Szentes is in Csongrád County on the banks of the River Kurca, which connects the River Tisza with the River Körös.The location of the town makes it possible to approach it by train, water and air.The settlement is situated 50 kms far away from Szeged, the seat of the county.

It is a typically flat land. The backwaters and floods of the River Tisza and the living creatures of the sodic prairie and the pastures make Szentes an excellent small game hunting area. The deer living here is famous. It is the richest area in geothermic energy. There are 32 thermal wells functioning, bringing the curing 70-96 C0 water to the surface from a depth of 1,700-3,250 metres. This great source of energy determines the agriculture, industry and culture of the area.

The town and its vicinity is very rich in archeological findings.In the nearby Tûzköves the most significant idol of the Tisza culture in the New Stone Age was found. It is a terracotta statuette, the "Sickled God". There are many finding from the age of the great migrations.The relics (mainly jewellery and arms) of the kingdom of a Germanic people, the Gepids are kept in the local József Koszta Museum.

Our town has been inhabited since ancient times. The first man settled down in the area of the town on the waterless isles of the River Kurca about 7,000 years ago. At the time of the Settlement of the Hungarians (896) the tribe of Chieftain Ond populated the region. The established settlement was destroyed several times by the attacks of Cumanians and Tatars, but revived each time mainly because of the strategical and commercial importance of the Böld ferry across the River Tisza. The settlement took its name after the Szente-Mágocs family in the form of SCENTHUS, which was first mentioned in a charter in 1332. During the years of the Turkish campaign in 1564 the deed of gift by Ferdinand I refers to it as an oppidium (market town), but soon it perished again.

When the Turks were driven out, the town became crown land, then it became a property of the Baron Harruckern family. In 1730 they got the privileges of a town and to hold fairs. At that time the symbol of the palm-tree first appeared on the seal, later on the shield of the town, which expresses the strong will of the people of Szentes to fight and survive and their permanent renewal as well.

The 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century was the period of permanent prospering. In 1836 the corvée population of the town made a contract of manumission of compromise with the land owners of the town ensuring the possibility of bourgeois development. Around the compromise of 1867 and later -although the area preserved its agricultural character- urbanization started. Steam mills, sawmills and brick-works were built. In 1878 Szentes became the seat of Csongrád County, so urbanization accelerated.

Before WW I the complete embanking of the River Tisza took place; new public building were built such as the County Hall, the secondary grammar school, the Town Hall, the court, the hotel and the hospital; roadway network, new streets with solid cover, sewage and the Tisza bridge were built, and electricity was introduced.

In connection with these large-scale pieces of work strong layers of businessmen and intellectuals, industrial and argicultural workers appeared. Between the two WWs the economic development slowed down, but a significant development can be observed in the education and social life. The natural development of the town was interrupted by WW II.

After 1945 a relatively quick renewal of the economy took place, but in the following years the economy, the society and the culture became less significant. The agricultural collectivization and the central policy of location of industry brought changes in the following years after 1956, since as their effect, significant results were achieved. The agricultural and industrial products of the town became popular

in both the eastern and western markets. In 1990 the transition of Hungary started the reorganization of the local economic life, though the town preserved its agricultural character.