Northern Maramuresh
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Northern Maramuresh is a geographic-historical region comprising roughly the eastern half of the Zakarpattia Oblast in south-western Ukraine, near the border with Romania. Until 1920, it was part of the Maramureş (historical region) of Transylvania, at which time the former Máramures County was divided into a northern part (incorporated into Czechoslovakia, the part which is presently in Ukraine), and a southern part (incorporated into the Kingdom of Romania). Until the time it was incorporated into Czechosovakia, for a short time between 1918 an 1920 it was a part of Romania.

From 1920 till 1939, the region belonged to Czechoslovakia, then until 1944 to fascist Hungary, and then until 1991 to the Soviet Union. Since 1991, Northern Maramuresh has been part of Ukraine.

Part of the boundary that separates Northern Maramuresh from Romania runs along the Tisza River.

The majority of the population was Romanian, now totaling somewhere between 32,000 and 50,000 people and lives compactly, today mostly in some eighteen localities, in Rakhiv/Rahau and Tiachiv/Teceu Raions of Tansarpatia region (districts), close to the Romanian border, Ukrainians (Rusyns, Boiko and Hutsuls - which came in this region somwhere in the middle centuries.

The penetration of the Slavic population from 15th century on and the subsequent assimilation of some Romanians in the region was a slow and peaceful process, never marked by dissensions.

For most of the 20th century, communications between Southern and Northern Maramuresh were severed and remain the same. After the collapse of Communism in Europe, and through cooperation between the Romanian and Ukrainian governments, the restoration of bridges across the Tisza has begun, but the Romanian authorities closed the bridge between Slatina(Solotvino) and Sighet.

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Geography and population

Geographic description

Maramuresh is an almost completely enclosed mountain valley with an area slightly smaller than that of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The only way to enter the region, besides crossing mountain slopes of 1,000 meters to 2,500 meters high, is to follow the river Tisza upstream. Northern Maramuresh includes all of the right bank of the Tisza within the historical county of Máramaros, and small mountain portions on the left bank. To a significant extent, the geography of Maramuresh has determined its history and distinctive traditions.

Rivers that flow through the region include the Tisza, Rika (Rica), and Tereblia; Sinevir Lake is also located there.

In present-day Zakarpattia Oblast of Ukraine

Northern Maramuresh as part of the Zakarpattia Oblast of Ukraine (gold)

The territory of the Zakarpattia Region of Ukraine is 12,880 km². It has 1,287,400 inhabitants (1999 data). Zakarpattia is divided into 13 districts and 5 cities.1 Of these, Northern Maramuresh roughly corresponds to 4 districts and one city. Together these have an area of approximately 6,900 km² and 445,000 inhabitants2:

  • the city of Khust (Romanian Hust), with 35,500 inhabitants
  • the raion of Khust (Хуст; HU), with 94,800 inhabitants (different from the city)
  • the raion of Mizhhirya (Міжгір'я; MY), with 50,700 inhabitants
  • the raion of Tyachiv, (Romanian Teceu) (Тячів; TJ), with 172,700 inhabitants
  • the raion of Rakhiv (Romanian Rahău)(Рахів; RA), with 91,300 inhabitants

you can help fix Ukrainian/Romanian/Hungarian names

The most imporant cities and towns of Northern Maramuresh are (the district and population are indicated):

The biggest villages in Northern Maramuresh are:

In historical Maramuresh/Máramaros/Maramureş

Northern Maramuresh is historically and geographically close to Southern Maramureş, and together form Maramureş (historical region) (Romanian: Maramureş, Hungarian: Máramaros). Between 1870 and 1918, Máramaros (north and south) was a county in the Transleitanian part of Austria-Hungary. It was divided into 10 rural districts (Hungarian: járás, Romanian: plase) and 1 urban district (Hungarian: rendezett tanácsú város, Romanian: plasă urbană):

Northern Maramuresh Southern Maramureş
Sziget / Sighet /- (rural district)
Dolha / Dolha / Dovhe (capital: Dolha / Dolha / Dovhe) Izavölgy / Iza / - (capital: Dragomérfalva / Dragomireşti / -)
Huszt / Hust / Khust (capital: Huszt / Hust / Khust) Sugatag / Şugatag / - (capital: Aknasugatag / Ocna Şugatag / -)
Ökörmező / - / Mizhhir'ya (capital: Ökörmező / - / Mizhhir'ya) Visó / Vişeu / -(capital: Felsővisó / Vişeu de Sus / -)
Taracviz / Taras / Teresva (capital: Taracköz / Taras / Teresva) Sziget / Sighet /- (urban district; capital: Máramarossziget / Sighetu Marmaţiei / -)
Técső / Teceu / Tiachiv (capital: Técső / Teceu / Tiachiv)
Tiszavölgy / Tisa / Tissa (capital: Rahó / Rahău / Rakhiv)

Note: All names are written in the following order: Hungarian / Romanian / Ukrainian.

Máramaros vármegye in 1912 (map in Hungarian).

