Tormac (; ) is a commune in

Timiș County Timiș () is a county (''județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical regions of Romania, historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Ro ...

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

. It is composed of three villages: Cadăr, Șipet and Tormac (commune seat).

Geography

Tormac is located in the southeast of

. It borders

Nițchidorf Nițchidorf (literally " Niczky's village"; ; , originally ''Kutas'') is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Blajova, Duboz and Nițchidorf (commune seat). Geography The commune totals an area of , of which ar ...

and

Sacoșu Turcesc Sacoșu Turcesc (; ) is a communes of Romania, commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of seven villages: Berini, Icloda, Otvești, Sacoșu Turcesc (commune seat), Stamora Română, Uliuc and Unip. Name History The first recorded m ...

to the north,

Gătaia Gătaia (; , archaically ''Gotthal''; ) is a list of cities and towns in Romania, town in Timiș County, Romania. It administers five villages: Butin, Percosova, Sculia, Șemlacu Mare, and Șemlacu Mic. Declared a town in 2004, it also administered ...

to the south,

Voiteg Voiteg (; ) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of two villages: Folea and Voiteg (commune seat). History Voiteg has existed since the 14th century, being first mentioned in 1322. Its name was ''Veytech'', after the owner Teo ...

and Liebling to the west and

Caraș-Severin County Caraș-Severin () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Serbia. The majority of its territory lies within the historical region of Banat, with a few northeastern villages considered part of Transylvania. The county seat is Reșița ...

to the east. Morphologically, the territory of the commune falls within the sub-hilly plain of Șipet and the Pogonici Plain. The hydrology of the area is dominated at the northern limit by the Pogonici River, the only tributary of the

Timiș River The Timiș or Tamiš (, , , ) is a river that flows through the Banat region of Romania and Serbia and joins the Danube near Pančevo, in northern Serbia. Due to its position in the region, it has been labeled as the "spine of the Banat". N ...

that never dries. Due to a lack of unevenness separating the meadows from the interfluves, during the spring

freshet The term ''freshet'' is most commonly used to describe a snowmelt, an annual high water event on rivers resulting from snow and river ice melting. Description A spring freshet can sometimes last several weeks on large river systems, resulting ...

s, the river floods the areas along the valley. The location of the commune in the middle of a plain ensures a

continental climate Continental climates often have a significant annual variation in temperature (warm to hot summers and cold winters). They tend to occur in central and eastern parts of the three northern-tier continents (North America, Europe, and Asia), typi ...

, influenced by warm Mediterranean air currents. The average annual temperature is .

History

Like many other surrounding settlements, Tormac was established in 1780, in the third wave of colonization of Banat, by Germans (

Swabians Swabians ( , singular ''Schwabe'') are a Germans, German ethnographic group native to the region of Swabia, which is mostly divided between the modern states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately de ...

). At first it was called ''Rittberg'', after an Austrian general. The village did not manage to become Germanized because around 1790 German families were forced to leave their homes and settle in neighboring villages, such as Bacova or

Darova Darova ( or ''Darowa''; ) is a communes of Romania, commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Darova (commune seat), Hodoș and Sacoșu Mare. Ștefănești existed as a separate hamlet from 1885 to 1930, when it was merge ...

. Thus, between 1790–1794, the place of the Germans was taken by 78 families of Hungarian settlers, so that the village can be considered one of the first

Reformed Reform is beneficial change. Reform, reformed or reforming may also refer to: Media * ''Reform'' (album), a 2011 album by Jane Zhang * Reform (band), a Swedish jazz fusion group * ''Reform'' (magazine), a Christian magazine Places * Reform, Al ...

Hungarian colonies in Banat. They came from

Csanád Csanád, also Chanadinus, or Cenad, was the first head ''(comes)'' of Csanád County in the Kingdom of Hungary in the first decades of the 11th century. Csanád defeated and killed Ajtony who had ruled over the region now known as Banat (in R ...

Csongrád Csongrád (; , archaically also ''Црноград/Crnograd,'' ) is a town in Csongrád County in southern Hungary. History At the time of the Hungarian Conquest (the end of 9th century) the Maros Valley was under Bulgarian control. The fortre ...

Békés Békés (; ; ) is a town in Békés County, Hungary. It lies about north of Békéscsaba and east of Budapest. History The area of the present town has been inhabited since ancient times, due to its good soil and proximity to rivers. After ...

and

Heves Heves is a small town in eastern Hungary. About 100 km east of Budapest, Heves lies at the northern extreme of the Great Hungarian Plain, just south of the Mátra and Bükk hills and west of the Tisza River. Heves gave its name to Heves Cou ...

counties. The story goes that when the first Hungarians arrived, they found the village completely lit by candles left by the Germans in their homes. Due to the complete transformation of the village into a Hungarian community, in 1806 the communal council decided to change its name from ''Rittberg'' to ''Végvár''. Being surrounded by Romanian villages, during the

revolution of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

, bloody conflicts arose between the Hungarians from Tormac and the Romanians from Șipet, Berini, Cadăr or Sacoș. After this moment, the waters calmed down and Tormac developed and became one of the largest and most compact Hungarian communes in Banat.

Demographics

Tormac had a population of 2,714 inhabitants at the 2011 census, down 0.8% from the 2002 census. Most inhabitants are

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

(57%), larger minorities being represented by

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

(35.85%) and

Slovaks The Slovaks ( (historical Sloveni ), singular: ''Slovák'' (historical: ''Sloven'' ), feminine: ''Slovenka'' , plural: ''Slovenky'') are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation native to Slovakia who share a common ancestry, culture, history ...

(1.18%). For 5.12% of the population, ethnicity is unknown. By religion, most inhabitants are

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

(53.02%), but there are also minorities of

(31.02%),

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

s (6.74%) and

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

s (2.1%). For 5.23% of the population, religious affiliation is unknown.

References

{{Authority control Communes in Timiș County Localities in Romanian Banat