Oaș Country
Oaş Country (Romanian: Ţara Oaşului, Hungarian: Avasság) is an ethnographic region of Romania located in the North-East part of Satu Mare County, 50 km from the city of Satu Mare. The total area is about 755,30 km². The capital of Oaş Country is Negrești-Oaș city.
Boundaries
The Oaş Country extends from Turţ - Gherţa Mare - Gherţa Mică (on the Western side) all the way to Huta pass situated at an altitude of 604 m (in the East), from Cămărzana (in the North) to the mountains that surround Oraşu Nou, Racşa and Vama (in the South).
Communes and villages
The Oaş Country comprises the following communes and villages:
- Orașu Nou (commune) with Prilog, Racşa, Remeţi and Oraşu Nou-Vii (villages)
- Certeze (commune) with Huta Certeze and Moişeni (villages)
- Vama (commune) with Vama Băi (village)
- Călinești-Oaș (commune) with Lechinţa, Pǎşunea Mare, Coca and Dumbrava (villages)
- Târșolț (commune) with Aliceni (village)
- Bixad (commune) with Trip Băi, Boineşti, Bixad
- Cămărzana (commune) with Cămărzana (village)
Geography
The Oaş Depression has maximum altitudes of 400–500 m. Most of the human dwellings are situated alongside the river valleys that cross the Oaş Depression. In the Northern part of the depression there is the Lechincioara Basin which includes the Mare, Semănaturii and Lechincioarei valleys.
In the Southern part of Oaş Country there are the Tur, Alb and Rău rivers.
History
The first document that mentioned the Oaş Country dates from 1270, when the King of Hungary donated to a nobleman several villages from the South-Western boundary of the "country".
In that document the Oaş Country is mentioned as Terra Awas. Some historians claim that the origin of the word "Oaş" is the "Awas", which means a kind of deforestation or a clearing in the woods.
The Oaş Country was mentioned even in the Chronicles of Grigore Ureche.
Noble family
- Szilágyi de Oaș noble family
- Pop de Negrești noble family
Personalities of Oaş Country
- Ioniță G. Andron (b. 20 aprilie 1917, Racșa, Oaş Country – d. 23 aprilie 1989, Negrești Oaș) - Photographer, lawyer
- Dr. Pop Mihai (b. 12 noiembrie 1936, Chiuzbaia, Baia Sprie city - d. 2004) - MD, director of City Hospital Negreşti, over two decades
- PhD Associate Professor Ioan Chioreanu-Oaș (b. 16 ianuarie 1922, Prilog - d. 29 nov. 2011, Baia Mare)
- Mihai FEHER, archpriest of Oaş Country
- Maria Tripon (b. 14 iulie 1962, Negrești-Oaș, Oaş Country, Satu Mare County) - teacher, artist, singer and ambassador of the folk music of Oaş Country
- Ph. D. Natalia Lazăr - director of the House of Culture Negrești Oaș and director of the ”Oașul” Folk Ensemble Negrești Oaș
- Ionuț Silaghi de Oaș (born in Negrești-Oaș city, the capital of Oaş Country), nobility, young romanian artist, secretary general of the ”Oașul” Folk Ensemble Negrești Oaș
- Vasile Pop-Negreșteanu (b. 28 Decembrie 1955 in Negrești Oaș, Oaş Country, Satu Mare County)- painter
- Ion Țânțaș (b. 5 iulie 1909, Negrești Oaș, Oaş Country, Romania - d. 15 iulie 1973, Vama)- painter
- Ioan Nistor (b. 5 decembrie 1948, Prilog) – teacher and poet