Caransebeş

Caransebeş is a city in Caraş-Severin County, part of the Transylvania region in southwestern Romania. It is located at the confluence of the river Timiş with the river Sebeş, the latter coming from the Ţarcu Mountains. To the west, it is in direct contact with the Banat hills. It is an important railroad node, being located approximately 40 km away from Reşiţa, 21 km from Oţelu Roşu, 70 km from Haţeg, and about 25 km from the Muntele Mic ski resort, in the Ţarcu Mountains.

The first traces of habitation here might date as far as Dacian times. Dacian ruins have been discovered recently near Obreja, a village 7 km away. As the Romans invaded Dacia, they built a castrum named Tibiscum, which was dug up by archaeologists near the nearby village of Jupa, a castrum which later grew to be a full city. Tibiscum is considered one of the gates of Christianity in Dacia, having an important role also in the Romanization of the local people.

During the Middle Ages, the local people continuously inhabited the area. The region passed under the control of the Hungarian Kingdom, then later under the rule of the Transylvanian Principality, and under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. Later, the Habsburgs took the control of the region, after prologued wars against the Ottomans. During the wars, in 1788, the Battle of Karánsebes took place between confused soldiers of the Austrian Habsburg army.

After railroads began to appear, the role of Caransebeş grew continuously. In the late 19th century, the Romanian people of the settlement elected to the Parliament of Hungary the Hungarian Lajos Mocsáry, who was a progressive democratic politician fighting for the cultural and administrative rights of all nationalities (including the Romanians) living in the Hungarian Kingdom of that time. After the 1918 union of Transylvania with Romania, Caransebeş became part of Greater Romania. After the rise of the communist regime in 1947, an airport and an airbase were built close to the city. However, the airport did not remain operational for long after the 1989 Revolution.

As of 2000 Caransebeş had a population of 30,901, mainly Romanians, with Ukrainian, German and Hungarian minorities present, but in decline.