Zaránd County ( hu, Zaránd vármegye, la, Comitatus Zarandiensis) was an administrative unit of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephe ...

and the Principality of Transylvania from the middle ages until 1876. Located mainly in the Fehér-Körös/ Crișul Alb river valley, today its former territory lies mostly in

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

, with a small amount in south-eastern

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

. In the 16th century Zaránd was part of the

Eastern Hungarian Kingdom The Eastern Hungarian Kingdom ( hu, keleti Magyar Királyság) is a modern term coined by some historians to designate the realm of John Zápolya and his son John Sigismund Zápolya, who contested the claims of the House of Habsburg to rule the ...

and later the

Partium Partium (from Latin '' partium'', the genitive of '' pars'' "part, portion") or ''Részek'' (in Hungarian) was a historical and geographical region in the Kingdom of Hungary during the early modern and modern periods. It consisted of the eastern ...

territories of the Principality of Transylvania. It returned to Habsburg Hungary in 1699. In 1744 most of the western territory of Zaránd County, including its capital Zaránd/ Zărand, was transferred to

Arad County Arad County () is an administrative division ( judeţ) of Romania roughly translated into county in the western part of the country on the border with Hungary, mostly in the region of Crișana and few villages in Banat. The administrative cente ...

; Körösbánya/

Baia de Criș Baia de Criș (german: Altenburg; hu, Körösbánya) is a commune in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania, close to the small town of Brad. It is composed of nine villages: Baia de Criș, Baldovin (''Báldovin''), Căraci (''Karács''), Căr� ...

became the capital of the new rump county. During a period of significant administrative reform in the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

following the

Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Euro ...

the traditional counties of

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the ...

(including the Partium territories of Zaránd, Kraszna, Közép-Szolnok and Kővár) were abolished and reorganised into five (districts; literally "circles") in 1851; Zaránd's territory was incorporated into the of Karlsburg. In 1854 the system was revised significantly with the previously five becoming ten; Zaránd's territory became part of the new of Broos. The pre-1848 counties, including Zaránd, were restored in 1860. Zaránd county was finally permanently dissolved as part of the 1876 administrative reform in the

Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen The Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen ( hu, a Szent Korona Országai), informally Transleithania (meaning the lands or region "beyond" the Leitha River) were the Hungarian territories of Austria-Hungary, throughout the latter's entire exis ...

; most of its territory became part of

Hunyad County Hunyad (today mainly Hunedoara) 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 Romania in Transylvania. The capital of the co ...

as the Körösbánya and Brád districts, with a smaller western part being merged into Arad county as the district of Nagyhalmágy.

List of ''ispáns''

Middle Ages

Notes

Sources