Transylvania - General Presentation

General Presentation

Transylvania, whose name derives from the Latin Transilvana (which literally means 'the country beyond the forests'); is also known as Siebenbürgen (from the main seven medieval towns founded there by the Saxon settlers).

Transylvania lies in the centre of Romania, being surrounded with the Carpathian Mountains on its western, southern and eastern sides. It is divided into 10 counties, namely Brasov, Sibiu, Alba, Hunedoara, Cluj, Salaj, Bistrita-Nasaud, Mures, Harghita, Covasna. Transylvania stretches over 96,837 sqkm and has 4,354,593 inhabitants (1995)