Baia Sprie

Baia Sprie (Romanian pronunciation: [ˌbaja ˈspri.e]; Hungarian: Felsőbánya, German: Mittelstadt) is a town in the Maramureş County, northern Romania. The Hungarian version of the town's name means "Upper Mine". Baia Sprie is situated at a distance of 9 km from Baia Mare.

The town administers three villages: Chiuzbaia (Kisbánya), Satu Nou de Sus (Felsőújfalu) and Tăuții de Sus (Giródtótfalu). Neighbouring communities are the city of Baia Mare and the villages of Groși, Dumbrăvița, Șisești and Desești.

The town was one of the most important mining centers in north-western Romania, exploitation of gold and silver being mentioned in documents written around 1411, the time when the Saxons colonized the region. However, recent administrative changes and restructuring of the Romanian mining industry brought this activity to an almost complete halt.

History

The first written mention of the settlement dates back to 1329 as "Civitas in medio monte". The town was in Szatmár County, in the Kingdom of Hungary. King Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, as part of treat with Serbian ruler Despotus Stefan Lazarević, gave him Baia Sprie as a gift, at 1411., until Depotus' death in 1426. A year after, lord of Baia Sprie became Stefan's successor Despotus Đurađ Branković of Serbia. In 1567, it was annexed by Prince János Zsigmond, prince of Transylvania. In 1605 - 1606, 1621–1629 and 1645 - 1648 the town and the county were part of the Principality of Transylvania.

Baia

Baia (Hungarian: Moldvabánya, Latin: Civitas Moldaviae) is a commune in the Suceava County, Romania with a population of 6,793 (2002 census). It is composed of two villages, Baia and Bogata. Located on the Moldova River, it was one of the earliest urban settlements in Moldavia.

Name

The Romanian baia and Hungarian banya both mean "mine". Archeologists found traces of iron slag and coal, but only for a brief period before 14th century, before the arrival of the colonists. It is possible that it derives from the term Bania (from Ban, a political leader). Baia was mentioned for the first time in the Nestor chronicle under the name Bania.

Another name of the settlement was Târgul Moldovei which means "the market of Moldavia", referring to the Moldova River. Its Hungarian name was Moldvabánya, "the Moldova mine". It also had a Latin name, Civitas Moldaviae which was found on an early seal of the city.

History

There has been a settlement in Baia since the 13th century, but the first written evidence is from the following century. It is possible that a document in Poland mentions the town in 1335, when a certain merchant was mentioned by the name of "Alexa Moldaowicz" (i.e. Alexa from the Town of Moldavia) and the next was in 1345, when Baia is placed on a list of towns of the Franciscan missionaries.

Baia (disambiguation)

Baia is a commune in Suceava County, Romania.

Baia may also refer to:

People with the surname Baia include

See also

Na Baixa do Sapateiro

"Na Baixa do Sapateiro" (English: In the Shoemaker's Hollow) is a famous Brazilian song, written by Ary Barroso. Its title comes from a street in Salvador, Bahia, where many cobblers once worked. It was originally released in 1938 as the B side to Salada Mista, which ironically did not achieve the same level of success. This first recording was sung by Carmen Miranda with Orchestra Odeon. She never released the song on disc in the United States. The song was originally going to be featured in the Carmen Miranda film Banana da Terra (1939), but was replaced with "O Que É Que a Baiana Tem?", because of the high license fee demanded by Ary Barroso to use his song. However the song has been recorded many other times by a large number of artists. The song gained international fame when it was featured in the Disney film The Three Caballeros (1944).

Notable covers

The second recording of the song was in 1939, by Ary Barroso himself on the piano and Laurindo Almeida and Garoto on guitars. Other artists to record the song include Valdir Azevedo, Bola Sete, Elizete Cardoso, Dorival Caymmi, Luiz Bonfá, Paulinho Nogueira, Dilermando Reis, Baden Powell de Aquino, Lennie Dale and the Sambalanço Trio, Leny Andrade and the Breno Sauer Quarteto, Wilson Simonal, João Gilberto, Banda Black Rio, MPB4, Luiz Eça and Victor Assis Brasil, Gal Costa, Elis Regina, Toquinho, Raphael Rabello once with Ney Matogrosso and once with Romero Lubambo, Trio Mocoto, Eliane Elias, Léo Gandelman, Trio Esperança, João Nogueira, Nivaldo Ornelas and Juarez Moreira with Orquestra de Câmara Sesiminas, Rosa Passos and Lula Galvão, Caetano Veloso, and Raúl di Blasio.