Country Romania Population 55,299 Area 755.3 km² | Capital of Oaş Country Negrești-Oaș Time zone EET (UTC+2) | |
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Oaş Country (Romanian: Ţara Oaşului, Hungarian: Avasság) is an ethnographic and historical region of Romania located in the North-East part of Satu Mare County, 50 km from the city of Satu Mare, also 50 km from the city of Baia Mare. The total area is about 755,30 km². The capital of Oaş Country is Negrești-Oaș city.
Contents
Boundaries
The Oaş Country extends from Turţ - Gherţa Mare - Gherţa Mică (on the Western side) all the way to Huta pass situated at an altitude of 604 m (in the East), from Cămărzana (in the North) to the mountains that surround Oraşu Nou, Racşa and Vama (in the South).
Communes
The Oaş Country comprises the following communes:
Geography
The Oaş Depression has maximum altitudes of 400–500 m. Most of the human dwellings are situated alongside the river valleys that cross the Oaş Depression. In the Northern part of the depression there is the Lechincioara Basin which includes the Mare, Semănaturii and Lechincioarei valleys. In the Southern part of Oaş Country there are the Tur, Alb and Rău rivers.
History
The first document that mentioned the Oaş Country dates from 1270, when the King of Hungary donated to a nobleman several villages from the South-Western boundary of the "country".
In that document the Oaş Country is mentioned as Terra Awas. Some historians claim that the origin of the word "Oaş" is the "Awas", which means a kind of deforestation or a clearing in the woods.
The Oaş Country was mentioned in the Chronicles of Grigore Ureche.