Szatmár County

Szatmár County (Hungarian: Szatmár vármegye [ˈsɒtmaːr ˈvaːrmɛɟɛ]) was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in north-western Romania and north-eastern Hungary, south of the river Tisza. The capital of the county was Nagykároly, today called Carei (in Romanian).

Geography

After 1876 Szatmár county shared borders with the former Hungarian counties Szabolcs, Bereg, Ugocsa, Máramaros, Szolnok-Doboka, Szilágy and Bihar. It was situated south of the river Tisza. The river Someş/Szamos flows through the county. Its area was 6257 km² around 1910.

History

In 1920 the Treaty of Trianon assigned most of the territory of the county to Romania, while Velika Palad (formerly Nagypalád) village was passed to Czechoslovakia in 1921 after border adjustment agreement with Romania. According to the agreement also Akli (now Okli) and Fertősalmás (it was known as Ferkeš-Almaš in Romania and Czechoslovakia, now Fertesolmas) villages were passed to Czechoslovakia; whereas Bocskó (Bočkov in Czech, now Bocicău), Ugocsakomlós (Komlóš in Czech, now Comlăușa), Avaspatak (Suchý Potok in Czech, now Valea Seacă), Nagytarna (Veľkú Terna in Czech, now Tarna Mare) ones and several municipalities in Podkarpat Rus were passed to Romania. The northwest of the county remained in Hungary, and formed the new county Szatmár-Ugocsa-Bereg with parts of the former Bereg and Ugocsa counties. The capital of this county was Mátészalka, which was previously in Szatmár county. According to First Vienna Award Velika Palad was returned to Hungary but passed to USSR in 1945. Romanian part of it was occupied by Hungary between 1940 and 1944 during World War II.