by oligarchs. King Charles Robert strengthened his rule by curbing the power of these oligarchs. One of his largest enemies, Amadé of the Aba clan was the de facto ruler of Northern Hungary. Charles Robert defeated Amadé in the Battle of Rozgony in 1312, and regained power over Northern Hungary.

The differences between towns and villages became important during the Anjou age of Hungary. In Borsod and Abaúj the Free Royal Town of Kassa (today's Louis the Great, it was one of the favourite residences of the royal family.

In the 16th century wine growing gained more importance. Today Tokaj-Hegyalja in Zemplén is one of the most important and famous wine districts of Hungary, home of the famous Tokay wine (named after the town Tokaj, the centre of the wine district.)

===From the Turkish occupation until the First World War (1526–1914)===
After the Turks occupied more and more of the Southern territories of Hungary, the area of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, as the northernmost part of the country, became an important area. After the Turkish occupation ended, and Hungary became part of the Habsburg empire, the area – because of its distance from Austria – was the main base of the resistance, and held this status until the Ausgleich ("Compromise"), when Hungary, formerly a mere province of the Empire, became an equal partner with Austria (1867). The family of Francis II Rákóczi (leader of the Revolution against Habsburg rule in the early 18th century) had estates here, and the revolution itself was organised from here.

The region also had cultural importance. The language reformer Ferenc Kazinczy.

During the 18th century several towns bought their freedom from their feudal landowners. New guilds were formed, manufactures were built, mines were opened, glassworks and forges were built. Miskolc began to catch up with Kassa and take over the role as the leading city of the region, and because of this Borsod was the fastest developing county of the three counties. Lots of foreign settlers arrived, Slovakians, Greeks, Germans, Russians – even today there are whole villages with significant number of them. According to the census of 1787 Borsod, Abaúj and Zemplén had almost 500.000 inhabitants.

After the Ausgleich Northern Hungary – just like the other parts of the country – experienced an era of prosperity and fast development. New factories, railway lines were built, the population grew. In 1882 Abaúj county was merged with Torna, and was renamed Abaúj-Torna.

===From 1914 to today===
After World War I and the treaty of Trianon Hungary lost its northern parts to Czechoslovakia. Abaúj-Torna lost 48% of its area, Zemplén lost 72%, only Borsod remained intact. The neighboring county of Gömör-Kishont lost 92.5% of its area, the remaining parts were merged with Borsod. The county seats were Miskolc (Borsod-Gömör-Kishont), Szikszó (Abaúj-Torna) and Sátoraljaújhely (Zemplén).

Under the First Vienna Award Hungary got the lost territories back. During World War II Kassa was the capital of Abaúj-Torna. After Hungary lost the war, the pre-1938 borders were reinstated. The administration of the country needed to be completely reorganised, since most of the border counties were cut apart. In 1950 the Hungarian parts of the former counties Borsod-Gömör-Kishont, Abaúj-Torna and Zemplén were united, forming the county of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, with Miskolc being the county capital.