Szilágy (

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, traditional ...

: Sălaj) was an administrative county (

comitatus Comitatus may refer to: *Comitatus (warband), a Germanic warband who follow a leader * ''Comitatus'', the office of a Roman or Frankish comes, translated as count. * ''Comitatus'', translated as county, a territory such as governed by medieval cou ...

) of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

. Its territory is now in north-western

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. The capital of the county was Zilah (present-day

Zalău Zalău (, unofficial and former official name: (; or , , ) is the seat of Sălaj County, Romania. In 2021, its estimated population was 52,359. History Ancient times Zalău is situated in the area inhabited by "Free Dacians", away from the h ...

in Romania).

Geography

Szilágy county shared borders with the Hungarian counties of

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, Szatmár,

Szolnok-Doboka Szolnok-Doboka was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in northern Romania (northern Transylvania). The capital of the county was Dés (now Dej, Romania). Geography Szolnok-Doboka county share ...

and

Kolozs Kolozs County was an administrative county ( comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary, of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and of the Principality of Transylvania. Its territory is now in north-western Romania (north-western Transylvania). The capita ...

. The rivers Someş and Crasna flowed through the county. Its territory was largely the same as that of the present

county Sălaj. Its area was 3,815 km² around 1910.

History

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. 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 Șimleu Silvaniei (; , ) is a town in Sălaj County, Crișana, Romania with a population of 13,948 people (2021 census). It is located near the ancient Dacian fortress Dacidava. Three villages are administered by the town: Bic (''Bükk''), Cehei ...

), Közép-Szolnok (its center was Zilah/

) and the Egregy/

Agrij Agrij () is a commune located in Sălaj County, Crișana, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Agrij and Răstolțu Deșert (''Pusztarajtolc''). It was called ''Treznea-Agrij'' from 1988 to 1995, when Treznea and Bozna villages were split off ...

district of

Doboka County Doboka County was a county in Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, ...

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. In 1920, by the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (; ; ; ), often referred to in Hungary as the Peace Dictate of Trianon or Dictate of Trianon, was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference. It was signed on the one side by Hungary ...

, the county became part of

. It was returned to Hungary by the

Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and the Kingdom of Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all of Maramureș and part of Cri ...

in 1940, with a slightly modified territory. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, 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 Satu Mare (; ; ; or ) is a city with a population of 102,400 (2011). It is the capital of Satu Mare County, Romania, as well as the centre of the Satu Mare metropolitan area. It lies in the region of Maramureș, broadly part of Transylvania ...

county) and north-east (now in Maramureş county).

Demographics

Subdivisions

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

Notes

References