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* [http://www.ce-review.org/99/14/lovatt14.html ''Tolerant Transylvania - Why Transylvania will not become another Kosovo''], Katherine Lovatt, in Central Europe Review, Vol 1, No 14 27 September 1999.
* [http://www.ce-review.org/99/14/lovatt14.html ''Tolerant Transylvania - Why Transylvania will not become another Kosovo''], Katherine Lovatt, in Central Europe Review, Vol 1, No 14 27 September 1999.
* [http://www.sibiweb.de/geschi/7b-history.htm ''The History Of Transylvania And The Transylvanian Saxons''] by Dr. Konrad Gündisch, Oldenburg, Germany
* [http://www.sibiweb.de/geschi/7b-history.htm ''The History Of Transylvania And The Transylvanian Saxons''] by Dr. Konrad Gündisch, Oldenburg, Germany
* [http://depts.washington.edu/cartah/text_archive/boner/toc_pag.shtml ''Transylvania, its Products and its People, by Charles Boner, 1865'']
* [http://depts.washington.edu/cartah/text_archive/boner/toc_pag.shtml ''Transylvania, its Products and its People'']], by [[Charles Boner]], 1865
*{{hu icon}} [http://www.familyhistory.ro/index.php?id=20061130erdelyi_csaladt_ Transylvanian Family History Database]
*{{hu icon}} [http://www.familyhistory.ro/index.php?id=20061130erdelyi_csaladt_ Transylvanian Family History Database]


Revision as of 17:00, 24 December 2014

"Siebenbürgen" redirects here. For other uses, see Transylvania (disambiguation).
Transylvania
Transilvania/Ardeal Template:Ro icon
Erdély Template:Hu icon
Siebenbürgen Template:De icon
Historical region of Romania
Apuseni Mountains near Arieșeni, Alba County
Apuseni Mountains near Arieșeni, Alba County
Coat of arms of Transylvania
Coat of arms
Nickname: 
The Land Beyond the Forest
  Transylvania proper
  Banat, Crișana and Maramureș
Country Romania
Area
 • Total100,287 km2 (38,721 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total6,608,586
 • Density66/km2 (170/sq mi)
DemonymTransylvanian
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Romanian Orthodox wooden church in Geogel, Alba County
Sirnea in Brașov County

Transylvania (Romanian: Ardeal or Transilvania, Hungarian: Erdély, German: Siebenbürgen, Latin: Transsilvania) is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical regions of Crișana, Maramureș, and Romanian part of Banat. The region of Transylvania is known for the scenic beauty of its Carpathian landscape and its rich history. In the English-speaking world it has been commonly associated with vampires,[1][2][3] chiefly due to the influence of Bram Stoker's famous novel Dracula as well as the many later film adaptations.

Etymology

Main article: Historical names of Transylvania

In Romanian, the region is known as Ardeal (pronounced [arˈde̯al]) or Transilvania (pronounced [transilˈvani.a]); in Hungarian as Erdély (pronounced [ɛrde:j]); in German as Siebenbürgen (pronounced [ˈzi:bənˌbʏrgən] ⓘ); and in Turkish as Transilvanya (pronounced [tɾanˈsilˈvaˈnja]) but historically as Erdel or Erdehstan; see also other denominations.

  • Transylvania was first referred to in a Medieval Latin document in 1075 as ultra silvam, meaning "beyond the forest" (ultra (+accusative) meaning "beyond" or "on the far side of" and the accusative case of sylva (sylvam) "woods, forest"). Transylvania, with an alternative Latin prepositional prefix, means "on the other side of the woods". Hungarian historians claim that the Medieval Latin form Ultrasylvania, later Transylvania, was a direct translation from the Hungarian form Erdő-elve (rather than the Hungarian being derived from the Latin).[4] That also was used as an alternative name in German überwald (13-14th centuries) and Ukrainian Залісся (Zalesja).
  • The German name Siebenbürgen means "seven fortresses", after the seven (ethnic German) Transylvanian Saxons' cities in the region. This is also the origin of the region's name in many other languages, such as the Polish Siedmiogród and the Ukrainian Семигород (Semyhorod).
  • The Hungarian form Erdély was first mentioned in the 12th-century Gesta Hungarorum as Erdeuleu (in modern script Erdőelü). Erdel, Erdil, Erdehstan, the Turkish equivalents, were borrowed from this form as well.
  • The first known written occurrence of the Romanian name Ardeal appeared in a document in 1432 as Ardeliu.[5]

