Timisoara, "Little Vienna" from the Past Times

      Every Timisoranean heart should beat faster when it s about our
   town, the most important town, here, in the West of the country.
   It is believed that the place of today Timisoara was an antique
   Dacian settling called Zambara.
      During barbarian incursions the settling was distroyed, and
   later a new town was built and named Beguey, after the river
   Bega, also called Little Timis. The town was situated on an
   important strategic zone of two rivers Timis, the Big and Little
   Timis.  Archeological excavations proved that today Timisoara
   was populated by Romans long ago. The first written proof
   about Timisoara s existence dates from the year 1266. Most of
   the works about Banat or Timisoara talk about year the 1266
   although people lived here from long ago. The town named "Timis
   Burg" ("Tymes") appears as the first and incontestable written
   proof in 1266 [1]. The historical beginnings of this city can be
   found in the XI century, or the beginning of the IX century
   because Comitatus Tymesiensis was first mentioned in 1177.
   Seven hundred years of the city existence were celebrated in
   1969 based on the written proof from 1266.  Speaking about the
   German name of Timisoara, Temeswar, war-wher denotes the idea of
   protection [2]. Timisoara was distroyed by the Mongols in 1241.
   In the XIV century the town flourished under the Anjou dynasty;
   the king Charles Robert of Anjou visited the city for the first
   time in 1307.  He built a palace, that looked like a fortress,
   on the place where the Huniade Palace today houses the Museum of
   Banat. Starting with the year 1316, the king established his
   palace residence, as well as the royal court.  This is where he
   received the foreign ambasadors and also ruled the country from
   here. At the end of the XIV century, the Turks began their
   military incursions through this region; the king Sigismund
   called the parliament in 1397 to prepare Timisoara for the
   defense.
      One of the most important fighter against the Turk expansion was
   Ioan of Huniade, who had his residence and ruled from the year
   1440, in Timisoara, under the title of Timis Count and later
   Captain of the feudal Hungarian kingdom.  He lived together with
   his family for a long time in the Huniade Castle he rebuilt.  In
   1552, Timisoara felt under the Turk occupation and became an
   important fortress of the Empire of the "Half-Moon".
   The Hasburg Empire tried three times to capture Timisoara.  In
   the year 1716, the imperial Austrian army, under the command of
   the prince Eugen of Savoy, liberated the town from the Turk
   occupation. Between 1716-1778, the
   whole region of Banat and the Timisoara fortress were under
   imperial administration.  At the beginning, between 1716 and
   1755, it was a military administration; it was a civilian
   administration after 1755 until 1778. In 1779, the Banat region
   was incorporated to the Hungarian kingdom which was also a part
   of the Hasburg Empire.
   A new era started for this region after the end of the Turk
   occupation.
      Claudius Florimund of Mercy was named governor of the town.
   Under his rule began the expansion and rebuilding of the city
   and the whole region. A new fortress was built (1722-1765), new
   roads were cut, the marshes were drained, the river Bega became
   navigable and the town fortress Timisoara had good drinking
   water.  The dams from Costei and Topolovat, upstream of
   Timisoara, solved the flood problems of both rivers, the Timis
   and Bega, until nowadays because they are still functioning.
   The agriculture developed and was part of the Count Mercy
   plans. He imposed and especially protected the mulberry trees
   along the roads and silk worm trade. After Timisoara was
   occupied by the Austrians, the life of the city started to get
   a German character mainly from the state employees, military and
   civilian population who moved and established their business and
   residence here.
     This is how Timisoara was named "Little Vienna" by the homesick
   Austrians established here. The Hasburgs began a massive
   colonization in 1719 with Germans from different regions like
   Alsacia, Bavaria, Baden-Wurtenberg, and Lorena. Chechs, Italians
   Slovenians, French and Spanish families were colonized along
   with German families. Between 1848 and 1849 the city was
   besieged by the revolutionaries for 107 days and the economic
   activity slowed (both industrial and commercial activities
   stopped). After the revolutionaries were defeated by the
   imperial armies, the Banat region was again under direct
   imperial rule.