Mārginenii Sibiului: The historical geography of a Transylvanian Carpathian community

The paper profiles the evolution of a Romanian Carpathian community that has a long association with the country's German minority; with a sharp contrast between the Medieval period, when the Germans lived as a privileged group in the closed city of Sibiu (Hermannstadt) and its surrounding communities - such as Cisnădie (Heltau) - displacing the indigenous Romanians towards the higher ground, and the last century which has seen the Romanians establishing an overwhelming majority in all parts of Sibiu county. Stimulated to an extent by the German markets, the Romanian communities maximised the potential for a pastoral economy through transhumance systems which once extended well beyond the present limits of the Romanian state and supported a range of manufacturing and handicraft activities at home. Despite the erosion of these systems by steppe land colonization and the logistics of transit (which now include EU animal welfare regulations) the vibrant communities of Mărginenii Sibiului continue to show a capacity for adaptation in harmony with the big city with which they now share a improved standard of infrastructure and a substantial tourist industry as well as ongoing participation in its labour market. .