TRANSYLVA'NIA (called by the Hungarians the woody and mountainous country;" by the Germans Siebenburgen, castles," from the seven forts built by the Saxons on their establishment in the country, and which forts became nuclei of the walled cities of Hermannstadt, Elausenburg, Kronstadt, Bistritz, Mediasch, MUilderabach, and Schtisburg; and by the Romans Transylvania, from its position beyond the forest range which stretches southward from the Carpathians, and forms its western boundary) is the most easterly territory of Austria, and is bounded on the n. by Hungary and Galicia, e. by Bukovina and Moldavia, s. by Wallachia, and w. by the Military Frontier, tlic Banat, and Hungary. It contains 21,134 Eng. sq.m., with a pop. '69, of 2,115,02.4, of whom 1,200,400 were Wallachs and eastern Romains, 573,000 Magyars and Szeklers, 235,600 Germans, the rest being slaves, gipsies, Armenians, Jews, Italians, etc. Classed according to their relVous professions, 652,945 were non-united Greeks, 600,800 Greek-Catholics and Armenians, 505,540 Protestants, 263,769 Roman Catholics, and 24,848 Jews. Transylvania is an elevated plateau (it lowest parts being 530 feet above sea level) of an irregular form, somewhat resembling a triangle of which the upper part has been irregularly removed, and is bounded partially on the n., and wholly on the e. and s., by a high range of mountains—a continuation of the Carpathians—which sends out innumerable lateral ridges toward the center of the country, and along the western frontier, so that Transylvania is an almost perfect natural fortress. There are no plains a river-basin widens out; but the valleys are numerous and exceedingly picturesque. Almost the whole country is drained westward into the Danube, by the Theiss and its feeders in the n., and by the Mares, a tributary of the Theiss, and its feeders, in the center and s.; the south eastern corner is drained by the Mina, or Alt, which, after a winding course, breaks through the southern bounding range near Bermannstadt; while a number of streamlets worm their way through the eastern range, and join the Seretb. The climate is more healthy and temperate than that of Hungary, the mountain-chain along the southern frontier keeping off the hot winds. The soil is extremely fertile; but much arable land is still uncultivated. The valleys and hill-sides supply abundant pasturage for numerous herds of cattle and droves of horses; the cultivated districts yield good crops of maize, rye, barley, oats, all sorts of leguminous plants, tobacco, saffron, madder, hemp, and lint. The culture of fruits is extensively practiced, and immense quantities of apricots, peaches, plums, apples, pears, and walnuts are annually produced. The extensive forests, which cover nearly 5,300,000 acres of ground, contribute largely to the wealth of the country. The vine is extensively cultivated, and, in spite of the defective mode of preparation, the produce is excellent in quality. The mineral wealth of Transylvania is great; gold is found more abundantly than silver, and silver than copper; yet there are few gold mines regularly worked, and a thorough investigation of the extent to which this valuable metal exists in the country, seems never to have been made. Iron is found in abundance at Torockzo, copper at Balan, lead at Rodna; the other minerals are mercury, manganese, antimony, sulphur, arsenic, vitriol, alum, marble, etc. Coal is not absent; but firewood is so abundant and cheap that no other combustible has been sought for; and even the extensive tracts of peat have been allowed to lie undis turbed. Rock-salt is abundant. Transylvania has almost no manufactures, and the comirierce, owing to the isolation of the country, the want of enterprise of its inhabitants, and the absence of good roads, is far from bearing a fair proportion to the amount of the country's produce.
