Someș County


Someș County is one of the historic counties of Transylvania, Romania. The county seat was Dej.
In 1938, the county was disestablished and incorporated into the newly formed Ținutul Crișuri, but it was re-established in 1940 after the fall of Carol II's regime - only to be abolished 10 years later by the Communist regime.

Geography

Someș County covered 3,965 km2 and was located in Transylvania. Currently, the territory that comprised Someș County is now located in the Bistrița-Năsăud, Maramureș, Cluj and Sălaj counties. It neighbored Satu Mare and Maramureș counties to the north, Năsăud County to the east, Cluj County to the south, and Sălaj County to the west.

Historical County

Prior to World War I, the territory of the county belonged to Austria-Hungary, identical with the Szolnok-Doboka County of Hungary. The territory was transferred to Romania from the Kingdom of Hungary in 1920, under the Treaty of Trianon. The Romanian name of the county became Someș-Dăbâca County. After the administrative unification law in 1925, the county was renamed to Someș County, and its territory was reorganized. In 1940, it was transferred back to Hungary with the rest of Northern Transylvania under the Second Vienna Award. Beginning in 1944, Romanian forces with Soviet assistance recaptured the territory and re-established jurisdiction in 1945. The transfer of the county per the Treaty of Trianon was reaffirmed in the Paris Peace Treaties, 1947. The county was finally disestablished by the communist government of Romania in 1950.

Administrative organization

Administratively, Someș County was divided originally into six districts :
  1. Plasa Beclean
  2. Plasa Dej
  3. Plasa Gârbou
  4. Plasa Gherla
  5. Plasa Ileanda
  6. Plasa Lăpuş
Later, a seventh district was added:

  1. Plasa Chiochiş

Population

According to the 1930 census, the county counted 219,335 inhabitants, of which 77.5% were Romanians, 15.4% Hungarians, and 4.8% Jews, and other smaller minorities. From a religious point of view, the population was mostly Greek Catholics, followed by Eastern Orthodox, Reformed, Roman Catholics, and other smaller minorities.

Urban population

The urban population consisted of 41.3% Romanians, 33.0% Hungarians, 20.1% Jews, 1.7% Armenians, and other smaller minorities. As a mother tongue in the urban area Romanian predominated, followed by Hungarian, Yiddish, German and others. From the religious point of view, the population was made up of Greek Catholics, followed by Reformed, Jews, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Armenian-Catholic, and other smaller denominations.