Transylvania
Transylvania ("Transilvania" in Romanian; "Erdély" in Hungarian, "Siebenbürgen" in German) is a historic region that forms the western and the central parts of Romania.
Geography
A high plateau, Transylvania is separated in the South from Walachia by the Transylvanian Alps and in the East from Moldavia and Bukovina by the Carpathian Mountains (of which the Transylvanian Alps are a continuation). In the north and west Transylvania borders on Crişana-Maramureş/Körösvidék-Máramaros and in the South-West on the Banat/Bánát. The Transylvanian plateau, 1,000 to 1,600 feet (305-488 m) high, is drained by the Mureş/Maros River and other tributaries of the Danube. Cluj/Kolozsvár is the chief city; other major urban centers are Braşov/Brassó, Sibiu/Nagyszeben and Târgu-Mureş/Marosvásárhely. Economically and culturally one of the most advanced regions of Romania, Transylvania is rich in mineral resources, notably lignite, iron, lead, manganese, gold, copper, natural gas, salt, and sulphur. 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. Sizable Hungarian and German minorities, as well as Gypsies, live in Transylvania.
Map of Romania with Transylvania in yellow
History
The area now constituting Transylvania was the political center of the Dacia, then it was conquered by the Roman Empire in 107. After the withdrawal (271) of the Romans from the region it was overrun, between the 3rd and 10th century, by the Visigoths, the Huns, the Gepidae, the Avars, and the Slavs. These people influenced the local Romanized population, thus creating the Romanian nation.
A controversed theory is that the Romans killed all the Dacians, including those in teritories never conquered, colonized the area, then retracted all their colonists, soldiers, etc. from Dacia (Transylvania) to South of Danube, where the Romanian nation was formed and then they returned to Transylvania only after the arrival of the Magyars. Due to the lack of evidence it's hard to say whether Romanians lived South or North of Danube at that time, but the continuity theory has an advantage.
The Magyar tribes first entered the region in the 8th century and they met resistence from the local Romanian population, Hungarian chronicles mention battles with local warlords. The valleys in the east and southeast were settled by the Székely, peoples with uncertain origin, but thought to be akin to the Magyars.
In the 12th and 13th centuies, the areas in the south and northeast were settled by German colonists called (then and now) Saxons, with the purpose of securing the borders. Siebenbürgen, the German name for Transylvania, derives from the seven principal fortified towns founded there by the Saxons. The German influence became more marked when, early in the 13th century, King Andrew II of Hungary called on the Teutonic Knights to protect Transylvania from the Cumans, who were followed (1241) by the Mongol invaders.
The administration of Transylvania was in the hands of a royal governor, or voivode, who by the mid-13th century controlled the whole region. Society was divided into three privileged "nations", the Magyars, the Székely, and the Saxons. These nations, however, corresponded to social rather than strictly ethnic divisions. Although the nonprivileged class of serfs consisted mostly of Romanians, it also included some people of Saxon, Székely, and Magyar origin. A few Romanians, notably John Hunyadi, hero of the Turkish wars, joined the ranks of the nobility. After the suppression (1437) of a peasant revolt (the "Bobâlna revolt") the three "nations" solemnly renewed their union; the rebels were cruelly repressed, and serfdom became more firmly entrenched than ever.
When the main Hungarian army and King Louis II were slain (1526) in the Battle of Mohács, John Zapolya, voivode of Transylvania, took advantage of his military strength and put himself at the head of the nationalist Hungarian party, which opposed the succession of Ferdinand of Austria (later Emperor Ferdinand I) to the Hungarian throne. As John I he was elected king of Hungary, while another party recognized Ferdinand. In the ensuing struggle Zapolya received the support of Sultan Sulayman I, who after Zapolya's death (1540) overran central Hungary on the pretext of protecting Zapolya's son, John II. Hungary was now divided into three sections: West Hungary, under Austrian rule; central Hungary, under Turkish rule; and semi-independent Transylvania, where Austrian and Turkish influences vied for supremacy for nearly two centuries.
The Hungarian magnates of Transylvania resorted to a policy of duplicity in order to preserve independence. The Báthory family, which came to power on the death (1571) of John II, ruled Transylvania as princes under Turks, and briefly under Hapsburg, suzerainty until 1602, but their rule was interrupted by the incursion of the Romaniann prince Michael the Brave of Walachia and by Austrian military intervention. After the grand victory against Turks at Calugareni in 1595, Michael the Brave gains control of Transylvania in 1599, after the battle of Selimbar, in which he defeated Báthory's army. In May 1600 he conquers Moldovia, reuniting for the first time all three Romanian principalities. However, the Romanian union did not last long and Michael the Brave is assassinated on August 9, 1601.
In 1604, Stephen Bocskay led a rebellion against Austrian rule, and in 1606 he was recognized by the emperor as prince of Transylvania. Under Bocskay's successors - especially Gabriel Bethlen and George I Rákóczy - Transylvania had its golden age. The principality was the chief centre of Hungarian culture and humanism, the main bulwark of Protestantism in Eastern Europe, and the only European country where Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Lutherans, and Unitarians lived in mutual tolerance. Orthodox Romanians, however, were denied equal rights.
After the Turkish defeat near Vienna (1683), Transylvania vainly battled the growing Austrian influence, and its alliance with Turkey under Emeric Thököly and with France under Francis II Rákóczy proved fatal to its independence. In 1711, Austrian control was definitely established over all Hungary and Transylvania, and the princes of Transylvania were replaced by Austrian governors. The proclamation (1765) of Transylvania as a grand principality was a mere formality. The pressure of Austrian bureaucratic rule gradually eroded the traditional independence of Transylvania. In 1791 the Romanians petitioned Leopold II of Austria for recognition as the fourth ?nation? of Transylvania and for religious equality. The Transylvanian diet rejected their demands, restoring the Romanians to their old status.
In 1848 the Magyars proclaimed the union of Transylvania with Hungary, promising the Romanians abolition of serfdom in return for their support against Austria. The Romanians and the Saxons rejected the offer and instead rose against the Magyar national state. In the fighting that followed (1849) between the Hungarians and the Austro-Russian forces (supported by the Romanians and the Saxons), the Hungarian republic of Louis Kossuth was suppressed. The ensuing period of Austrian military government (1849-1860) was disastrous for the Magyars but greatly benefited the Romanian peasants, who were given land and otherwise favored by the Austrian authorities. However, in the compromise (Ausgleich) of 1867, which established the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, Transylvania became an integral part of Hungary, and the Romanians, having tasted equality, were once more subjected to Magyar domination.
In 1918 Transylvania joins Romania, which reunites for the first time in what Romanians consider its natural borders. On the 1st of December, 1918, the great national assembly in Alba Iulia proclaimed the "unification of all Romanians from Transylvania, the Banat, Crisana and Maramures with Romania for all ages to come". Romanian forces in Transylvania drove into Hungary in 1919, after the communist forces there gained ground under Bela Kun, who, starting from early 1919, had launched an attack across the Tisza River against the Romanians. The unification of all the lands inhabited by Romanians was mentioned in the Versailles peace treaties after the First World War (1919-1920), and sanctioned by the crowning of King Ferdinand I of Romania and Queen Maria of Romania at Alba Iulia in the year 1922.
Touristic sites
- Medieval city of Sighişoara
- Braşov city and Poiana Braşov sky resort
- The Saxon fortified churches
- Sinaia - Castle of Peleş
- Hunedoara - 14th century Hunyadi Castle (Castelul Huniazilor)
- Maramureş area - Wooden Churches of Maramureş
- Dacian Fortresses of the Orastie Mountains (Sarmizegetusa)