Torontál County

Torontal County Comitatus Torontaliensis (Latin) Torontál vármegye (Hungarian) Komitat Torontal (German) Торонталска жупанија (Serbian) Comitatul Torontal (Romanian)
County of the Kingdom of Hungary (14th century-1526) County of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom (1526-1551) County of the Kingdom of Hungary (1551-1552) County of the Kingdom of Hungary (1779-1849, 1860-1923)
Coat of arms
Capital	Aracsa; Nagy-Becskerek (1779-1807, 1820-1920); Nagyszentmikós (1807-1820); Kiszombor (1920-1923)
Area
• Coordinates	45°23′N 20°24′E
• 1910	10,016 km2 (3,867 sq mi)
Population
• 1910	615,151
History
• Established	14th century
• Ottoman conquest	1552
• County recreated	23 April 1779
• Disestablished	18 November 1849
• County recreated	27 December 1860
• Treaty of Trianon	4 June 1920
• Merged into Csanád-Arad-Torontál County	1923
Today part of	Serbia (7,261 km2) Romania (2,497 km2) Hungary (258 km2)
Vranjevo, Zrenjanin and Sânnicolau Mare are the current names of the capitals.

Torontál (Hungarian: Torontál, German: Torontal, Serbian: Торонтал, Romanian: Torontal) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now divided between Serbia and Romania, except for a small area which is part of Hungary. The capital of the county was Nagybecskerek (Serbian: Велики Бечкерек, German: Großbetschkerek, Romanian: Becicherecu Mare), the current Zrenjanin.

Geography

Map of Torontál, 1891.

Torontál county flag, late 18th century

Torontál county was located in the Banat region. From its recreation in 1779 until its partition in 1920 it shared borders with the Hungarian counties of Bács-Bodrog, Csongrád, Csanád, Arad and Temes.

The Banat Military Frontier lay along its southern border until it was abolished in 1873, after which the river Danube formed its southern border, which it shared with the Principality of Serbia (Kingdom of Serbia after 1882), and the Slavonian Military Frontier (Croatian-Slavonian county of Syrmia after 1881).

The river Tisza formed its western border and the river Maros (Mureș) its northern border. The rivers Aranca, Bega, Timiș and Bârzava flowed through the county. Its area was 10,042 km² (3,877 sq mi) around 1910.

History

Torontál County in 1370.

Torontál county was formed before the 15th century. Initially, the capital was at Aracs/Vranjevo (now a part of the town of Novi Bečej), and the county existed until this area was taken by the Ottoman Empire in 1552. During Ottoman administration, this territory was included into the Ottoman Province of Temeşvar. After Banat was captured by the Habsburg monarchy in 1718, the area was included into the Banat of Temeswar. This province was abolished in 1778 and it was incorporated into the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary. Torontal county was restored in 1779, with significantly different borders than in medieval times. Its center was moved temporarily to Nagyszentmiklós (present-day Sânnicolau Mare) between 1807 and 1820 due to a great fire in Nagybecskerek (present-day Zrenjanin).

Bács-Bodrog, Syrmia, Torontál, Temes and Krassó-Szörény counties after 1881, the five counties which were formed in the territory of the former Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar.

In 1848/1849 the area of the county was claimed by the self-proclaimed Serbian Voivodship, while between 1849 and 1860 it was part of the Voivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar, a separate Austrian crownland. After 1853, the county did not exist since the voivodeship was divided into districts. After the voivodeship was abolished in 1860, the area was reincorporated into the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary and the county was recreated in January 1861. In 1876, when the administrative structure of the Kingdom of Hungary was changed, the borders of Torontal County were modified to include the District of Velika Kikinda. A few years prior, parts of the territory of the former Banat Military Frontier (including Pancsova/Pančevo, formerly the seat of the so-called German Regiment) had also been annexed to it.

In 1918, the county was briefly a part of the ephemeral Banat Republic, and then a part of Banat, Bačka and Baranja region of the Kingdom of Serbia, which subsequently became part of the 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, comprising Kiszombor and 8 surrounding villages) was assigned to Hungary and became part of the newly formed county of Csanád-Arad-Torontál in 1923.

Csanád, Arad and Torontál counties after the Treaty of Trianon. In 1923, the three counties were merged to form Csanád-Arad-Torontál County.

