Maramureș or Marmaroshchyna ( ro, Maramureș ; uk, Мармарощина, Marmaroshchyna; hu, Máramaros) is a geographical, historical and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. It is situated in the northeastern Carpathians, along parts of the upper Tisza River drainage basin; it covers the Maramureș Depression and the surrounding Carpathian mountains. Alternatively, the term ''Maramureș'' is also used for the Maramureș County of Romania, which contains the southern section of the historical region.

Name in other languages

Alternative names for Maramureș include uk, Мармарощина (''Marmaroshchyna''), rue, Мараморош (''Maramoroš''), russian: Мармарош (''Marmarosh''), hu, Máramaros, german: Maramuresch or Marmarosch and la, Marmatia.

Geography

Maramureș is a valley enclosed by mountains Oaș, Gutâi, Țibleș and Rodnei (northern section of the Inner Eastern Carpathians) to the west and south,

Maramureș Mountains or Marmaroshchyna ( ro, Maramureș ; uk, Мармарощина, Marmaroshchyna; hu, Máramaros) is a geographical, historical and cultural region in northern Romania and western Ukraine. It is situated in the northeastern Carpathians, alon ...

and central section of the Outer Eastern Carpathians to the east and north. The valley is drained through a narrow opening, the Khust Gate, at Khust. Several dozen small mountain rivers and creeks flow into the river

Tisa The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders. The Tisza be ...

. It is forested and not easily accessible. The limits of the region are between the parallels of 47°33' N and 47°02' N and the meridians of 23°15' E and 25°03' E. Maramureș represents one of the largest depressions in the Carpathians, covering an area of about 10,000 km². Its length from Khust to Prislop Pass is about 150 km and width from North to South is up to 80 km. The main mountain passes linking Maramureș with the neighboring regions are high and in the past were hardly accessible in the winter. Prislop Pass (1,416 m high) links the region in the east towards Moldavia, Dealul Ștefăniței (1,254 m) in the south towards Transylvania, Pintea Pass (987 m) towards Baia Mare, and Fărgău (587 m) in the west towards Oaș Country, while Frasini Pass ( Yasinia; 931 m) links the region in the north to

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

. The mountains surrounding this region occupy more than half of the area. A few peaks reach above 2,000 m, such as Pietrosul (2,303 m) in the Rodnei Mountains to the south and Hovârla (2,061 m) in Muntele Negru (Cernahora) to the north. The heavy forested mountains sustain many protected species of plants, such as

yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew (''Taxus br ...

(''Taxus baccata''), larch (''Larix decidua''), Swiss pine (''Pinus cembra''), edelweiss (''Leontopodium alpinum''); and animals, such as

lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

(''Lynx lynx''),

chamois The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the Ril ...

(''Rupicapra rupicapra''),

alpine marmot The alpine marmot (''Marmota marmota'') is a large ground-dwelling squirrel, from the genus of marmots. It is found in high numbers in mountainous areas of central and southern Europe, at heights between in the Alps, Carpathians, Tatras and No ...

(''Marmota marmota''), golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos''), and

capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ...

(''Tetrao urogallus''). The last wisent from present-day Romania territory, a symbol of Maramureș, was hunted to extinction in 1852. Lostriţa, a local variety of salmon, still live in the mountain rivers. Several protected areas have been created in Maramureș.

Rodna Mountains National Park The Rodna Mountains National Park ( ro, Parcul Național Munții Rodnei) is a protected area ( national park category II IUCN) situated in Romania, in the administrative territory of counties Bistrița-Năsăud, Maramureș, and Suceava. Locatio ...

was designated in 1990,

Dacians The Dacians (; la, Daci ; grc-gre, Δάκοι, Δάοι, Δάκαι) were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often consid ...

, Sarmatians, Germanic peoples and Akatziri. In the first century BC, it was part of the Dacian Kingdom under Burebista, while in the early Middle Ages, it was ruled by the

Hunnic Empire The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th century AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was part ...

, the Kingdom of the Gepids, the Kingdom of the Avars, the White Croatia, Hungarians and even the Kievan Rus'. The territory was part of the Kingdom of Hungary from the 11th century and was nominally divided between the Gyepű border region, comitatus of Szatmár and comitatus of Borsova. Later, the whole region was included into the comitatus of Máramaros. Initially, the

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 ...

inhabitants of the region were allowed to preserve their political organization, the Voivodeship of Maramureș, divided into many small autonomous areas. The King long struggled to convince the Voivodes to accept the title of Count, with the implied losing independence in political and financial matters. During the Middle Ages, the people in many mountain villages, where each family by definition had a considerable domain, were called ''nameşi'', meaning free peasants taking pride in their family. The origin of the word is disputed: in the Kingdom of Hungary, free people possessing land were called in Hungarian. In

means extended family, but this name's root is better explained as deriving from the Greek verb , meaning to divide something (mainly land) into parts and give it to (people with the right to use it, either to rent it or use it for free; singular ). The region was reorganized to

