Máramaros County (German: Komitat Maramuresch; Hungarian: Máramaros vármegye; Latin: Comitatus Maramarosiensis; Romanian: Comitatul Maramureș; Rusyn: Комітат Марамарош; Ukrainian: Kомітат Мармарош) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in north-western Romania and western Ukraine. The capital of the county was Máramarossziget (present-day Sighetu Marmației).[1]
The first mention of the region in the written sources is from 1199 ("cum in Maramorisio tempore venationis venatum ivissemus"). In the 13th century, it was almost uninhabited or very scarcely inhabited. In 1343, the Voivodeship of Maramureș, granted to a small Romanian nobility, was established. The region was reorganized into the Máramaros County in 1402. The growth of its population started when the five crown cities (Máramarossziget, Hosszúmező, Huszt, Técső, Visk) were founded in the same century.[2] In 1920, after the Treaty of Trianon, the northern part of the county became part of newly formed Czechoslovakia (Subcarpathian Rus'). The southern part (including Sighetu Marmației) became part of Romania.
The northern part was returned to Hungary by the annexation of the remainder of Carpathian Ruthenia after Czechoslovakia ceased to exist in 1939, however the redeemed territories of the former county remained separate from the administrative branch office of Máramaros. After the Second Vienna Award, the rest of the county became part of Hungary as well and Máramaros County was recreated on this territory, with Máramarossziget as capital. Afterwards, the northern part of Máramaros county along with the administrative branch offices of Máramaros became part of the Soviet Union, Ukrainian SSR, Zakarpattia Oblast. Since 1991, when the Soviet Union split up, the Zakarpattya region is part of Ukraine.
The southern part of the county is now part of the Romanian county Maramureș.
Demographics
Ethnic map of the county with data of the 1910 census (see the key in the description).