History

Main article: History of Transylvania
Saxon fortified church of Biertan, part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Transylvania has been dominated by several different peoples and countries throughout its history. It was once the nucleus of the Kingdom of Dacia (82 BC–106 AD). In 106 AD the Roman Empire conquered the territory, systematically exploiting its resources. After the Roman legions withdrew in 271 AD, it was overrun by a succession of various tribes, bringing it under the control of the Carpi (Dacian tribe), Visigoths, Huns, Gepids, Avars, Slavs and Bulgarians. It is a subject of dispute whether elements of the mixed Daco–Roman population survived in Transylvania through the Dark Ages (becoming the ancestors of modern Romanians) or the first Vlachs/Romanians appeared in the area in the 13th century after a northward migration from the Balkan Peninsula.[6][7] There is an ongoing scholarly debate over the ethnicity of Transylvania's population before the Hungarian conquest (see Origin of the Romanians).

John Hunyadi, voivode of Transylvania in the 16th century

The Magyars conquered much of Central Europe at the end of the 9th century. According to Gesta Hungarorum, Transylvania was ruled by Vlach voivode Gelou after the Hungarians arrived. The Kingdom of Hungary established a partial control over Transylvania in 1003, when king Stephen I, according to legend, defeated the prince named Gyula.[8][9][10][11] Transylvania was occupied by Hungarians in several stages between the 10th and 13th centuries[12][13] Between 1003[dubious – discuss] and 1526, Transylvania was a voivodeship in the Kingdom of Hungary, led by a voivode appointed by the King of Hungary.[citation needed] After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of János Szapolyai which, in 1571, was transformed into the Principality of Transylvania ruled primarily by Calvinist Hungarian-speaking princes. However, ethnic groups that lived in this principality also included numerous Romanians and Germans. For most of this period, Transylvania, maintaining its internal autonomy, was under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire.

The Habsburgs acquired the territory shortly after the Battle of Vienna in 1683. In 1687, the rulers of Transylvania recognized the suzerainty of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I, and the region was officially attached to the Habsburg Empire. The Habsburgs acknowledged Principality of Transylvania as one of the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen,[14] [dubious – discuss] but the territory of principality was administratively separated[15][16] from Habsburg Hungary[17][18][19] and subjected to the direct rule of the emperor's governors.[20] In 1699 the Turks legally conceded their loss of Transylvania in the Treaty of Karlowitz; however, some anti-Habsburg elements within the principality submitted to the emperor only in the 1711 Peace of Szatmár. After the Ausgleich of 1867, the Principality of Transylvania was abolished and its territory was absorbed into Transleithania[9][11] or the Hungarian part of the newly established Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The National Assembly in Alba Iulia (December 1, 1918) which called for the region's union with Romania

Following defeat in World War I, Austria-Hungary disintegrated. The ethnic Romanian majority in Transylvania elected representatives, who then proclaimed Union with Romania on December 1, 1918. The Proclamation of Union of Alba Iulia was adopted by the Deputies of the Romanians from Transylvania, and supported one month later by the vote of the Deputies of the Saxons from Transylvania. In 1920, the Treaty of Trianon as a result of the war, established a new border between Romania and Hungary, leaving the whole of Transylvania within the Romanian state. Hungary protested against the new borders, as over 1,600,000 Hungarian people (who were a minority in Transylvania in comparison with 2,800,000 Romanians)[21] were living on the Romanian side of the border, mainly in Székely Land of Eastern Transylvania, and along the newly created border. In August 1940, Hungary gained about 40% of Transylvania by the Vienna Award, with the aid of Germany and Italy. That territory was assigned back to Romania in 1945 and this was confirmed in the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties.[9]

Geography and ethnography

Romanian ethnographic regions (Transylvania-red; Maramureș-blue; Sǎtmar-green; Crișana-yellow; Banat-purple)
Hungarian ethnographic regions (King's Pass - yellow; Western Transylvania - green; Eastern Transylvania - blue)

The Transylvanian plateau, 300 to 500 metres (1,000-1,600 feet) high, is drained by the Mureș, Someș, Criș, and Olt rivers, as well as other tributaries of the Danube. This core of historical Transylvania roughly corresponds with nine counties of modern Romania. Other areas to the west and north, which also united with Romania in 1918 (inside the border established by peace treaties in 1919-20), are since that time widely considered part of Transylvania.