Máramaros County Máramaros County (german: Komitat Maramuresch; hu, Máramaros vármegye; la, Comitatus Maramarosiensis; ro, Comitatul Maramureș; rue, Комітат Марамарош; uk, Kомітат Мармарош; ) was an administrative county (c ...

in the 14th century. In the 16th century, the Kingdom of Hungary was invaded and all but destroyed by the Ottoman Empire, and the area came under administration of the semi-independent Ottoman Principality of Transylvania. Later (in the late 17th century) it came under the administration of the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

(which became the Austrian Empire in 1804). During Habsburg administration, the region was initially part of the lands of the Habsburg Principality of Transylvania, but was later (in 1732) transferred to the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was transformed into the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary and the region was included in the Transleithanian or Hungarian part of the Monarchy. After the First World War, the region was divided between Romania and the Czechoslovakian region of Carpathian Ruthenia, with the border following that of the short-lived

Hutsul Republic The Hutsul Republic ( uk, Гуцульська Республіка) was a short-lived state formed in the aftermath of World War I. The republic was declared on 8 January 1919, when original plans to unite this area with the Western Ukrainian Pe ...

. In March 1939 Hungary annexed Carpathian Ruthenia and in August 1940 annexed the region of

Northern Transylvania Northern Transylvania ( ro, Transilvania de Nord, hu, Észak-Erdély) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of ...

, which included southern Maramureș, from Romania; the territories remained under Hungarian control until 1944. After World War II, the southern section returned to Romania and is now part of Maramureș County; the northern section was incorporated into the Soviet Union as part of the Ukrainian SSR and is now part of Zakarpattia Oblast of independent Ukraine.

People

In the southern area, the majority of the population are Romanians. There are also some Hungarians, Rusyns, Ukrainians, Zipser Germans, Jews, and

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

. In the northern area, the majority are Ruthenes, with smaller Romanian, Hungarian and German communities. In the northern area most people speak the Ruthene language, while in the southern area most speak Romanian, which is why the region was split into two parts. Since the 1940s there have been villages cut in two by the state border. There are some villages in the north (within Ukraine) that have a sizeable Romanian population, as well as some villages in Romania that have a sizeable Ukrainian population.

Gallery

File:Claie de fân Borșa.jpg, Pietrosul Mare,

File:Valley, Pop Ivan, Maramures.jpg,

Maramureș Mountains Natural Park The Maramureș Mountains Natural Park ( ro, Parcul Natural Munții Maramureșului) is a protected area ( natural park category V IUCN) situated in Romania, in the north part in the Maramureș County.Baia Mare File:Muzeul Etnografic3.jpg, Ethnographic Museum of the Oaș Country File:RO MM Mănăstirea Bârsana.JPG, Bârsana Orthodox Monastery File:Romania Rohia Monastery Wooden Church.jpg, Rohia Orthodox Monastery File:Săcel 437290, Romania - panoramio (4).jpg, Săcel File:SzaploncaFotoThalerTamas2.jpg,

Merry Cemetery The Merry Cemetery ( ro, Cimitirul Vesel ) is a cemetery in the village of Săpânța, Maramureş county, Romania. It is famous for its brightly coloured tombstones with naïve paintings describing, in an original and poetic manner, the people ...

in Săpânța File:Baia Mare, Romania - panoramio (15).jpg, Village Museum in Baia Mare File:Curtea Veche Sighet.JPG, The Curtea Veche in Sighet File:Máramarossziget, Börtön múzeum.JPG,

Memorial of the Victims of Communism The Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the Resistance ( ro, Memorialul Victimelor Comunismului și al Rezistenței) in Romania consists of the Sighet Museum (often confused with the Memorial), located in the city of Sighetu Marmației, Mara ...

File:Nagybánya, a Piac tér a Felsőbányai út felől - panoramio.jpg, Baia Mare File:Bastionul Măcelarilor (Turnul de muniţii) - Baia Mare.jpg, Bastion of Baia Mare File:Casa Degenfeld din Baia Mare 01.jpg, Degenfeld House in Baia Mare File:Cascada cailor.jpg, Horses Waterfall File:Quartz-Rhodochrosite-mun05-146b.jpg, Quartz Rhodochrosite from Cavnic Mine File:Fluorite-Quartz-215546.jpg, Fluorite Quartz from Boldut Mine File:Mocănița de pe Valea Vaserului.JPG, Mocăniță Railway File:Raul Iza la Rozavlea.JPG, Iza River

References

External links

Things to do when visiting Maramureș

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maramures Divided regions Historical regions in Romania Historical regions in Ukraine