Maramureş County

Maramureş County
Development region	Nord-Vest
Historic region	Transylvania
Capital city	Baia Mare
Population
• As of 2002	510,110
• Population density	81/km²
Area	6,304 km²
Codes
• Car numbers	MM
• ISO 3166-2:RO	RO-MM
Telephone code	(+40) x62
Web	County Council; Prefecture
	^ x is 2 or 3 depending on the numbering system employed by the phone companies on the market.;

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Maramureş (Romanian pronunciation: [maraˈmureʃ]; Hungarian: Máramaros) is a county (judeţ) of Romania, in the Maramureş region. The county seat is Baia Mare.

Văleni, overlooking Valea Izei

[edit] History

The 10th century frontier county of Borsova was founded by Stephen I of Hungary. Since then Máramaros served as the north-eastern border of the Hungarian Kingdom until 1920, the Trianon Peace Treaty.
11th century historical Maramureş counties separation from Borsova (Rom. Borşa)
1241 Tartar invasion decimated about half of the local population
14th century Duke (knyaz) Bogdan of Maramureş said to be founder of Moldova
In the Middle Ages, the historical region of Maramureş was known for its salt mines and later for its lumber
In 1920 after the Treaty of Trianon, the northern part of the county became part of newly formed Czechoslovakia. The southern part (including Sighetu Marmaţiei) became part of Romania.
For more information regarding the history see Máramaros, referring the historical Hungarian name of the county.

[edit] Demographics

In 2002, the county had a population of 510,110 and a population density of 81 inhabitants per square kilometre (210 /sq mi).

Romanians - 82% (or 441,288)^[1]
Hungarians - 9.1% (or 46,300)
Rusyns and Ukrainians - 6.7% (or 34,027)
Roma - 1.7% (or 8,913)
Germans - 0.4% (or 2,012), and others.

Year	County population^[2]
1948	321,287
1956	367,114
1966	427,645
1977	492,860
1992	540,099
2002	510,110

[edit] Geography

This county has a total area of 6,304 square kilometres (2,434 sq mi), of which 43% is covered by the Rodna Mountains, with its tallest peak, Pietrosul, at 2,303 metres (7,560 ft) altitude. Together with Gutâi and Ţibleş mountain ranges, the Rodna mountains are part of the Eastern Carpathians. The rest of the county are hills, plateaus, and valleys. The county is crossed by Tisa River and its main tributaries: Iza, Viseu, and Mara rivers.

[edit] Neighbours

MM

Suceava County to the East.
Satu Mare County to the West.
Ukraine to the North - Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast and Zakarpattia Oblast.
Sălaj County, Cluj County and Bistriţa-Năsăud County to the South.

[edit] Economy

Maramureş is known for its pastoral and agricultural traditions, largely unscathed by the industrialisation campaign that had been carried on during Romania's communist period. Ploughing, planting, harvesting, and hay making and handling are mostly done through manual labour. The county is also home to a strong mining industry of extraction of metals other than iron. The industrial plants built around Baia Mare during the communist period heavily polluted the area in the past, but recently, due to the decline of the city's industrial activity, the area is less polluted.

[edit] Tourism

Typical Wooden Church in Maramureş

The region is known for its beautiful rural scenery, local small woodwork and craftwork industry as well as for its churches and original rural architecture. There are not many paved roads in rural areas, and most of them are usually accessible.

The county's main tourist attractions: