Early history
The best known of the first city founders are early Slavs. One of their tribes � White Croats � settled the area of the modern Uzhhorod in the second half of the first millennium AD. During the 9th century a fortified castle changed into a fortified early feudal town-settlement, which became the centre of a new Slavonic principality, at the head of which was a legendary prince Laborets, who was vassal of Great Moravia.
In 895 AD Hungarian tribes, headed by their leader �rp�d, stormed the Hungvar fortress. The forces were not equal and Laborets was defeated and beheaded on the banks of the river that still carries his name.
After the arrival of the Hungarians, the small town began to extend its borders. In 1241�1242 the Tatars of Batu Khan burnt the settlement. In the early 14th century Uzhhorod showed strong resistance to the new Hungarian rulers of the Anjou dynasty. From 1318 for 360 years, the Drugeths (Italian counts) owned the town. During that period Philip Drugeth built Uzhhorod Castle. Together with the castle the city began to grow. By 1430, Uzhhorod acquired some privileges from the king and was officially called "The Privileged City of Ungvar" and became capital of Ung County.
During the 16�17th centuries there were many handicraft corporations in Uzhhorod. In this period the city was engaged in the religious fight between primarily Protestant Transylvania and Catholic Austria. In 1646 the Uzhhorod Union was proclaimed and the Greek-Catholic church was established in Subcarpathia, in a ceremony held in the Uzhhorod castle by the Vatican Aegis. In 1707 Uzhhorod was the residence of Ferenc II R�k�czi, the leader of the national-liberation war of the Hungarian people.
The beginning of the 19th century was characterized by economic changes, including the first factories in the city. The greatest influence on Uzhhorod among the political events of the 19th century was made by the Hungarian Revolution of
