Bihar (county)

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Bihar County

County of the Kingdom of Hungary

11th century – 1920

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Capital

Nagyvárad

History

- Established

11th century

- Treaty of Trianon

June 4, 1920

Area

- 1910

10,657 km² (4,115 sq mi)

Population

- 1910 est.

646,300

Density

60.6 /km² (157.1 /sq mi)

Today part of

Romania, Hungary

Oradea is the current name of the capital.

For current affairs, see Bihor County and Hajdú-Bihar County

Bihar is the name of a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently mostly in north-western Romania, where it is administered as Bihor County, and a smaller part in eastern Hungary. The capital of the county was Nagyvárad; the city now lies in Romania under the Romanian name of Oradea.

1 Geography
2 History
3 Districts
4 Notes

[edit] Geography

Bihar county shared borders with the Hungarian counties Békés, Hajdú, Szabolcs, Szatmár, Szilágy, Kolozs, Torda-Aranyos and Arad. Three tributaries of the river Criş/Körös flow through the county (Crişul Repede, Crişul Negru and Berettyó). The western half of the county is in the Pannonian plain, while the eastern half is part of the Apuseni mountains. Its area was 10,657 km² around 1910.

[edit] History

Bihar was one of the oldest counties of the Kingdom of Hungary, formed before the twelfth century.

In 1876 the Kingdom of Hungary was divided into seven Circles, with a total of 64 counties^[1] The Circle on the left bank of the Theiss contained eight counties, including Bihar Megye (Megye means county), with the other seven being Békés, Hajdú, Máramaros, Szabolcs, Szatmár, Szilágy and Ugocsa. Bihar county in the Austro-Hungarian Empire contained Debrecen and Nagyvárad.

In 1918/19 (confirmed by the Treaty of Trianon 1920), about 75% of the county became part of Romania. The west of the county remained in Hungary. The capital of this smaller county Bihar was Berettyóújfalu.

After World War II, the Hungarian county Bihar was merged with Hajdú county to form Hajdú-Bihar county. The southernmost part of Hungarian Bihar (the area around Sarkad and Okány) went to Békés county.

The Romanian part of former Bihar county now forms the Romanian county Bihor, except the southernmost part (around Beliu), which is in Arad county.

[edit] Districts

In the early 20th century, the districts (járás) and their capitals were:

Districts (járás)
District	Capital
Bél	Bél, RO Beliu
Belényes	Belényes, RO Beiuş
Berettyóújfalu	Berettyóújfalu
Biharkeresztes	Biharkeresztes
Cséffa	Cséffa, RO Cefa
Derecske	Derecske
Élesd	Élesd, RO Aleşd
Érmihályfalva	Érmihályfalva, RO Valea lui Mihai
Központ	Nagyvárad, RO Oradea
Magyarcséke	Magyarcséke, RO Ceica
Margitta	Margitta, RO Marghita
Nagyszalonta	Nagyszalonta, RO Salonta
Sárrét	Biharnagybajom
Szalárd	Szalárd, RO Sălard
Székelyhid	Székelyhid, RO Săcueni
Tenke	Tenke, RO Tinca
Vaskoh	Vaskoh, RO Vaşcău
Urban counties (törvényhatósági jogú város)
Nagyvárad, RO Oradea

The towns of Derecske, Berettyóújfalu, Biharnagybajom and Biharkeresztes are presently in Hungary, while the other towns mentioned are in Romania.

[edit] Notes

^ H. Wickham Steed, Walter Alison Phillips, and David Hannay , A Short History of Austria-Hungary and Poland, (London: Encyclopaedia Britannica Company) 1914. On-line.

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Comitatus of the Kingdom of Hungary (1886)

Bihar (county)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] Geography

[edit] History

[edit] Districts

[edit] Notes

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