Of the various races which now inhabit Transylvania the Walachs, the earliest posses sors, though by far most numerous, were till recently subordinated to the other races of Transylvania, but since the revolution of 1818 49 have acquired a position in the coun try which, by all means, honest or dishonest, they are striving to improve; the Magyars entered as conquerors in the 10th c., and still constitute the nobility and gentry of the land; the Saxons were introduced in 1143 and 1247 from the Rhenish provinces of Lower Saxony by king Geysa II. and Bela IV. of Hungary, and received special privi leges and immunities to induce them to settle in the country, and improve the cultiva tion of the soil; and the Szeklers, or Szeklielyi, are believed to be the descendants of the once formidable Huns. The last three are the dominant races of Transylvania, and live apart from each other—the Magyars occupying the w. and centre, the Saxons the s. and n.e., and the Szeklers the s.east. The Magyars, Bulgarians, and Armenians speak
the Magyar language as used in Hungary; the Saxons employ Low-German in speaking, and High-German in writing, but with a considerable mixture of Magyar in both; the Szeklers speak a Turanian dialect; and the Walachs use their own language intermixed with corrupt Latin. Transylvania is little noticed in history till the Christian era, when part of it was occupied by the warlike Dacians, soon after whom the Sarmatian tribes of the ,Tazyges and Carpi settled in it. The conquest of the Dacians by Trajan, however, did not include that of the other two peoples, who proved very troublesome to the Roman settlers along the Danube, till they were conquered by Diocletian. and the Carpi carried away to Pannonia and other districts. In the middle of the 4th c., the Got ,s overran the country, defeating the Sarmatians in a great battle on the Maros, in which the monarch and the chief of his nobility perished; and they in their turn were forced in 375 to retire before the Huns and their confederates. The Gepidm next took peses sion of Transylvania till their almost complete extirpation, in 566, by the Lombards and Avars. It was conquered by the Hungarians about 1000, and was governed by Woi vodes till 1526, when the death of the Hungarian monarch at Mohacs prepared the way for the union of the two countries under the Woivide, John Zapolya; but the war which thence arose with the Austrians caused their complete severance, and Zapolya's sway was, in 1535, confined to Transylvania, of which he became sovereign lord, under the protection of the Turks. Transylvania, on its conquest by the Hungarians, was only partially settled; the eastern part constituted a grazing-ground for wandering tribes who had migrated thither. The Saxons were summoned by the Hungarian monarchs to act as a counterpoise to the increasing power of the nobles; and from similar motives the Burzen land was given to the Teutonic knights, but the arrogant bearing of those soldiers of the cross soon offended their titular lord, and they were forced to leave the country. The " golden charter" of king Andrew II. (1224) secured a perfectly free political system to the Saxons, whose " comes" or chief was, like the head of a clan, both judge and leader, and from whom the only appeal was to the king in person. The firm protection and generous treatment accorded to the Saxons by the Hungarian mon archs were rewarded by steadfast loyalty, and succor in men and money whenever required. During the rest of the 16th c., the country was distracted by the hitter strife between the Catholic party, who were supported by Austria, and the Protestant party, who were allied with the Turks; the latter party, headed successively by princes of the houses of Zapolya and Bathory, generally maintaining the superiority. The next chief of the Protestant party was the celebrated Botskay, whose successes against Austria extorted from the emperor an acknowledgment of the independence of Transylvania in 1606. To him succeeded Bethlem Gabor, the determined foe of Catholicism and Austria, who did important service during the thirty years' war. Between his son and successor, Stephen, and Ragotski arose a contest for the crown, in which the latter pre vailed; but on Ragotski's death, the civil war was resumed, till the complete rout of the Austrians by the Turks, under Kiupruli, placed the scepter in the hands of Michael Abaffi, who reigned, till his death in 1690, as a vassal of the Porte. The Austrians now again possessed themselves of Transylvania, despite the heroic resistance of Ragotski ; and though Tekeli (q.v.) succeeded for a brief period in rolling back the invaders, the peace of Carlovitz, in 1699, again put them in possession; and after the death of Michael Abaffi II., in 1713, Transylvania was completely incorporated with Hungary. It was erected into a grand principality in 1765. During the insurrection in 1848 the Hun garians and Szeklers joined the insurgents, and forced Transylvania to reunite with Hungary, despite the opposition of the Saxons; and the Walachs, still little better than a horde of savages, were let loose over the laud to burn, plunder, and murder indis criminately; the prostration of the country being completed in the following year dur ing the bloody conflicts which took place here between Bem and the Russian troops. In the same year Transylvania was again separated from its turbulent neighbor, and made a crownland; the portions of it which had, in 1S35, been annexed to Hungary being restored, as well as the Transylvanian military frontier in 1851. In 1867 Transylvania was again united with Hungary. It is now a province under the Hungarian crown, and is officially styled a grand-duchy. See Transylvania, its Products and its People, by C. Boner (Lund 1865).