Torontál

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Torontál
County seat in 1910	Nagybecskerek (Serbian: Veliki Bečkerek)
Area in 1910	10,016 km²
Population in 1910	615,200
Present country	Serbia, Romania, Hungary

Torontál (Hungarian: Torontál, Serbian: Torontal or Торонтал) is the name of administrative county (comitatus) of the historic Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is presently in northern Serbia (eastern Vojvodina, except the small part near Belgrade, which is part of Central Serbia), western Romania and southern Hungary. The capital of the county was Nagybecskerek (Serbian: Veliki Bečkerek), the current Zrenjanin.

[edit] Geography

Torontál county was located in the Banat region. It shared borders with the Kingdom of Serbia and the Hungarian counties Szerém, Bács-Bodrog, Csongrád, Csanád, Arad and Temes (the first county was part of Croatia-Slavonia). The river Danube formed its southern border, the river Tisza its western border, and the river Maros its northern border. Its area was 10,042 km² around 1910.

[edit] History

Torontál county was formed before the 15th century. The county was taken by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, and was included into the Ottoman Province of Temeşvar. After the Banat was captured by the Habsburg Monarchy in 1718, the area of the county was included into the Banat of Temeswar, a separate Habsburg province. This province was abolished in 1778, and the area of the county was incorporated into the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary.

Bács-Bodrog, Szerém, Torontál, Temes and Krassó-Szörény counties after 1881, the five counties, which were formed in the territory of former Voivodship of Serbia and Tamiš Banat

In 1848/1849 the area of the county was part of Serbian Voivodship, while between 1849 and 1860 it was part of Voivodship of Serbia and Tamiš Banat, a separate Habsburg province. The Torontál county was re-established in the 1860s, when the area was incorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary.

In 1918, the county first became part of the newly formed Banat Republic, and then part of the also newly formed Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. By the Treaty of Trianon of 1920, the area of the county was divided between the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, Romania, and Hungary. Most of the county was assigned to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which later became Yugoslavia). The north-eastern part of the county was assigned to Romania, and the northernmost part of the county (a small area south of Szeged) was assigned to Hungary and became part of the new county Csanád-Arad-Torontál.

The Yugoslav part of the pre-1918 Torontál county (the western Banat region) is presently part of Serbia (mostly in the autonomous region of Vojvodina, except the small part near Belgrade, which is part of Central Serbia). The Romanian part is now part of Timiş county. The Hungarian part is now part of Csongrád county.

[edit] Demographics

According to the census of 1910, the county had 615,151 inhabitants.

Population by language (1910 census):

• Serbian = 199,750 (32.47%)
• German = 165,779 (26.95%)
• Hungarian = 128,405 (20.87%)
• Romanian = 86,937 (14.13%)
• Slovak = 16,143
• Croatian = 4,203

[edit] Subdivisions

In the early 20th century, the subdivisions of Torontál county were: