TRANSYLVANIA, a former grand duchy and crown-Iand of the Austro Hungarian monarchy; joined to Rumania in December, 1918; surrounded by Hun gary, the Bukovina, Moldavia, and Wal lachia; area, 22,312 square miles; pop. (1919) 2,678,867. Transylvania is so called from its position beyond the wooded Carpathians; its interior is a table-land intersected by spurs from the Carpathian ranges, rising in the S. (in Negoi) to 8,060 feet, in the N. to 7,000, in the W. to 5,840, and in the E. to 5,700, while its average elevation is about 1,500 feet above the sea, its lowest point being where the river Maros enters Hun gary (566 feet). The chief rivers, all belonging to the Danube system, are the Aluta, falling into the Danube, Samos, and Maros (tributaries of the Theiss), and the Bistritz, an affluent of the Sereth. Of the whole area, 23 per cent. is arable, 25 per cent. meadowland, and 38 per cent. forest. The best wine is produced in the valleys of the Samos, Kotel, and Maros. The mining industries of Transylvania include the production of iron ores and pig iron. Other mineral products are gold, silver, quicksilver, copper, coal, and salt. Tanning and the manufacture of
linens, woolens, and glass are also im portant. Originally a part of Dacia, Transylvania was conquered by King Stephan I. in 1004, and united to Hun gary. About this period the country was invaded by Germans, probably from the Rhine districts, who named it Sieben biirgen, after the seven fortified towns built by them. Ever since, this little Saxon colony has retained, unchanged, its peculiar laws and language; here we find cities with names like Kronstadt, Hermanstadt, Klausenburg, Elizabeth stadt, and Miihlenbach, in a district sur rounded by places with Slavonic, Magyar and Wallachian names. From 1526 to 1699 Transylvania was an independent kingdom under the Zapolya princes. Com pletely subdued by Leopold I. in 1687, and united to Hungary in 1713, it be came a grand-duchy in 1765. In 1848 it was the theater of a bloody struggle be tween Bern and the Russians, and was for a time united to Hungary. In 1849 it become an independent crown-land of Austria, and in 1867 an integral part of the kingdom of Hungary.