Marghita
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Marghita Margitta |
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| — Municipality — | |
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| Coordinates: 47°20′30″N 22°19′50″E / 47.34167°N 22.33056°E | |
| Country |  Romania |
| County | Bihor County |
| Status | Municipality |
| Government | |
| - Mayor | Zoltán Pocsaly (Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania) |
| Population (2002 Census) | |
| - Total | 17,291 |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| - Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Website | http://www.marghita.ro/ |
Marghita (Romanian: Marghita; Hungarian: Margitta) is a city in Bihor County, Romania.
Contents |
[edit] History
The name appears to be derived from the name "Margit" (Margaret), Saint Margaret the patron of a local church. The first time it was used in a document was in 1216. In the 14th century, it became a feudal holding of the Hungarian landlord.
In 1376 king Louis I of Hungary gave to Marghita the right of organizing a fair and it developed in the next centuries as a market town. There were several peasant revolts against the feudal system affecting Marghita in 1467 and 1514. At the beginning of the 16th century, it became, together with the whole of Bihor county and Hungary, an Ottoman province till 1692.
In 1823, a great fire destroyed half of the buildings of Marghita. After the 1848 revolution, the local peasants were no longer serfs and manufacturing and industry began to develop.
As part of the Shoah, about 1,70 Jews of Marghita were sent to concentration camps in 1944. After 1947 with the Soviets imposing a Communist government in Romania, factories and land were nationalized. Over the course of the next few years, Marghita took part in the Romanian industrialization process.
[edit] Population
According to the last Romanian census from 2002 there were 17,291 people living within the city.
Of this population, 53% are ethnic Romanians, while 43.2% are ethnic Hungarians, 2.8% ethnic Roma and 1% others.[1]
[edit] Politics
The Marghita Municipal Council, elected in the 2004 local government elections, is made up of 17 councillors, with the following party composition:
| Party | Seats | Current Council | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania | 9 | ||||||||||
| Justice and Truth Alliance | 5 | ||||||||||
| Social Democratic Party | 3 | ||||||||||
