SALAJ COUNTY - Geography and history
Salaj county is located in the north-western part of Romania, in the transit area between the Western and the Eastern Carpathians; the county has an area of 3 864 km2, representing 1.6% of Romania's territory. The administrative organisation of the county's territory, as of 31 December 2000, was the following: one municipality and three towns, 55 communes and 281 villages. It borders the Satu Mare and Maramures counties to the north, the Cluj county to the south-east, and the Bihor county to the south-west. The county's capital city is Zalau.
The geography is very complex and hills and mountains predominate. The hilly area consists of the Somes Plateau, the Piedmont Hills of Silvania, and the higher area represented in the south-western part by the two northern ramifications of the Apuseni Mountains, the Meses and the Plopis slopes.
The climate is continental-temperate and the annually average temperature is 9.4°C. It is more humid and cooler in the higher areas, while the lower areas feature less rainfall and higher temperatures.
The hydrographical network consists of the Somes, Crasna, Almas, Agrij, Salaj and Barcau rivers, and some small natural and man-made lakes. The waters cover 57.8 km2, representing 1.5% of the county's area.
The history of the ancient land of Salaj belongs to the long history of the Romanian people and dates since immemorial times.
The archaeological documents certify that this area, located on both sides of the Meses Mountains, offered good living conditions even since the upper Palaeolithic period.
A proof for man's existence on the land of Salaj county since ancient times are the relics of Buciumi, Perii Vadului and especially the drawings in the Cuciulat Cave (a settlement placed on the banks of the Somes River), red coloured, unique in the whole south-east of Europe.
Dacian relics can be found on the entire territory of the county. The settlement and the fortifications complex from Magura Simleu-Silvaniei, known as Dacidava, Moigrad (Porolissum), the capital city declared municipality of the Dacia Porolissensis province, the Roman Camps from Buciumi, Romita, Tihau, Românasi witness the civilisation and the history mentioned in documents dating since ancient times.
The first mention referring to the Romanian people from this part of the country are made in the Byzantine chronicles and later on in Anonymous' Chronicle which tells about the Vlachs ruled by the Romanian voivodes Glad, Gelu and Menumorut.
The history of Salaj is also linked to the name of Michael the Brave through the victory against the Sigismund Bathory on 3 August 1601 in a place named Guruslau.
Among the leaders of the struggle for independence and national unity were the famous personalities of the Salaj county: Grigore Maior, Simion Barnutiu, Alexandru Papiu Ilarian, Iuliu Coroianu, George Pop de Basesti, and Iuliu Maniu.
With the support of the Vienna Dictate of 1940 the Fascist-Horthyst troops committed atrocities ending with the mass extermination of the Romanians from the Salaj villages of Ip and Treznea.
The natural resources are various: brown coals, lignite, limestone, big deposits of quartzes sands, alabaster, clay, and a variety of tuff called "trass". There are also mineral waters curing the rheumatoid, gastric and diabetic conditions, and important thermal water sources (41°C), similarto the ones on the Felix Baths.
Economy
In 2000, there were 2 540 active companies in Salaj county, more than 99% private capital. By their main activity, industry represented 17.9% and services were 72.9% .
The important activities of the county's industry are: the metallurgical industry, machinery and tools industry, machines and electrical devices industry, rubber and plastics processing industry, garment industry, furniture industry, and the food and beverage industry. The products of the processing industry, with a great importance for the national economy are as follows steel pipes, enamelled winding conductors, copper wire, steely and cast iron faucets and valves, tyre covers, bricks and ceramic blocks made of clay, furniture, textile garment, knitted products and in the mining industry, the brown coal and the lignite. Among the representative companies we mention: SC Silcotub SA, SC RBG Elcond SA, SC IAIFO SA, and SC Silvania SA.
Agriculture, the main branch in the county's economy had at the end of 2000 an agricultural land of 247 108 ha, representing 64% of the entire county's area, respectively 1.7% of the agricultural land of the country.