See also Administrative divisions of the Kingdom of Hungary. In common reference, the Western border of Transylvania has come to be identified with the present Romanian-Hungarian border, settled in the Treaty of Trianon, although geographically the two are not identical.

Administrative divisions

The area of the historical Voivodeship is 55,146 km2 (21,292 sq mi).[22][23]

The regions granted to Romania in 1920 covered 23 counties including nearly 102,200 km2 (39,460 sq mi) (102,787–103,093 km² in Hungarian sources and 102,200 km² in contemporary Romanian documents). Nowadays, due to the several administrative reorganisations, the territory covers 16 counties (Romanian: judeţ), with an area of 99,837 km2 (38,547 sq mi), in central and northwest Romania.

The 16 counties are: Alba, Arad, Bihor, Bistriţa-Năsăud, Brașov, Caraș-Severin, Cluj, Covasna, Harghita, Hunedoara, Maramureș, Mureș, Sălaj, Satu Mare, Sibiu, and Timiș.

The most populous cities (as of 2011 census):[24]

Population

Historical population

See also: History of Transylvania § Historical population, Hungarian minority in Romania, Székely, Transylvanian Saxons, and List of Transylvanians
Ethno-linguistic map of Austria–Hungary, 1910.
Hungarian and Romanian language newspapers published in Cluj.

Official censuses with information on Transylvania's population have been conducted since the 18th century. On May 1, 1784 the Emperor Joseph II called for the first official census of the Habsburg Empire, including Transylvania. The data was published in 1787, and this census showed only the overall population (1,440,986 inhabitants).[25] Fényes Elek, a 19th-century Hungarian statistician, estimated in 1842 that in the population of Transylvania for the years 1830-1840 the majority were 62.3% Romanians and 23.3% Hungarians.[26]

The first official census in Transylvania that made a distinction between nationalities (distinction made on the basis of mother tongue) was performed by Austro-Hungarian authorities in 1869, distributed among the ethnic groups as follows: Romanians 59.0%, Hungarians 24.9%, Germans 11.9%.

In the last quarter of the 19th century, the Hungarian population of Transylvania increased from 24.9% in 1869 to 31.6%, as indicated in the 1910 Hungarian census. At the same time, the percentage of Romanian population decreased from 59.0% to 53.8% and the percentage of German population decreased from 11.9% to 10.7%, for a total population of 5,262,495. Magyarization policies greatly contributed to this shift.[27]

The percentage of Romanian majority has significantly increased since the union of Transylvania with Romania after World War I in 1918. The proportion of Hungarians in Transylvania was in steep decline as more of the region's inhabitants moved into urban areas, where the pressure to assimilate and Romanianize was greater.[28] The expropriation of the estates of Magyar magnates, the distribution of the lands to the Romanian peasants, and the policy of cultural Romanianization that followed the Treaty of Trianon were major causes of friction between Hungary and Romania.[29] Other factors include the emigration of non-Romanian peoples, assimilation and internal migration within Romania (estimates show that between 1945 and 1977, some 630,000 people moved from the Old Kingdom to Transylvania, and 280,000 from Transylvania to the Old Kingdom, most notably to Bucharest).[30]

Current population

The 2002 census classified Transylvania as the entire region of Romania west of the Carpathians. This region has a population of 7,221,733, with a large Romanian majority (75.9%). There are also sizeable Hungarian (19.6%), Roma (3.3%), German (0.7%) and Serb (0.1%) communities.[31][32] The ethnic Hungarian population of Transylvania, largely composed of Székely, form a majority in the counties of Covasna and Harghita.

Economy

Transylvania is rich in mineral resources, notably lignite, iron, lead, manganese, gold, copper, natural gas, salt and sulfur.

There are large iron and steel, chemical, and textile industries. Stock raising, agriculture, wine production and fruit growing are important occupations. Timber is another valuable resource.

IT, electronics and automotive industries are important in urban and university centers like Cluj-Napoca (Nokia), Timișoara (Alcatel-Lucent, Flextronics and Continental AG), Brașov, Sibiu, Oradea and Arad.

Native brands include: Roman of Brașov (trucks and buses), Azomureș of Târgu Mureș (fertilizers), Terapia of Cluj-Napoca (pharmaceuticals), Banca Transilvania of Cluj-Napoca (finance), Romgaz and Transgaz of Mediaș (natural gas), Jidvei of Alba county (alcoholic beverages), Timişoreana of Timișoara (alcoholic beverages) and others.