The Yugoslav part of the pre-1920 Torontál county (the western Banat region) is now part of Serbia (mostly in the autonomous region of Vojvodina, except the small part near Belgrade, which is part of Belgrade Region). The Romanian part is now part of Timiș county (called Timiș-Torontal between 1919 and 1950). The Hungarian part is now part of Csongrád County.

Demographics

Ethnic map of the county with data of the 1910 census (see the key in the description).

Population by mother tongue

Census	Total	Serbian	German	Hungarian	Romanian	Slovak	Other or unknown
1880	530,988	169,006 (33.31%)	158,077 (31.15%)	78,278 (15.43%)	78,102 (15.39%)	12,213 (2.41%)	11,743 (2.31%)
1890	588,750	186,231 (31.63%)	184,827 (31.39%)	98,129 (16.67%)	87,445 (14.85%)	14,031 (2.38%)	18,087 (3.07%)
1900	609,362	191,857 (31.48%)	184,016 (30.20%)	114,760 (18.83%)	88,044 (14.45%)	14,969 (2.46%)	15,716 (2.58%)
1910	615,151	199,750 (32.47%)	165,779 (26.95%)	128,405 (20.87%)	86,937 (14.13%)	16,143 (2.62%)	18,137 (2.95%)

Population by religion

Census	Total	Eastern Orthodox	Roman Catholic	Lutheran	Calvinist	Jewish	Other or unknown
1880	530,988	251,414 (47.35%)	242,457 (45.66%)	18,657 (3.51%)	8,111 (1.53%)	6,672 (1.26%)	3,677 (0.69%)
1890	588,750	271,263 (46.07%)	273,610 (46.47%)	20,848 (3.54%)	10,504 (1.78%)	7,139 (1.21%)	5,386 (0.91%)
1900	609,362	277,558 (45.55%)	284,704 (46.72%)	22,524 (3.70%)	12,195 (2.00%)	6,750 (1.11%)	5,631 (0.92%)
1910	615,151	286,642 (46.60%)	279,793 (45.48%)	24,905 (4.05%)	12,549 (2.04%)	6,114 (0.99%)	5,148 (0.84%)

Subdivisions

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

Districts (járás)
District	Capital
Alibunári járás	Alibunár (now Alibunar, Serbia)
Antalfalvai járás	Antalfalva (now Kovačica, Serbia)
Bánlaki járás	Bánlak (now Banloc, Romania)
Csenei járás	Csene (now Cenei, Romania)
Módosi járás	Módos (now Jaša Tomić, Serbia)
Nagybecskereki járás	Nagy-Becskerek (now Zrenjanin, Serbia)
Nagykikindai járás	Nagy-Kikinda (now Kikinda, Serbia)
Nagyszentmiklósi járás	Nagyszentmiklós (now Sânnicolau Mare, Romania)
Pancsovai járás	Pancsova (now Pančevo, Serbia)
Párdányi járás	Párdány (now Međa, Serbia)
Perjámosi járás	Perjámos (now Periam, Romania)
Törökbecsei járás	Törökbecse (now Novi Bečej, Serbia)
Törökkanizsai járás	Törökkanizsa (now Novi Kneževac, Serbia)
Zsombolyai járás	Zsombolya (now Jimbolia, Romania)
Urban counties (törvényhatósági jogú város)
Pancsova (now Pančevo, Serbia)
Urban districts (rendezett tanácsú város)
Nagybecskerek (now Zrenjanin, Serbia)
Nagykikinda (now Kikinda, Serbia)

See also

• Current North, Central and South Banat districts of Serbia.

Sources

• Curta, Florin (2019). Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500–1300). Leiden & Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-39519-0.
• Dávid, Géza (2000). "An Ottoman Military Career on the Hungarian Borders: Kasim Voyvoda, Bey, and Pasha". Ottomans, Hungarians, and Habsburgs in Central Europe: The Military Confines in the Era of Ottoman Conquest. Leden-Boston-Köln: Brill. pp. 265–297. ISBN 90-04-11907-8.
• Engel, Pál (2001). The Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526. London & New York: Tauris. ISBN 978-1-86064-061-2.
• Pálosfalvi, Tamás (2018). From Nicopolis to Mohács: A History of Ottoman-Hungarian Warfare, 1389-1526. Leiden & Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-37565-9.