Mureş River

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The Mureş (Romanian) or Maros (Hungarian) is an approximately 725 km long river, rising in the Giurgeu (Gyergyó) Range in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania. It joins the Tisza river at Szeged in southeastern Hungary. It flows through the Romanian counties Harghita, Mureş, Alba, Hunedoara and Arad, and the Hungarian county Csongrád. The cities Topliţa, Reghin, Târgu Mureş, Iernut, Luduş, Ocna Mureş, Aiud, Teiuş, Alba Iulia, Deva, and Arad in Romania and Makó and Szeged in Hungary all lie on the Mureş/Maros.

The Mureş was known as the river Marisus in antiquity. The Mureş was also known in German as the Mieresch and Marosch owing to Transylvanian Saxon settlements and one-time Austrian Habsburg rule. Salt used to be traded in medieval times on the river on large rafts.

The Hungarian reaches of the Maros are 50 km long (21 km as the state border). 2850 hectares on the northern side of the river are protected as part of the Körös-Maros National Park. The Maros Floodplain Protected Area is comprised of gallery forests, floodplain meadows and 60 hectares of forest reserve near Szeged.