SOMOGY

megye (county), southwestern Hungary. It extends from the southern shore of Lake Balaton to the Yugoslav frontier with an area of 2,331 square miles (6,036 square km). Once known for its combination of great landed estates and poverty-stricken peasants, it initiated the development of cooperative farms in the 20th century. The main crops are now rye, potatoes, sugar beets, and tobacco. Pigs and sheep are raised, and the swineherds and shepherds developed an art of intricate wood carving for which Somogy is nationally famous. The Lake Balaton shoreline is a recreation area, with Sifok the local focus. Kaposvr (q.v.), the megye seat, is the principal market town. In the Vlgysg district the population is mixed Magyar and German with migrants from Transylvania, Bukovina, and the Great Alfld. There is a small petroleum and natural-gas field in southern Somogy, around Babcsa. Pop. (1990 prelim.) 344,925.