Transylvania accounts for around 35% of Romania's GDP, and has a GDP per capita (PPP) of around $11,500, around 10% higher than the Romanian average.

Tourist attractions

Turda salt mine
Interior of the wooden church of Cizer in the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania
Fundata in Brașov County

Festivals and events

Film festivals

Music festivals

Others

Historical coat of arms of Transylvania

Main article: Coat of arms of Transylvania
The historical arms of Transylvania (1659).

The first heraldic representations of Transylvania date from the 16th century. One of the predominant early symbols of Transylvania was the coat of arms of Sibiu city. In 1596 Levinus Hulsius created a coat of arms for the imperial province of Transylvania, consisting of a shield party per fess, with a rising eagle in the upper field and seven hills with towers on top in the lower field. He published it in his work "Chronologia", issued in Nuremberg the same year. The seal from 1597 of Sigismund Báthory, prince of Transylvania, reproduced the new coat of arms with some slight changes: in the upper field the eagle was flanked by a sun and a moon and in the lower field the hills were replaced by simple towers.[38]

The seal of Michael the Brave from 1600 depicts the territory of the former Dacian kingdom: Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania:[39]

  • The black eagle (Wallachia)
  • The aurochs head (Moldavia)
  • The seven hills (Transylvania).
  • Over the hills there were two rampant lions affronts, supporting the trunk of a tree, as a symbol of the reunited Dacian Kingdom.[39]

The Diet of 1659 codified the representation of the privileged nations in Transylvania's coat of arms. It depicted a black turul on a blue background, representing the Hungarian nobility,[40] a Sun and the Moon representing the Székelys, and seven red towers on a yellow background representing the seven fortified cities of the Transylvanian Saxons. The red dividing band was originally not part of the coat of arms.

Currently, unlike the counties included in it, the region of Transylvania does not have its own official coat of arms. Nonetheless, the historical coat of arms is currently present in the coat of arms of Romania, alongside the traditional coats of arms of the rest of Romania's historical regions.

  • Coat of arms of Transylvania in 1550, identical to that Sibiu city
    Coat of arms of Transylvania in 1550, identical to that Sibiu city
  • Coat of arms of Transylvania, created by Levinus Hulsius in 1596
    Coat of arms of Transylvania, created by Levinus Hulsius in 1596
  • Coat of arms of Sigismund Báthory from 1597, including the arms of Transylvania
    Coat of arms of Sigismund Báthory from 1597, including the arms of Transylvania
  • Coat of arms of Michael the Brave, ruler of Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldova, 1600
    Coat of arms of Michael the Brave, ruler of Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldova, 1600

In culture

Lugosi as Dracula

Following the publication of Emily Gerard's The Land Beyond the Forest (1888), Bram Stoker wrote his gothic horror novel Dracula in 1897, using Transylvania as a setting. With its success, Transylvania became associated in the English-speaking world with vampires. Since then it has been represented in fiction and literature as a land of mystery and magic. For example, in Paulo Coelho's novel The Witch of Portobello, the main character, Sherine Khalil, is described as a Transylvanian orphan with a Romani mother, in an effort to add to the character's exotic mystique.[citation needed] The so-called Transylvanian trilogy of historical novels by Miklos Banffy, The Writing on the Wall, is an extended treatment of the 19th- and early 20th-century social and political history of the country. Among the first actors to portray Bram Stoker's Dracula in film was Bela Lugosi, who was born in Banat, in present-day Romania.

The Munsters were also said to be from Transylvania, referring to it several time in the show both by name and as "The Old Country".

