There is a good reason that the Hungarians are considered a great equestrian nation. The ancestors of the present day Hungarians, the feared Magyars, were nomadic tribes who sixteen centuries ago came from the wild steppes surrounding the Ural Mountains. Horses had a paramount importance in their lives, so it is not surprising that riding holds a central place in Hungarian history and that Hungarian culture is much closer to the steppe nations than to the surrounding Slavs. The most famed Hungarian equestrian characters were the hussars: light cavalrymen, typical of the horseriding nomadic peoples of the Euro-Asian steppes. Sly trickery was characteristic of these mounted archers' battle tactics, and this type of battle became a central part of the Magyar pillaging raids as they smashed into the borderlands of the Roman Empire under Atilla the Hun, plunging the continent into chaos. The equestrian skills of the nomad riders who founded the Hungarian nation over a millennium ago have remained a part of that culture. Arriving from the steppes, the hussars found the Hungarian Puszta to be an ideal place for their new home. The flat expanse of what today is called the Great Hungarian Plain stretches from the Danube to the country's eastern border. Puszta, meaning a bare, grassy plain, is similar to the prairies, pampas and steppes. Over the centuries, the spirit of Puszta has been etched in Hungarian art and literature and many painters and poets have been captivated by its vastness. Even visitors often feel a spiritual connection with this land stretching like an ocean of green to the horizon.