Marghita

Marghita Margitta
—  Municipality  —
Aerial view
Location of Marghita
Coordinates: 47°21′00″N 22°20′00″E / 47.35°N 22.3333333°E / 47.35; 22.3333333Coordinates: 47°21′00″N 22°20′00″E / 47.35°N 22.3333333°E / 47.35; 22.3333333
Country	Romania
County	Bihor County
Status	Municipality
Government
– Mayor	Dorel Talpoș (Democratic Liberal Party)
Population (2002)
– Total	19,000
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website	http://www.marghita.ro/

Marghita (Romanian pronunciation: [marˈɡita]; Hungarian: Margitta, Hungarian pronunciation:[’mɒrɡitɒ]) is a city in Bihor County, Romania. It administers two villages, Cheţ (Magyarkéc) and Ghenetea (Genyéte).

History

The name appears to be derived from the name "Margit" (Margaret), Saint Margaret the patron of a local church. The first time it was used in a document was in 1216. In the 14th century, it became a feudal holding of the Hungarian landlord.

In 1376 king Louis I of Hungary gave to Marghita the right of organizing a fair and it developed in the next centuries as a market town. There were several peasant revolts against the feudal system affecting Marghita in 1467 and 1514. At the beginning of the 14th century, it became, together with the whole of Bihor county and Hungary, an Ottoman province.

In 1823, a great fire destroyed half of the buildings of Marghita. After the 1848 revolution, the local peasants were no longer serfs and manufacturing and industry began to develop. In 1944, after German occupation about 2,100 Jews of Marghita were sent to death, concentration and labor camps as part of the Holocaust, and about 450 from them survived. After 1947 with the Soviets imposing a Communist government in Romania, factories and land were nationalized. Over the course of the next few years, Marghita took part in the Romanian industrialization process.

Politics

The Marghita Municipal Council, elected in the 2008 local government elections, is made up of 17 councillors, with the following party composition:

	Party	Seats	Current Council
	Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania	7
	Democratic Liberal Party	5
	National Liberal Party	3
	Social Democratic Party	2

Population

Currently, around 19,000 people live in Marghita, 17,000 of whom live in Marghita city, 1,200 in the village of Cheţ and 800 in the village of Ghenetea.

Ethnically, the population is composed of:

• Romanians - 50 %
• Hungarians - 46 %
• Others (Slovaks and Roma) - 4%

External links

• www.marghita.ro