See also

References

  1. ^ "Transylvania Society of Dracula Information". Afn.org. 1995-05-29. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
  2. ^ "Travel Advisory; Lure of Dracula In Transylvania". The New York Times. 1993-08-22.
  3. ^ "Romania Transylvania". Icromania.com. 2007-04-15. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
  4. ^ Engel, Pál (2001). Realm of St. Stephen: History of Medieval Hungary, 895–1526 (International Library of Historical Studies), page 24, London: I.B. Taurus. ISBN 1-86064-061-3
  5. ^ Pascu, Ştefan (1972). "Voievodatul Transilvaniei". I: 22. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ István Lázár: Transylvania, a Short History, Simon Publications, Safety Harbor, Florida, 1996 [1]
  7. ^ Martyn C. Rady: Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary, Antony Grove Ltd, Great Britain, 2000 [2]
  8. ^ Gyula - it is possible that during the 10th century some of the holders of the title of gyula also used Gyula as a personal name, but the issue has been confused because the chronicler of one of the most important primary sources (the Gesta Hungarorum) has been shown to have used titles or even names of places as personal names in some cases.
  9. ^ a b c "Transylvania". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
  10. ^ Engel, Pal; Andrew Ayton (2005). The Realm of St Stephen. London: Tauris. p. 27. ISBN 1-85043-977-X.
  11. ^ a b "Transylvania", Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2008 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997–2008 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
  12. ^ K. HOREDT, Contribuţii la istoria Transilvaniei în secolele IV-XIII,Editura Academiei RSR, 1958 p. 113.
  13. ^ I.M.Țiplic (2000). Considerații cu privire la liniile întarite de tipul prisacilor din transilvania, Acta terrae Septemcastrensis, I, pag. 147-164
  14. ^ "International Boundary Study - No. 47 – April 15, 1965 - Hungary – Romania (Rumania) Boundary" (PDF). US Bureau of Intelligence and Research.
  15. ^ "Diploma Leopoldinum (Transylvanian history)". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
  16. ^ "Transylvania (region, Romania)". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
  17. ^ Peter F. Sugar. Southeastern Europe Under Ottoman Rule, 1354–1804 (History of East Central Europe), University of Washington Press, July 1983, page 163, http://books.google.com/books?id=LOln4TGdDHYC&pg=PA163&dq=independent+principality+that+was+not+reunited+with+Hungary&lr=
  18. ^ John F. Cadzow, Andrew Ludanyi, Louis J. Elteto, Transylvania: The Roots of Ethnic Conflict, Kent State University Press, 1983, page 79, http://books.google.com/books?id=fX5pAAAAMAAJ&q=diploma+leopoldinum+transylvania&dq=diploma+leopoldinum+transylvania&lr=&pgis=1
  19. ^ Paul Lendvai, Ann Major. "The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat" C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2003, page 146; http://books.google.com/books?id=9yCmAQGTW28C&pg=PA146&dq=diploma+leopoldinum+transylvania&lr=
  20. ^ "Definition of Grand Principality of Transylvania in the Free Online Encyclopedia". Encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
  21. ^ Történelmi világatlasz (in Hungarian). Cartographia. 1998. ISBN 963-352-519-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ Transilvania at romaniatraveltourism.com
  23. ^ Transylvania at 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
  24. ^ "Population at 20 October 2011" (in Romanian). INSSE. July 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  25. ^ http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/transy/transy03.htm
  26. ^ Elek Fényes, Magyarország statistikája, Vol. 1, Trattner-Károlyi, Pest. VII, 1842
  27. ^ Seton-Watson, Robert William (1933). "The Problem of Treaty Revision and the Hungarian Frontiers". International Affairs. 12 (4): 481–503.
  28. ^ Varga, E. Árpád, Hungarians in Transylvania between 1870 and 1995, Translation by Tamás Sályi, Budapest, March 1999, pp. 30-34
  29. ^ "Transylvania". Columbia Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2008-11-18.
  30. ^ Varga, E. Árpád, Hungarians in Transylvania between 1870 and 1995, Translation by Tamás Sályi, Budapest, March 1999, p. 31
  31. ^ 2002 Census official results
  32. ^ Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Centre database
  33. ^ "Travel to Romania - Densus Church (Hunedoara)". Romanianmonasteries.org. 2006-05-31. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
  34. ^ http://sibiupeople.ro/en/reports/732
  35. ^ a b "Apuseni Caves". Itsromania.com. Retrieved 2012-07-30.
  36. ^ http://www.timisoreni.ro/despre/zilele_filmului_de_umor/
  37. ^ http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-film-17557648-noua-editie-zilelor-filmului-umor-timisoara.htm
  38. ^ Dan Cernovodeanu, Ştiinţa şi arta heraldică în România, Bucharest, 1977, p. 130
  39. ^ a b "Coat of arms of Dacia (medieval)".
  40. ^ Ströhl, Hugo Gerard (1890). Oesterreichish-Ungarische Wappenrolle (PDF). Vienna: Verlag vom Anton Schroll & C°. p. XV. Retrieved 24 November 2011.

K. Horedt (1958) Contribuţii la istoria Transilvaniei în secolele IV-XIII, Editura Academiei RSR, 1958 p. 113

Further reading

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