Bihar County
The Bihar County (Hungarian Bihar Vármegye, Romanian Comitatul Bihor, latin Comitatus Bihariensis ) was an administrative unit ( county, county ) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, the smaller part is located in Hungary ( in the present-day counties of Hajdú -Bihar and Békés ), the greater part of Romania ( in Bihor county ).
Location and General Description
It bordered on the county Békés, Hajdú, Szabolcs, Satu Mare ( Szatmár ), Szilágy, Cluj-Napoca ( Kolozs ), Torda - Aranyos and Arad.
Previously, the County of Bihar (Hungarian sometimes referred to with Biharország ) is the largest county of the district transtisianischen ( tiszántúli kerület - " District beyond the Tisza " ) of Royal Hungary. It covered an area of 10,611 km ² (excluding the city of Oradea ). The relief of the county was very different: In the east there was the Westsiebenbürgische mountains before, in the west the Great Hungarian Lowland. The county formed the bulk of the so-called Crişana ( Körösvidék ), because through his territory flowed two Kreisch rivers: the Crisul Repede ( Fast Screaming ) and the Crisul Negru ( Black yelp ). The area was so large that it was divided into several ethnographic regions ( Érmellék, Bihari Mezőség, Rézalja, Sárrét etc.). Another main river of the area was the Berettyó (Romanian Barcău ).
The census in 1910 yielded a total population of 646 301 people. Among them were 365 642 (57%) Hungarians, 265 098 (41%) Romanians, 3,599 ( 0.5%), German and 8,457 (1%) Slovaks. The Hungarians lived primarily in lowland areas of the county (which today is still mostly in Hungary), the Romanians in the mountains, the German in the cities and the Slovaks around the places Suplacu de Barcău ( Berettyószéplak ) and Sinteu ( Sólyomkővár ). 249 613 people identified themselves as Calvinists, Orthodox as 233 159, 68 019, as Catholics (Roman ), 57 488 as Uniate Catholics and 32 462 as Israelites.
County subdivision
The county was in the early 20th century from the following districts chair (after the name of the administrative headquarters named):
The places Berettyóújfalu, Biharkeresztes, Derecske and Biharnagybajom are in present-day Hungary, the remaining places in Romania.