Székelyföld

Székelyföld[EXTRACT]

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Harghita, Covasna, and Mures counties within Romania

Székelyföld (means "Szekler land" in Hungarian; Romanian: Tinutul Secuiesc, Latin: Terra Siculorum) is used today in a cultural-ethnographical sense, i.e., referring to the territories inhabited by the Székelys, a Hungarian minority laying on the eastern side of Transylvania, in the valleys and hills of the Eastern Carpathian mountains, corresponding to the present day Harghita, Covasna and parts of Mures counties in Romania. Originally, the name Székelyföld denoted an autonomous region during the Kingdom of Hungary. It ceased to exist as a legal entity after the Habsburg Empire took control of the region.

There is a local Szekler initiative to attain regional autonomy for Székelyföld within Romania. Most Romanians, however, oppose this idea. It is also doubtful whether the present constitution of Romania (which defines the country as a unitary nation-state) could accommodate any autonomous regions based on ethnicity.

Contents [hide] 1 Population 2 Geography 3 History 4 Name 5 Notes 6 See also

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Population

There are approximately 670,000 Székelys, an ethnic group kin to the Magyars, living in the counties of Harghita, Covasna and parts of Mureş county, with the highest densities in Harghita and Covasna (~85% and ~74% respectively).

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Geography

Most of its territory lay within the actual Harghita, Covasna and Mureş counties of modern