Dolha, Huszt, Ökörmező, Taracviz, Técső, and Tiszavölgy ditricts each had a Ukrainian majority (with Tiszavölgy having a specifically Hutsul majority). The rural Sziget district, along with Izavölgy Sugatag and Visó districts each had a Romanian majority, while the urban Sziget district was mixed Hungarian/Romanian. There was a significant Ukrainian minority in Visó, and significant Romanian minorities in Huszt, Taracviz, Técső, and Tiszavölgy districts. Visó also contained a significant German minority around the city of Felsővisó (Romanian: Vişeu de Sus; German: ?).

The six districts in the left-hand column were apportioned to Czechoslovakia in 1920. In 1938 Hungary regained their southern portion by the terms of the First Vienna Award and it seized the rest in March 1939. In 1944 they went to the Soviet Union. Since 1991 they have been part of Ukraine. The four districts in the right-hand column were given to Romania, where they have remained ever since, except for 1940-1944, when they were again in Hungary by the terms of the Second Vienna Award. The rural Sziget (Sighet) district, despite being ethnically homogeneous, was divided: the part north of the Tisza river followed the same fate as the Ukrainian districts, while the part south of the Tisza, the same as the Romanian ones.

The total area of Maramuresh county was 10,354.9 km², of which 6,974 km² became the northern part and 3,381 km² became the southern part. The approximately 160 localities were divided as follows: slightly less than 100 joined the north, and slightly more than 60 joined the south. The south had a population of approximately 155,000. A majority of the inhabitants were Romanian, with Jewish, Hungarian, Ukrainian and German minorities. The north had a population of about 220,000, including some 20,000 Romanians.

According to the 1910 Austrian census, Máramaros County had a population which by language was:

  • Ruthenian, 159,489
  • Romanian, 84,510
  • German, 59,552
  • Hungarian, 52,964.

A substantial part of the German and Hungarian-speaking population were in fact Jews.

In Carpathian Ruthenia

Carpathian Ruthenia, i.e. the region inhabited by Rusyns (Ruthenians) in Austria-Hungary, spread over some ⅔ of the historic counties of Ung, Bereg, and Ugocsa (the remaining ⅓ are respectively Slovak, Hungarian, and Romanian), and from the 16th century also gradually over a part (up to ½) of Maramuresh county. Therefore, in texts dealing with the period after 1600, Northern Maramuresh is sometimes included in historic Carpathian Ruthenia, historic Ruszinszko, or Pidkarpadska Rus'.3

Demographic data

Ethnic map of Zakarpattia Oblast in 2001.      Ukrainians      Hungarians      Romanians      mixed Ukrainians and Russians
Census year Total population of Pidkarpadska Rus' / Zakarpattia Total population of the 4 raions and Khust Rusyns (official numbers of Rusyns are arguable, as after 1945 there were recorded as Ukrainians.) Ukrainians Romanians (official numbers4)
1880 408,971 16,713 (4.1%)
1910 605,942 11,668 (1.9%)
1921 604,745 220,000 140,000 20,000
1930 734,315
1941 852,546 15,587 (1.8%)
1959 920,170 18,346 (2.0%)
1970 1,056,000 23,454
1979 1,155,000 27,155 (2.3%)
1989 1,245,000 29,485
2001 ~1,255,000 32,100

Romanian localities in Northern Maramuresh

In Northern Maramuresh, there are anywhere between ca. 32,000 (according to official Ukrainian sources), ca. 40,000 (according to most Romanian sources), to over 50,0005 Romanians living today in a compact area of about 300 km², in 17 villages and one town, separated from Romania only by the river Tisza. This compactly Romanian-inhabited region, which itself separates the Hutsul areas (most of the Rakhiv raion/district) in the east from the rest of Zakarpattia, corresponds exactly to the north-Tisza part of the former rural district of Sighet in Máramaros County before 1920 (see map). These 18 localities, with their quasi-total Romanian population, are (population data from the 2001 Ukrainian census):

  • in Teceu (Tiachiv) district (raion)
    • the town of Ocna Slatina (Ukrainian: Solotvino, Hunagrian: Aknaszlatina), a new village first mentioned ca. 1360 (the old one was burned down by the Tatars in 1241); 9,700 inhabitants and 2,200 households
    • Apşa de Jos (Ukrainian: Dibrova, Hungarian: Alsóapsa), first mentioned in 1387; includes Valea-Malului; 8,339 inhabitants and 2,300 households
    • Strâmtura (Ukrainian: Glibokiy Potik), 5,743 inhabitants, 1,398 households
    • Teteş (Ukrianian: Topchino), 2,240 inhabitants, 610 households
    • Peri (Ukrainian: Grusevo, Hingarian: Szentmihálykörtveliés, i.e. St. Michael Monastery), first mentioned ca. 1200
    • Podişor (Ukrianian: Podishor)
    • Bescău
    • Cărbuneşti
    • Bouţul Mare
    • Bouţul Mic
  • in Rahău (Rakhiv) district (raion)

Some Romanians also live in localities of Northern Maramuresh outside the above compact area:

although far fewer than in previous centuries.

