Reunited Hungary
1683-1792







The Banat, 1718-1778


Austria and the Ottoman Empire fought yet another war in 1716-1718. The fortress of Timisoara (Temesvar) was conquered by Austrian forces in October 1716; in the Treaty of Passarowitz, July 21st 1718, the Ottoman Empire ceded the Banat, Serbia and Oltenia (= Little Wallachia) to Austria. After the Austro-Ottoman War 1736-1739, Austria ceded Serbia and Oltenia back to the Ottoman Empire, but held on to the Banat.
The Banat was sparsely populated; the area was treated as an administratively separate unit, under military administration, headed by Count Mercy. In order to repopulate the region, settlers from southern Germany were brought in (1722-1726, Erster Schwabenzug). Serbs, Hungarians, Slovaks, Romanians were also permitted to settle, the Serbs and Romanians to freely exercise their Orthodox belief. Religious practise for other non-Catholics was limited by a 1731 regulation. However, in 1716, after the Habsburg occupation, Jews (many of them Ladino-speaking Sephardim) were ordered to leave Timisoara (Temesvar) - on the charge they were Ottoman spies.
Further German settlers were brought in 1736-1738, 1744-1752. In 1745 the Militärgrenze (Military border district) was established. A last state-supported treck of southern German settlers came in 1763-1771.
Timisoara (Temesvar), the capital of the Banat, flourished in the 18th century, seeing a lot of construction. River regulation both created navigable waterways (Bega Canal) and extended fertile farmland. Timisoara was turned into a modern fortress (according to 18th century standards).
In 1778, the Banat administratively was joined with Hungary.





EXTERNAL
LINKS 		Timeline History of the Banat, by Norbert Neidenbach, in German
Banat.web
Die Habsburgische Kolonisation, from Flacker-Seiten, in German, with appendix of documents
Donauschwaben in the Banat, from Genealogienetz
Donauschwäbisches Zentralmuseum Ulm webpage of the Danube Swabian Central Museum located in Ulm, Germany, English language website
History of Timisoara (Temesvar), from Our Timisoara
Chronological References in the History of Timisoara, from Timisoara.ro
Timisoara the Capital of Banat, from Victor Babes Univ. of Medicine and Pharmacy in Timisoara
Ban and Banat in the 1911 Encyclopedia, from Genealogy.ro, commented
Aus der Geschichte der Temeschburger Festung, by Anton Zollner
Article Temesvar, from Jewish Encyclopedia
History of the Vojvodina, from Vojvodina, unfortunately very brief on the 18th century; from Vojvodina.com, more extensive
DOCUMENTS World Statesmen : Banat, by Ben Cahoon
Electronic Banat, poorly designed English language webpage on the Banat. has links to 1740es maps
Edikt wegen der Heuschreckenplage, 1749 (Locust Edict, 1749), from Electronic Banat
REFERENCE Peter F. Sugar (ed.), A History of Hungary, Indiana Univ. Press 1990, 432 pp.


This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on June 29th 2003, last revised on November 11th 2004

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