Cugir (; German: ''Kudsir, Kudschir'', Hungarian: ''Kudzsir'') is a town in Alba County,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

. Declared a town in 1968, it administers seven villages: Bocșitura (Hungarian ''Boksiturahavas'', German ''Potschitur''), Bucuru (''Bukuruhavas''/''Bukur''), Călene (''Kalenihavas''/''Kalleney''), Fețeni (''Fecehavas''/''Fetzeberg''), Goașele (''Goaselehavas''/''Eisenhammer''), Mugești (''Mugestihavas''/''Kudschirstallen''), and Vinerea (''Felkenyér''/''Oberbrodsdorf'').

Geography

The central settlement of the Breadfield region, the town lies on the banks of the Cugir River, at the confluence of

headwater The headwaters of a river or stream is the farthest place in that river or stream from its estuary or downstream confluence with another river, as measured along the course of the river. It is also known as a river's source. Definition Th ...

s Râul Mare and Râul Mic. It is situated

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The ...

, at the base of the Șureanu Mountains. Cugir is located in the southwestern part of Alba County, about from

Sebeș Sebeș (; German: ''Mühlbach''; Hungarian: ''Szászsebes''; Transylvanian Saxon dialect: ''Melnbach'') is a city in Alba County, central Romania, southern Transylvania. Geography The city lies in the Mureș River valley and straddles the r ...

and from

Alba Iulia Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historica ...

, the capital of the county. It lies on the border with Hunedoara County, from Orăștie and from Deva.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, there was a total population of 21,376 people living in the town. Of those for whom data were available, 95.4% were

Romanians The Romanians ( ro, români, ; dated exonym '' Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group. Sharing a common Romanian culture and ancestry, and speaking the Romanian language, they live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2011 Roman ...

, 3.4%

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, 0.9%

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Ural ...

, and 0.2%

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

.Populația stabilă după etnie – județe, municipii, orașe, comune
, National Institute of Statistics; accessed June 6, 2014

Name

Throughout the history the name of the town is mentioned in many documents under different names in different languages, therefore the old settlement "villa Kunentum" becomes in 1493 villa Kudzyr, in 1566 Kwczyr, in 1599 – Kuchir, in 1656 – Kuchjir, in 1673 – Kucsir, in 1733 – Kuser, in 1750 – Kudsier, 1760–1762 – Kudzser, in 1805 Kudsir and in 1850 – Kusir.

History

Ancient times

Numerous archeological discoveries prove that life in the region flourished as early as the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

, around the 10th century BC, Cugir being part of the territory known as "The Iron Gates of Transylvania", a region famous for its natural iron resources. In 88–44 BC, king Burebista, the most powerful of the kings of

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

, according to the historian Acronion, established the new capital in the area, at Sarmizegetusa Regia (located in the Șureanu Mountains, west of Cugir). In this period the settlement of Cugir (villa Kunentum) was an important center for metal extracting and processing, with renowned workshops producing tools, weapons, and coins.

Modern period

Cugir has a complex political history with periods under the Principality of Transylvania, the Habsburg monarchy, the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephe ...

, and the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania ( ro, Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 13 March ( O.S.) / 25 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian ...

. In the mid-18th century the Habsburg Empire authorities established the "Frontier Police" in Transylvania. They also tried to recruit Romanians from southern Transylvania between Baraolt and Orăștie, but the locals put up a fierce resistance against the enrollment. The population revolted due to a policy of forced removal and deportation used to convince the peoples to join in, and a bloody massacre took place in the place known today as the old market of the town. Severe clashes occurred again in the area when the authorities decided to "brake" the neighboring villages Șibot and Vinerea to establish the 4th company. Finally, after severe conflicts and pressure, in 1764, 6 regiments were established and in 1768 another battalion was formed so that the frontier police in Transylvania was of approximatively 17,000 soldiers. Iron works cugir

After the loss of

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is spli ...

, the authorities and the Austrian business began investing funds into the mining and manufacturing industry in Transylvania. In 1764 Empress Maria Theresa of Austria gave long-term loans without interest to concessionaires that pledged to exploit the mines and the state and concessionaire manufactories used free workers brought from Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol, Upper Hungary or

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see names in other languages) is one of the four historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of the Adriatic Sea, stre ...

, but the local peasants represented the main work force. Due to industrialisation, a great number of Romanian villages and their grounds, pastures, agricultural land and forest were seized. At the end of the 18th century factories for metal processing were founded in Cugir and Sibișel, just 15 years after the suppression of the Revolt of Horea, Cloșca and Crișan to exploit the mineral resources and also to bolster obedience towards the Empire. According to documents, the "Iron and Steel factory" was established in Cugir in the year 1799, one of the first factories in Transylvania and since then the history of the town has revolved around it. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, it became part of the

within

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

up until the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. From that time, it has been part of

, which was acknowledged internationally by the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It formal ...

in 1920. Thereafter the factory became owned by the Romanian state and during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

its production was seized by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

for war purposes. Since 1946 the Cugir Arms Factory oriented its production towards military components and house appliances, especially washing machines. It became the top Romanian producer of sewing machines for industrial and private purposes. Cugir

During the

Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...

, Cugir was the first locality in Alba County and the fourth in the country where protests against the communist regime of Nicolae Ceaușescu occurred, on December 21, 1989.

Climate

Cugir has a

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

(''Cfb'' in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

Economy

The town is a heavy industrialised one, with at least half of the total working age population engaged in industrial activities, and around 30 percent engaged in lumbering activities. The Cugir Arms Factory is the main employer in town and it has diversified its production to include along the traditional products automotive components and firearms, and a large part of its production is destined for export. Another employer is Star Transmission Cugir S.A., a

Daimler Daimler is a German surname. It may refer to: People * Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900), German inventor, industrialist and namesake of a series of automobile companies * Adolf Daimler (1871–1913), engineer and son of Gottlieb Daimler * Paul Da ...

company that produces gearbox parts.

Education

The town has a high school (the David Prodan Theoretical High School), one technical school (the Ion D. Lăzărescu Technical College), 3 middle schools, and 6 kindergartens.

Sport

The local football team,

Metalurgistul Cugir Clubul Sportiv Metalurgistul Cugir commonly known as Metalurgistul Cugir, is a Romanian football club based in Cugir, Alba County, currently playing in the Liga III. The club was formerly known as Metalurgistul Cugir. Honours *Liga II **Best fi ...

, plays in the Liga III national division.

Natives

* Teodor Atanasiu (born 1962), politician * Bogdan Borza (born 1997), tennis player *

Ioan Mărginean Ioan Mărginean (born 13 October 1960) is a Romanian former football defender. He was part of Dinamo București's team that reached the semi-finals in the 1983–84 European Cup season. After he ended his playing career, Mărginean worked as a ...

(born 1960), footballer *

Ahmet Nurmambet Ahmet Nurmambet was a Dobrujan Crimean Tatar who served in the Romanian Army. He was the father of the well-known traditional folk singer Kadriye Nurmambet. Biography Ahmet was born in 1893. His uncle, Colonel Refiyîk Kadír put him on a path ...

(1893–1953), Army officer * Valentin Uritescu (born 1941), actor

References

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in Alba County Localities in Transylvania Towns in Romania Monotowns in Romania