Szilágy County

Szilágy County
Comitatus Silagiensis (Latin)
Szilágy vármegye (Hungarian)
Komitat Szilagy (German)
Comitatul Sălaj (Romanian)
County of the Kingdom of Hungary
(1876-1920, 1940-1945)
Coat of arms of Szilágy
Coat of arms

CapitalZilah
Area
 • Coordinates47°11′N 23°3′E / 47.183°N 23.050°E / 47.183; 23.050
 
• 1910
3,815 km2 (1,473 sq mi)
Population 
• 1910
230,100
History 
• Established
1876
• Treaty of Trianon
4 June 1920
• County recreated (Second Vienna Award)
30 August 1940
• Disestablished
1945
Today part ofRomania
Zalău is the current name of the capital.

Szilágy (Romanian: Sălaj) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in north-western Romania. The capital of the county was Zilah (present-day Zalău in Romania).

Geography

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Map of Szilagy county in the Kingdom of Hungary
Map of Szilagy, 1891.

Szilágy county shared borders with the Hungarian counties of Bihar, Szatmár, Szolnok-Doboka and Kolozs. The rivers Someş and Crasna flowed through the county. Its territory was largely the same as that of the present Romanian county Sălaj. Its area was 3,815 km2 around 1910.

History

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The area has been inhabited by Hungarians since the land-taking, with the Romanian population arriving in the late 16th century and the Germans in the 18th century.[1]

Szilágy county was formed in 1876, when the counties of Kraszna (its center was Kraszna/Crasna at first, then Valkóváralja/Sub Cetate, later Szilágysomlyó/Șimleu Silvaniei), Közép-Szolnok (its center was Zilah/Zalău) and the Egregy/Agrij district of Doboka County were united.

The county consisted of two regions, Szilágy and Kővár-vidék. Kővár-vidék was a special administrative region in the Medieval and Early Modern Era Hungary administered by a Captain general.[2]

In 1920, by the Treaty of Trianon, the county became part of Romania. It was returned to Hungary by the Second Vienna Award in 1940, with a slightly modified territory. After World War II, it became again part of Romania. Most of it is now part of the Romanian county Sălaj, except for some areas in the north-west (now in Satu Mare county) and north-east (now in Maramureş county).

Demographics

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Ethnic map of the county with data of the 1910 census (see the key in the description)
Population by mother tongue[a]
Census Total Romanian Hungarian Slovak Other or unknown
1880[3] 171,079 103,307 (61.97%) 58,224 (34.93%) 2,133 (1.28%) 3,028 (1.82%)
1890[4] 191,167 117,711 (61.57%) 67,275 (35.19%) 2,330 (1.22%) 3,851 (2.01%)
1900[5] 207,293 125,451 (60.52%) 76,482 (36.90%) 2,873 (1.39%) 2,487 (1.20%)
1910[6] 230,140 136,087 (59.13%) 87,312 (37.94%) 3,727 (1.62%) 3,014 (1.31%)
Population by religion[b]
Census Total Greek Catholic Calvinist Roman Catholic Jewish Eastern Orthodox Other or unknown
1880 171,079 100,749 (58,89%) 46,199 (27.00%) 9,289 (5.43%) 6,964 (4.07%) 7,129 (4.17%) 749 (0.44%)
1890 191,167 111,211 (58,17%) 51,512 (26.95%) 10,955 (5.73%) 8,435 (4.41%) 8,337 (4.36%) 717 (0.38%)
1900 207,293 120,544 (58.15%) 55,952 (26.99%) 13,243 (6.39%) 8,887 (4.29%) 7,902 (3.81%) 765 (0.37%)
1910 230,140 132,741 (57.68%) 60,938 (26.48%) 15,569 (6.77%) 9,849 (4.28%) 9,801 (4.26%) 1,242 (0.54%)

Subdivisions

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In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Szilágy county were:

Districts (járás)
District Capital
  Kraszna Kraszna (now Crasna)
  Szilágycseh Szilágycseh (now Cehu Silvaniei)
  Szilágysomlyó Szilágysomlyó (now Șimleu Silvaniei)
  Tasnád Tasnád (now Tăşnad)
  Zilah Zilah (now Zalău)
  Zsibó Zsibó (now Jibou)
  Urban districts (rendezett tanácsú város)
Szilágysomlyó (now Șimleu Silvaniei)
Zilah (now Zalău)

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Only linguistic communities > 1% are displayed.
  2. ^ Only religious communities > 1% are displayed.

References

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  1. ^ "Szilágyság, Szilágy | Magyar néprajzi lexikon | Kézikönyvtár". www.arcanum.com (in Hungarian). Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Kővár-vidék | Magyar néprajzi lexikon | Kézikönyvtár". www.arcanum.com (in Hungarian). Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  3. ^ "Az 1881. év elején végrehajtott népszámlálás főbb eredményei megyék és községek szerint rendezve, II. kötet (1882)". library.hungaricana.hu. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  4. ^ "A Magyar Korona országainak helységnévtára (1892)". library.hungaricana.hu. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  5. ^ "A MAGYAR KORONA ORSZÁGAINAK 1900". library.hungaricana.hu. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  6. ^ "KlimoTheca :: Könyvtár". Kt.lib.pte.hu. Retrieved 29 September 2021.