BANAT (Hungarian Bansdg)

This article appears in Volume V03, Page 307 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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BANAT (Hungarian Bansdg) , a

district

DISTRICT

in the south-east of Hungary, consisting of the counties of Torontal, Temes and Krasso-Szoreny. The term, in Hungarian, means generally a frontier province governed by a ban and is equivalent to the German term Mark. There were in Hungary several banats, which disappeared during the Turkish wars, as the banat of Dalmatia, of Slavonia, of Bosnia and of Croatia. But when the word is used without any other qualification, it indicates the

Temesvar

TEMESVAR

banat, which strangely acquired this title after the peace of Passarowitz (1718), though it was never governed by a ban. The Banat is bounded E. by the Transylvanian Alps, S. by the Danube, W. by the Theiss and N. by the Maros, and has an
'ms:
Banana (Musa sapientum).
area of 11,26o sq. m. It is mountainous in the south and south-east, while in the north, west and south-west it is flat and in some places marshy. The climate, except in the marshy parts, is generally healthy. It is well-watered, and forms one of the most fertile districts of Hungary. Wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize, flax, hemp and tobacco are grown in large quantities, and the products of the vineyards are of a good quality. Game is plentiful and the rivers swarm with fish. The

mineral

MINERAL

wealth is great, including copper, tin, lead, zinc, iron and especially coal. Amongst its numerous

mineral

MINERAL

springs, the most important are those of Mehadia, with sulphurous waters, which were already known in the Roman period as the Thermae Herculis. The Banat had in 1900 a population of 1,431,329 inhabitants. According to nationality there were 578,789 Rumanians, 362,487 Germans, 251,938 Servians and 170,124 Magyars. The

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

town is

Temesvar

TEMESVAR

(pop. 53,033), and other places of importance are Versecz (25,199), Lugos (16,126), Nagybecskerek (26,407), Nagykikinda (24,843) and Pancsova (19,044).
The Banat was conquered by the Turks in 1552, and remained a Turkish sanjak (province) till 1716, when Prince

Eugene

EUGENE

of Savoy liberated it from the Turkish yoke. It received the title of Banat after the peace of Passarowitz (1718), and remained under a military administration until 1751, when Maria Theresa introduced a civil administration. During the Turkish occupation the

district

DISTRICT

was nearly depopulated, and. allowed to lie almost desolate in marsh and heath and forest. Count

Claudius

Mercy (16661734), who was appointed

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of Temesvar in 1720, took numerous measures for the regeneration of the Banat. The marshes hear the Danube and Theiss were cleared, roads and canals were built at great expense of labour, German artisans and other settlers were attracted to colonize the district, and agriculture and trade encouraged. Maria Theresa also took a great

interest

INTEREST

in the Banat, colonized the land belonging to the crown with German peasants, founded many villages, encouraged the exploitation of the mineral wealth of the country, and generally developed the measures introduced by Mercy. In 1779 the Banat was again incorporated with Hungary. After the revolution of 18481849, the Banat together with another county (Bats) was separated from Hungary, and created into a distinctive Austrian crown land, but in 186o it was definitely incorporated with Hungary.
See Leonhard Bohm, Geschichte des Temeser Banats (2 vols.,

Leipzig

LEIPZIG

, 1861); Johann Heinrich Schwicker, Geschichte des Temeser Banats (Pest, 1872).

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