Oaș Country (

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

: ''Țara Oașului'', Hungarian: ''Avasság'') is an ethnographic and historical region of

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

located in the North-East part of

Satu Mare County Satu Mare County ( ro, Județul Satu Mare, ) is a county (județ) of Romania, on the border with Hungary and Ukraine. The capital city is Satu Mare. Name In Hungarian, it is known as ''Szatmár megye'', in German as ''Kreis Sathmar'', in Ukrain ...

, 50 km from the city of Satu Mare, also 50 km from the city of

Baia Mare Baia Mare ( , ; hu, Nagybánya; german: Frauenbach or Groß-Neustadt; la, Rivulus Dominarum) is a municipality along the Săsar River, in northwestern Romania; it is the capital of Maramureș County. The city lies in the region of Maramur ...

. The total area is about . The capital of Oaș Country is

Negrești-Oaș Negrești-Oaș (; hu, Avasfelsőfalu, Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a town in northwestern Romania, in the county of Satu Mare. Two villages, Luna (''Lunaforrás'') and Tur (''Túrvékonya''), are administered by the town. The name ''Negrești' ...

town.Negrești-Oaș, capital of Oaș Country
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Boundaries

The Oaș Country extends from Turț – Gherța Mare – Gherța Mică (on the western side) all the way to Huta

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places * Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits * Mountain pass, a lower place in a moun ...

situated at an altitude of 604 m (in the East), from Cămărzana (in the North) to the mountains that surround Orașu Nou, Racșa and Vama (in the South).

Communes

The Oaș Country comprises the following

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

s: *

Orașu Nou Orașu Nou ( hu, Avasújváros; Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a commune of 7,100 inhabitants situated in Satu Mare County, Romania. It is composed of five villages: The villages of Racșa and Racșa-Vii were part of Orașu Nou from 1925 to 1949 ...

Certeze Certeze (german: Neudorf; hu, Avasújfalu, Hungarian pronunciation: ) is a commune of 5,560 inhabitants situated in Satu Mare County, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, E ...

* Vama * Călinești-Oaș * Târșolț * Bixad * Cămărzana

Geography

The Oaș Depression has maximum altitudes of 400–500 m. Most of the human dwellings are situated alongside the river valleys that cross the Oaș Depression. In the Northern part of the depression there is the Lechincioara Basin which includes the ''Mare'', ''Semănaturii'' and ''Lechincioarei'' valleys. In the southern part of Oaș Country there are the '' Tur'', ''Alb'', and ''Rău'' rivers.

History

The first document that mentioned the Oaș Country dates from 1270, when the

King of Hungary The King of Hungary ( hu, magyar király) was the ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Apostoli Magyar Király'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...

donated to a nobleman several villages from the southwestern boundary of the "country". In that document the Oaș Country is mentioned as Terra Awas. Some historians claim that the origin of the word "''Oaș''" is the "''Awas''", which means a kind of

deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...

or a clearing in the woods. The Oaș Country was mentioned in the

Chronicles Chronicles may refer to: * ''Books of Chronicles'', in the Bible * Chronicle, chronological histories * ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a novel series by C. S. Lewis * ''Holinshed's Chronicles'', the collected works of Raphael Holinshed * '' The Idh ...

Grigore Ureche Grigore Ureche (; 1590–1647) was a Moldavian chronicler who wrote on Moldavian history in his ''Letopisețul Țării Moldovei'' ('' Chronicles of the Land of Moldavia''), covering the period from 1359 to 1594. Biography Grigore Ureche was th ...

Gallery

File:Maria Tripon.jpg, Local folk singer Maria Tripon in traditional costume File:Ionuț Silaghi de Oaș.jpg, Local folk singer Ionuț Silaghi de Oaș in traditional costume File:Biserica Lechinta.jpg, Wooden Church from Lechința, Open Air Museum of Oaș Country in

town, 2008 File:Ansamblul folcloric Oașul.jpg, Oaș folk ensemble in the Museum of Oaș Country File:SatDinOas.jpg, Open Air Museum of Oaș Country in

town File:Pasul Huta3.jpg, Huta pass

References

External links

PresentationPictures of Oaș Country
*http://www.oas.ro/ *http://www.incogniterra.org/pages/events/sambra.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Oas Country Transylvania0 Historical regions in the Kingdom of Hungary Tara Oasului