Hungarians are descended from alliance of semi-nomadic Ugric tribes named Magyars, who moved to Central Europe from southern Russia and the Black Sea coast in the 9th century AD. After emerging as a powerful kingdom and a hub of culture in the region, Hungary was subjected to Ottomans and Habsburgs from the 16th century onwards. Hungary became co-equal partner with Austria in a dual monarchy in the mid-19th century after an unsuccessful revolt against the Habsburgs in 1848.

In Transylvania, Hungarians constituted the dominant nation from the 9th century to the 20th century AD . Although being an integral part of the Hungarian crown lands, Transylvania was organized as a semi- autonomous duchy for an extended period.  In the 16th and 17th century, nationally minded Hungarian dukes of the region actively promoted Transylvanian-Hungarian literature and culture.

The Status Quo of the area was dramatically changed after World War I, when Austria-Hungary was defeated by Allied forces. Victorious states of the war were planning to split the Hungarian empire already before 1920.  On December 9th of 1919 Romania signed the convention undertaking to secure the rights of the national minorities that live on the claimed territories. This decision solidified the political course taken by Allies and in 1920 treaty of Trianon was signed. It was one of the biggest 20th century re-definitions of State borders in Central Europe: territory lost by Hungarians was redistributed to newly created states such as Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Romania. 900,000 ethnic Hungarians were subjected to Czechoslovakia, 420,000 in Serbia and 1, 6 million in Transylvania, which now belonged to Romania. The Hungarian delegation at Trianon argued for the case of self-determination as proposed by Woodrow Wilson but the Allies mainly ignored this plea for the use of referendums. The city of Sopron had to decide in a referendum whether it wanted to remain in Hungary, which the population voted for. The Treaty of Trianon also stated that those Hungarians who now lived outside of Hungary’s borders would lose their Hungarian nationality within one year of the treaty being signed in June 1920.

The new Hungary was a landlocked state and had no direct access to the Mediterranean Sea with its many ports. This geographical situation weakened the economy as any trade that required to be moved by sea had to pay tariffs simply to reach a dock to enable it to be shipped abroad. Other economic indicators were rather gloomy as well: situation of railways was dismal and agricultural production of grain went down by 70% because of numerous tolls and tariffs.  Investment to country's economy by Viennese bankers, which used to be a big source of revenues, was practically non-existent.

In Transylvania, the Hungarian language was expunged from official life and the new authorities instituted a policy of Romanianization. Cases of land grabbing and discrimination were prevalent. After a period of some autonomy, Hungarians were subjected to nationalistic policies of the regime of Ceausescu. In post-Soviet Romania, a basic treaty of 1995 on the relations between Hungary and Romania was signed. In the treaty, Hungary renounced all territorial claims to Transylvania, and Romania reiterated its respect for the rights of its minorities. Relations between the two countries improved as Romania and Hungary became EU members in the 2000s. The Hungarians living in Transylvania nowadays enjoy GDP per capita close to 10% higher than Romania's average and are actively working for their autonomy in the region.