History of Hunedoara

After Dacia was conquered around 106 AD and turned into a Roman province, the iron-rich region attracted the attention of the Romans, who began to exploit it by building furnaces. A "Villa Rustica" emerged in Teliuc, a Roman fortification on Sanpetru hill, outpost of the famous legio XIII Gemina whose main castrum was at Apullum in Dacia. Other Roman artifacts were discovered in the city area, and also in Pestis, where the remains of a Roman village were discovered. The new capital city of the Roman province of Dacia, Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, was also situated in the proximity.

After the Roman military and administrative retreat during the Migration Period the region had no significant historic sites, although it may be possible that the iron activity continued. The Daco-Roman ethnic structure of the region changed significantly, most notably with Goths, Huns, Slavs, Pechenegs, Magyars and Cumans.

Around 1000 AD the main political and demographic forces in the region were Vlachs, or Walachians, Romanized populations that inhabited the Carpathians and the Balkans as far South as Greece. Under Slavic influence small political feuds grew (ruled by knjazes) but were overwhelmed by the Magyars, who took control of Transilvania and formed the Hungarian Kingdom. South of the Carpathians the Pechenegs and Cumans held political power, and Hunedoara acted as a buffer zone for the Hungarian Crown. In time, the Vlach populations in the mountains nearby developed an original highlander culture. Their land is called "Tara Padurenilor" (Woodlanders Country) and they began to dominate the area demographically. The region also had a sizable population of German Saxons, colonizers brought by the Hungarian Crown after the Mongol