Information about Transylvania

Geographic Location

Geographically, Transylvania is located in East Central  Europe,  North-West of present day Romania. 

For  Romanians Transylvania means more territory than the historic Transylvania. They also include in their concept of Transylvania (the former Dacia) the Partium and the Bánság (Banat in Romanian) as well. All these were parts of the former Kingdom of Hungary.

The territory of the historic Transylvania would be 57,000 km2, but with the addition of the Partium and the Banat, the total area of the Hungarian Kingdom that came under Romanian rule in 1920 is 103,093 km2. This is 2.5 times bigger than Switzerland, or approximately the size of Belgium, Holland and Denmark taken altogether, or the size of the state of Kentucky in the USA.

Short History

The first known inhabitants of Transylvania were the Agathurs from 600 to 400 B.C. The next known inhabitants were Celtics from 300 to 200 B.C, then the Dacians (200 B.C. to 106 A.D.). From 106 A.D., the most significant parts of Transylvania came under the rule of the Roman Empire as the Province of Dacia. Because of the constant incursions of the Goths, the Romans evacuated Dacia in 271 A.D. After this date Dacia became the temporary home of different migrating nomadic peoples such as Goths, Visigoths, Taifals, Huns, Avars, Slavs and Bulgarians. The incoming Hungarians (Magyars) during their conquest in 894 A.D. met with another Hungarian-speaking people living in the plains of Pannonia already, - according to early-medieval chronicle writers and recent archeological findings. These Hungarian speaking people living in Bodrog-Alsóbű (Hungary) were the Székelys (German name: Szeklers, say: Saykeys) who are living nowadays in the Eastern parts of Transylvania.

In the year 1001 *, Hungary, which included Transylvania, became a Christian kingdom.

The first written references to the settlement of Romanians (who were known at that time as Wlachs) in Transylvania are from the beginning of the thirteenth century. After Hungary lost the battle of Mohács in 1526 against the Turkish Empire, the Hungarian Kingdom fell apart: Transylvania becomes a practically independent Hungarian principality, or semi-sovereign state under Turkish suzerainty. In domestic matters Transylvania was able to pass its own laws, so in 1568 for the first time in the world, religious freedom was declared for four religions, the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and the Unitarian churches, at the "Diet" (National Assembly) held in the Transylvanian town of Torda (Romanian: Turda). The Wallachian (Romanian) Orthodox Church was not legally recognized as part of Transylvania's religions, so, as the Wallachian noblemen were integrating into the Hungarian nobility, many of them became Catholics. The Wallachians at that time did not yet develop their ethnical identity, and they did not yet formulate their demands for territorial separation and independence. Under the Turkish-Austrian Treaty of Karlowitz of 1699 Transylvania is brought under Austrian rule, but it maintains its autonomous status as a Hungarian principality. Under the census made by the Austrians in the years 1712-1713, the national structure of Transylvania was 47% Hungarians, 34% Romanians and 19% Saxons (Germans).

Following the revolutions of 1848, after the reconciliation between Austria and Hungary of 1867, Transylvania becomes once again an integral part of Hungary. The ethnic distribution of Transylvania in 1910 is the following: 34.2% Hungarians, 55.1% Romanians, 8.7% Germans, and 2% others.

The Trianon Peace Treaty of 1920 concluding the First World War awards Transylvania to Romania.
[Proof-reader's note: It is interesting to note that Partium, which had an almost purely Hungarian population, was given to Romania at Trianon in violation of President Wilson's principle of national self-determination for one very practical reason. at the request of the Romanian delegation, they received the entire railroad system circling the Hungarian Great Plains, and all the territory that was on the "wrong side of the tracks." Thus, pure Hungarian villages and cities, like Nagyvárad (now: Oradea) came under Romanian rule.]

The Vienna Arbitration Award of 1940 returned a territory of 43,492 km2 to Hungary, including the mostly Hungarian populated areas of Partium, the Northern and Eastern part of Transylvania, along with the Székelyland populated 90% by Hungarians. Along with millions of Hungarians, these regions also included approximately 1,060,000 Romanians. The Peace Treaty of Paris that concluded the Second World War (1947) returned this territory to Romania.

Recent Developments

According to the census of 1992, the population of Transylvania is 7,723,313.

Ethnic structure: There are 5,684,142 Romanians (73.6%), 1,603,926 Hungarians (20.8%), 202,665, Rroma (Gypsies) (2.6%), 109,017 Germans (1.4%), 123,563 other nationalities (Ukrainians, Serbs, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Croatians, Czechs, Jews, etc.).
[Proof-reader's note: This change in the ethnic composition of Transylvania between 1910 and 1992 is largely due to the officially promoted, and often even forced population transfers: Hungarians could get jobs only in the so called "Regat," i.e. in traditional Romania, while Romanians from the Regat were given all kinds of privileges for moving to Transylvania.]

The structure by religions: 5,360,102 (69.1%) Christian Orthodox, 854,935 (11.0%) Catholics, 769,574 (10.3%) Calvinists, 206,833 (2.7%) Greek-Catholics, 158,970 (2.0%) Pentecostals, 94,630 (1.2%) Baptists, 75,978 (1%) Unitarians, and 175,291 (2.7%) others (i.e.: 29,180 Adventists, 534 Muslims, 12,372 Evangelists, 36,264 Confessionists (followers of Luther), 1,058 Old Christians, 3,891 Old Byzantines, 30,184 Synodic Presbyterians, 2,763 Moses-believers, 45,323 others, 3,649 atheists, 15,365 without religion, 4,595 did not declare any religion).

From the above figure we can ascertain unequivocally that Transylvania today is a multicolored, multicultural region of Europe. That is no wonder, since Transylvania lies on the boundary between the Western Christianity and the Eastern Christian Orthodoxism. Also, Transylvania is the meeting ground of the cultural influences of Central Europe and the Balkans.

In the present Romania, which is professing the idea of the nation-state, Transylvania does not have the status of a province, but is divided into fifteen separate counties instead. Since 1945, approximately 300,000 Hungarians, the same number of Germans, and approximately 50,000 Jews (who survived the Holocaust), along with a great number of Romanians emigrated to the West: Europe, America, or even Australia. The exodus of Hungarians and Germans continued even after the fall of communism of 1989. Also we have to note that after 1918 (or more precisely after 1920, when the Treaty of Trianon was signed), as part of a Romanian state-controlled process, a great number of Romanians settled in Transylvania, coming from South and East, from across the Carpathians. When an analysis of the present ethnic distribution of the region is attempted, we have to take into account these facts, too.

After the violent fall of Communism in 1989, which ended the dictatorship of Ceauşescu, the previously brutally oppressed opinions and dissident voices could rise again. The present hardships of the Romanian economy played an important role in formulating the wishes of ever more citizens of Transylvania, including Romanians as well as Hungarians, of wanting a greater independence for the province. Part of this desire  is the proTransilvania Foundation movement hallmarked by Romanian journalist Sabin Gherman.

It is our conviction that the needs of the citizens of Transylvania would be best served by a Scottish, Catalan or Tyrol type autonomy - separate parliament and government, common national-defence, foreign affairs and finances with Bucharest - that would also act as a strong propellant towards the Euro-Atlantic integration of Romania.

Péter Tófalvi
Former Transylvanian Lobby - November 1999 -> now: Transylvanian Forum (2001)

Translated by: László Götz (of Nagybánya) - January 2000.

Translation reviewed by Sándor Balogh Ph.D., P.E. (USA) - March 2000.