The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, also Hungarian conquest or Hungarian land-taking (: "conquest of the homeland") was a series of historical events ending with the settlement of the Hungarian people in Central Europe at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. Before the arrival of the Hungarians, three early medieval powers, the First Bulgarian Empire, East Francia and Moravia had fought each other for control of the Carpathian Basin. They occasionally hired Hungarian horsemen as soldiers. Therefore, the Hungarians who dwelled in the eastern regions of the Pontic steppes were familiar with their future homeland when their "land-taking" started.