Alternatively, the name Maramureş is used for the Maramureş County of Romania, which countains the southern section of the former historical region and also small parts of the interbellic Satu Mare County and Sălaj County (former pre-WWI Szatmar and Szolnok-Dobokacomitata).
Unlike the surrounding areas, Maramureş is a large valley totally enclosed by mountains, with a thin opening at Khust, with several dozen small mountain rivers and creeks flowing into the river Tisza (Tisa). It is forested and not easily accessible.
In Romania, the Maramures region is often considered to consist of the Satu Mare and Maramures counties
Maramureş was under loose Hungarian control from the 11th century, nominally a part of the comitatus of Borsova. However, it remained an autonomous regioncitation needed, gradually losing its privileges, until it was fully included in the Hungarian Kingdom in the 14th century. It was allowed to preserve its political organization, the Voevodate, consisting of many small autonomous parts. The King long struggledcitation needed, to convince the Voivodes to accept the title of Count, with the implied dependency in political and financial matters, which to the locals meant losing their independence – a thing they could not bear. During the Middle Ages, the people in many mountain villages, where each family by definition had a considerable domain, were called nameşi, i.e. free peasants taking pride in their family (the term points to their belonging to a small clan, from Romanian neam = extended family). Another possible explanation to the term "nameşi" is that in the Hungarian Kingdom, free people possessing land were called "nemes" in Hungarian.
