Şimleu Silvaniei is a town in Sălaj County

Salaj County

Sălaj is a county of Romania, in the historical regions of Crișana and Transylvania, with the capital city at Zalău.-Geography:Sălaj county has a total area of ....

, Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 with a population of 16,066 people (2002 census).

Three villages are administered by the town: Bic (Bükk), Cehei (Somlyócsehi) and Pusta (Csehipuszta).

History

In 1258 it was mentioned as Wathasomlyowa. The name means "Wata's mountain"; the name Wata is of Old Turkish origin, while somlyowa is an archaic Hungarian word for mountain(side).

The town belonged to the Báthory family, whose ancestral castle stood here. The castle was built by Miklós, Voivod of Transylvania in the early 13th century and was first mentioned in 1319. After the Báthory family built a mansion in the town in 1592, the castle became deserted and today lies in ruins.

The mansion was occupied by Giorgio Basta

Giorgio Basta

Giorgio Basta, Count of Huszt was an Italian general of Arbëreshë descent, employed by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to command Habsburg forces in the Long War of 1591-1606 and later to administer Transylvania as an Imperial vassal to restore Catholicism as a predominant religion in...

 from Zsigmond Báthory in 1600. In 1703 it was occupied by Kurucs.

In 1919, the first Romanian

Romanian language

Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

-language high school in Sălaj County was founded here, and today the town is home to three high schools.

In 1940, Şimleu Silvaniei, along with the rest of Northern Transylvania

Northern Transylvania

Northern Transylvania is a region of Transylvania, situated within the territory of Romania. The population is largely composed of both ethnic Romanians and Hungarians, and the region has been part of Romania since 1918 . During World War II, as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as...

, was given back to Hungary through the Second Vienna Award

Second Vienna Award

The Second Vienna Award was the second of two Vienna Awards arbitrated by the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Rendered on August 30, 1940, it re-assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.-Prelude and historical background :After the World War I, the multi-ethnic...

 imposed by the Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 and Fascist Italy

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

.

Population

According to the last census from 2002

Demographics of Romania

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Romania, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population....

 there were 16,066 people living within the city.

Of this population, 65.68% are ethnic Romanians

Romanians

The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....

, while 24.95% are ethnic Hungarians, 8.86 ethnic Roma and 0.51% others.

Sights to see

• Castle ruins
• Báthory mansion (16th century)
• Roman Catholic church (1532)
• Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum
  Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum
  The Northern Transylvania Holocaust Memorial Museum is located in Şimleu Silvaniei, Romania and was opened September 11, 2005. The museum is operated and maintained by the Jewish Architectural Heritage Foundation of New York and Asociata Memoralia Hebraica Nuşfalău - a Romanian NGO, with the...
  
  

Famous natives

• Liviu Antal
  Liviu Antal
  Liviu Antal is an Romanian footballer who plays for Liga I club Oţelul Galaţi. He signed up for the club in June 2009....
  
  
• Andrew Cardinal Báthory
• Kristóf Báthory
• Sophia Báthory
• Stefan Batory
  Stefan Batory
  Stephen Báthory was a Hungarian noble Prince of Transylvania , then King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania . He was a member of the Somlyó branch of the noble Hungarian Báthory family...
  
  
• György Bölöni
• Elly Berkovits Gross
  Elly Gross
  Elly Berkovits Gross is a Jewish Holocaust survivor and author of several Holocaust related books of poetry and prose. She currently resides in the United States, where she is a frequent invited speaker at museums and schools around the country.-Biography:Elly was born in Şimleu Silvaniei, Romania...
  
  
• Iuliu Maniu
  Iuliu Maniu
  Iuliu Maniu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician. A leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, he served as Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933, and, with Ion Mihalache, co-founded the National Peasants'...
  
  
• Joe Pasternak
  Joe Pasternak
  thumb|right|250px|Pasterrnak receiving his star on [[Hollywood Boulevard]] from [[Johnny Grant |Johnny Grant]] with [[Gene Kelly]] on the left on July 29, 1991....
  
  
• Dr. Ioan Puşcaş
  Ioan Puscas
  Ioan Puşcaş is a gastroenterologist, born in Treznea, Sălaj, Romania. In the 1970s, he proposed the use of carbonic anhydrase inhibitor acetazolamide to heal peptic ulcers., Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volume 429 -References:...
  
  

Twin towns — Sister cities

Şimleu Silvaniei is twinned

Town twinning

Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 with:

Nyírbátor Nyírbátor Nyírbátor /ˈɲiːɾbaːtoɾ/ is a town in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county, in the Northern Great Plain region of eastern Hungary. With its historic atmosphere, this city is known for its 15th- and 16th-century ecclesiastic and secular built heritage and for the family of the former landowners, the Báthory... , Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...   Szarvas Szarvas ----Szarvas is a town in Békés county in southeastern Hungary. The Hungarian placename Szarvas means 'deer' in English.- History :... , Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...