Note: There are also Romanians in the two major Zakarpattian cities, Uzhhorod and Mucacevo, as well as in the town of Korolevo (Romanian: Craia), in Vinogradovo raion, which are not in Maramuresh, but respectively in Ung, Bereg, and Ugocsa. There are also two other Romanian villages:

40 km one from the other, in the northwest of Zakarpattia, which is not part of Northern Maramuresh, but of the former Ung county. They are the last remnants of the Vlachs (Romanians) who inhabited present-day Hungary and Zakarpattia before the arrival of the Slavs (6th-8th centuries) and Hungarians (9th century), when they were isolated and afterwards assimilated. Their Ukrainian neighbors also call the inhabitants of these two villages volokhi or loshkarini, Slavic names for Romanians no longer in current use.6

History

Maramuresh/Maramureş before the split

See History of Maramureş.

The Comitatus of Máramaros was established in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1303. In the 16th century, after the collapse of the Kingdom, Máramaros, along with the whole of Transcarpathia, was incorporated into Transylvania, which was included in Austria-Hungary in 1867.

After the defeat of the Central Powers in World War I, the northern part of the comitatus (about 60% of the territory) became part of Carpathian Ruthenia within the newly formed Czechoslovakia. The southern part (40%, including the former capital Sighetu Marmaţiei) became part of Romania. This division was confirmed by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920.

Northern Maramuresh after the split

Just before World War II, the region was part of the briefly independent Carpatho-Ukraine in March 1939, but this republic, comprising the part of Carpathian Ruthenia not given to Hungary by the First Vienna Award a few months earlier, was almost immediately annexed by Horthyst Hungary, which in 1940 also annexed the Romanian part of Maramureş following the Second Vienna Award. After the war, in 1945 the formerly Czechoslovakian Maramuresh was transferred to the Soviet Union, and in 1946 it was included in the Zakarpattia Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR. The latter after the dissolution of the Soviet Union became the independent Ukraine.

Historic monuments and heritage sites

Churches, monasteries and sites

Coat of arms

 Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (June 2008)

Feudal nobility

A considerable part of Maramuresh's history was associated in past centuries with well-known feudal families of Europe. From the 14th to the 19th century:

  • Rozhoni (owners of the village of Dovhe/Dolha),
  • Pereni (owners of Sevljus and 117 villages in the nearby county of Ugocea/Ugocsa),
  • Dovhay (owners of Dovhe/Dolha, Soymy/Şoimi, Kyshnytsya/Cuşniţa, Volove, Siltse, Irshava, in all 20 villages in the nearby county of Bereg),
  • Dragoş (Drahush) (Ocna Slatina/Solotvyno, and 5 villages in later centuries, while in the time of the brothers Balcu (Balka) and Drag (Draha) they owned Korolevo/Craia (this town is in Ugocea), Khust/Hust, Tyachiv/Teceu, Iza, and 32 villages along the Tisza/Tysa/Tisa and Tereblya/Tereblea rivers (all these in Maramuresh),
  • Urmezeyi (27 villages in Maramuresh),
  • Bilkey-Iloshvay (24 villages in Maramuresh),
  • Pohani (villages along the lower reaches of the rivers Tereblya/Tereblea and Teresva/Taras in Maramuresh),
  • Hunyadi (Corvin) (32 villages and two towns in the nearby counties of Ugocea/Ugocsa and Bereg).

Other prominent feudal families of 16th-19th centuries were Karoli, Teleki, Toldi, Kornish, Stoyko, Fisher, Reyti, and Soplontsay.

People and traditions

 Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (June 2008)

The people of Maramuresh are generally tougher and swifter, the sense of justice and honor is very keen for them. They have, and perhaps for good reasons, great pride in their specificity, and even in their toughness, since in few other places are ancient Romanian traditions are preserved to such an extent. Their wooden churches are quite beautiful. Every village has its separate set of traditions, and every little valley has a name that begins with "The Country of …".

Notes

  1. ^ The former are further subdivided into 6 towns, 20 town-type villages, 297 incorporated villages and 282 unincorporated villages.
  2. ^ Approximately 100 towns and villages)
  3. ^ Rusyns, who inhabited these regions from the 8th century, must not be confused historically and especially culturally with the Lemko, Boiko, and Hutsul peoples, who in the 16th century moved to the mountain-crest regions of Carpathian Ruthenia from Galicia, although they are confused in the Austria-Hungary censuses (and are identical linguistically). All these ethnic groups converged during the 19th century to form a new ethnicity, Ukrainians, although Rusyn emigrants (to the USA, the Americas, Yugoslavia, etc.) from before the establishment of the Ukrainian ethnicity generally retained the name Rusyns, or sometimes even Boiko, Lemko, and Hutsul.)
  4. ^ Romanians have constantly argued that considerable portions of their ethnicity after 1939 are being recorded as Moldovans.
  5. ^ Zakarpattia Oblast, Zakarpattya, Transcarpathian Oblast
  6. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20050302114055/http://www.dacoromania1.go.ro/nr18/1_4_a_treia_etnie.htm

References

External links

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