In 2000 the cereal production was116.9 thousand tons (wheat and rye 31.2 thousand tons, barley and two-row barley 7 thousand tons, corn 70 thousand tons), potatoes 77.3 thousand tons. In 2000, the cow and buffalo-cow milk production per animal was of 2 494 litres, being close to the national one (2 867 litres per animal).
At the end of 2000, the county had 55.3 thousand cattle, 79.3 thousand pigs, 102.3 thousand sheep and goats and 927 thousand poultry. One can notice the average production per hectare for hemp fibre obtained in Salaj county, which was 3 000 kg per hectare in 2000, higher than the national average (2 603 kg per hectare).
In 2000, Salaj county had a railway network of 176 km (the same as in 1996). The length of the national roads was 282 km (277 km in 1996), while county and communal roads totalled 1 304 km in 2000 (1 128 km in 1996).
In 2000 the total length of the water distribution network was 713.6 km (619.7 km in 1996), and the total length of the sewarage pipe lines was 148.7 km, compared to 143.0 km in 1996.
The total number of the structures offering tourist accommodation in the county as of 31 July 2000 was 17, with 974 places.
Population and social environment
The total population of the county as of 1 July 2000 was 256 307 inhabitants, representing 1.1% of the country's population, and registering a decrease by 4 733 inhabitants (1.8%) compared to 1 July 1996, when it was 261 040 inhabitants. As of 1 July 2000, the urban population had a share of 42% in the total population, compared to 41.9% as of 1 July 1996. In 2000, the population density was 66.3 inhabitants per km2 compared to 67.6 inhabitants per km2 in 1996. The average age of the population was 37.2 years, equal to the national average.
The birth rate in Salaj county increased from 10.9 live births per 1 000 inhabitants in 1996, to 11.4 live births per 1 000 inhabitants in 2000. The infant mortality rate decreased from 17.6 deaths of children under 1 year per 1 000 live births in 1996, to 16.0 deaths of children under 1 year per 1 000 live births in 2000. In the same period, the death rate fluctuated between 15.2 deaths per 1 000 inhabitants in 1996, to 14.0 in 1998 and to 12.8 in 2000.
In 2000 the marriage rate was 5.3 marriages per 1 000 inhabitants, and the divorce rate was 1.01 per 1 000 inhabitants.
The life expectancy between 1998 and 2000 was 66.5 years for males and 72.6 years for females, below the national average, for both males and females.
The civil active population at the end of 2000 was 116.4 thousand persons, 2.7% less than at the end of 1996 and 11.4% less than at the end of 1999.
At the end of 2000, of the total number of the active civil population, 51% were females, which represents an important participation to the social-economic life of the county.
The activity rate of the labour force was very high (81.8%), exceeding by 9.7% the national rate and by 5.7% the rate of the North-West Region.
The civil employed population was 104.8 thousand persons, females representing 51.2% of the total. The employed rate of the labour force was 73.6%. In 2000 of the total employed, 47.8% worked in agriculture, 23% in industry, 7.2% in trade; the education had a share of 4.5% in the employment, and health 3.6%.
Compared to 1996, the employed civil population decreased by 5.1%, with an increase of the employment in agriculture (+10.5%) and a decrease of the employment in industry (-19.7%) and services (-12.4%).
In 2000, 45% of the employed civil population were employees. The average net salary (1 858.7 thousand lei per month and per person) was 13.1% below the national level and 2.8% below the North-West Region's level.
The number of the unemployed at the end of 2000 was 11.6 thousand persons, (5.7 thousand females), 2.4 thousand persons more compared to 1996.
The unemployment rate at the end of 2000 was 10% (9.6% for females), 0.5 percentage points below the total national rate.
Between 2000 and 2001 the educational activity was carried out through 506 educational units: 224 kindergartens, 262 primary and secondary schools, 16 high schools, 2 units of vocational and apprentice education, 2 units of high school and master workmen education.
The healthcare network in 2000 included 4 hospitals, 25 medical consultation centres, 3 health centres, 2 nurseries, 38 pharmacies and a great number of other units with various profiles (medical cabinets, diagnostic and investigation centres, etc.).
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