Banat (bäˈnät) [key], region extending across W Romania, NE
Serbia, and S Hungary. The term banat originally referred to any
of several frontier provinces of Hungary and Croatia that were
ruled by bans (governors). The Banat region is bordered on the E
by Transylvania and Walachia, on the W by the Tisza River, on
the N by the Mureşul River, and on the S by the Danube. Except
for some eastern mountains, it is primarily an agricultural area
of fertile, rolling plains. Inhabited since prehistoric times,
the Banat was occupied successively by Romans, Goths, Gepidae,
Huns, and Avars. Slavs began to settle there in the 5th cent.
and Magyars in the 9th cent. In 1233, King Andrew II of Hungary
established the Banat of Severin, a frontier province whose
defense was entrusted to the Knights Hospitalers. In the
aftermath of the Turkish victory over the Serbs at Kosovo Field
(1389) and the Turkish occupation of Serbia (1459), many Serbs
emigrated to the Banat, which itself became a Turkish sanjak
(province) around 1552.