Hi cochnmd,
BRIEFLY:
1) Is Mt. Avas a single mountain or a mountain range?
It is referred to as the Avas mountains (volcanic) .
2) Is it in Hungary?
No, the Avas mountains are in Transylvania, Romania, on the border
with Ukraine and Hungary.
3) Would it be along a route of someone travelling from
Czechloslovakia to Istanbul (this from a story of someone escaping
Nazis just before WWII, trying to go from Brno to Palestine)?
Travelling from Czechoslovakia to Turkey, a person could well use the
Avas mountains depending on the overall route taken, especially if a
person wanted to stay undercover in the mountains (see "Additional
Link" for an alternate route)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
DETAILS:
I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post this, but it has been a bit
tricky trying to pinpoint exactly where the Avas Mountains are -
although they are mentioned in various contexts, I couldn't find them
on a map. However, I was lucky to hit upon two important clues, which
will probably also explain why you had trouble finding them.
The first clue:
"The source of the River Túr is in the Avas mountains in Transylvania."
http://www.stg.co.hu/tiszahat/english/rivers_of_the_upper.htm
However, Transylvania covers a large area - but where exactly are the
Avas Mountains?
The second clue came when I read the following, which was interesting
but didn't seem particularly important at the time:
"Now it is a peculiar fact that not a single name of those villages
and areas in which these putative "Daco-Romans" lived is of Rumanian
origin -oas derives from Hungarian Avas (avas 'scrubby, bushy')".
http://www.net.hu/corvinus/lib/trans/trans02.htm
Knowing that the rivers Tisza, Iza, and Túr were all in and around the
Avas, I started to trace the rivers in our atlas. My eureka came when
I found the town of Negresti-Oas near the border of Ukraine and
Romania. Bingo! Remember "Oas", from the Hungarian Avas? Looking
closer, the River Túr does indeed begin near Negresti-Oas, and
therefore I was certain that your Avas mountains (in Hungarian) are
actually named the Oasului mountains (in Romanian)!
Further evidence of the word "Oasului" associated with "Avas":
"... Primele consemnari ale denumirii de "Tara Oasului" (Avas) desemnau vastele
paduri regale din estul Comitatului Satu Mare, de la Nord de Somes. ... "
www.informatia-zilei.ro/duminica/arhiva/15.06.03/6.htm
"The mountainous area occupies the northeast of the county and is
represented by the mountains Oasului and a small part of the mountains
Gutai. The mountainous peaks grow higher and higher, reaching a height
of 827 m in Oasului mountains and 1200m in the mountains Gutai ? the
peak Pietrosul. In the western part, the mountains close the
depression known under the name Tara Oasului."
http://www.satumare.ro/pages/eng/en_turism.htm
"The county of Satu Mare, crossed by the ancient river Samus and
inhabited since time immemorial by Geto-Dacians, has been an
everlasting cradle of Romanian culture and civilisation.
Archaeological diggins in Tara Oasului (Oas Land), at Ardud,
Mediesu-Aurit, Homord or Sansilau unearthed relics attesting to human
life in this region of the country as early as the Paleolithic."
http://www.clubromania.ro/romania/counties/satumare/
Muntii [mountain] Oasului map (a bit confusing because the political
boundaries aren't shown on the physical feature maps):
http://www.traveljournals.net/explore/romania/map/m1718988/muntii_oasului.html
Map: Romania:
Looking at this map, the Avas (Oasului) mountains are up near the
"Mares" near the Hungarian, Ukraine, and Romanian borders.
http://www.mythinglinks.org/Hungary~Transylvania~Romania.gif
"This portion of the Carpathians is bounded on the eastern side by a
zone of softer flysch. For some 250 miles on the western fringe the
volcanic ranges Oas (Muntii Oasului) and Harghita, with a
concentration of volcanic necks and cones, some with craters still
preserved, lend character to the landscape. St. Ana Lake - the only
crater lake in Romania - is also found here."
Encyclopedia Britannica Macropedia Volume 15 (©1982) pg 1045
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Variant spellings at the same coordinates:
Muntii Oasului Mountains
Muntii Ouas Mountains
Muntii Ouasului Mountains
deg/min/sec:
Latitude: 47° 58' 0 N
Longitude: 23° 15' 0 E
in decimal degrees:
Lat: 47.96667
Long: 23.25
MultiMap: Muntii Oasului (click on "bigger map"):
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?lat=47.9667&lon=23.2500&scale=500000
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Further clues that led to the answer -
"The most important river of the territory is the Tisza, which
originates from two branches, the Black Tisza and the White Tisza in
the Máramaros Mountains and flows 223 kilometers on Ukrainian
territory. The still relatively rapid Tisza - breaking through the
volcanic mountain range at the "Huszt-Gate" - slows down and builds an
alluvial deposit in Ugocsa region. Its most important tributaries in
the Máramaros region are the Tarac, Talabor and Nagyág."
http://www.net.hu/corvinus/lib/hmcb/hmcb04.htm
"The overwhelmingly Hungarian populated plain, characterized mainly by
brown forest soil and beech groves and interspersed here and there
with oak woods, plays a decisive part in the food supply of
Transcarpathia. It is flanked by a 700-1100 meter high volcanic
mountains called Pojána-Szinyák, Borló-Gyil, the Nagyszőlős and Avas
mountain range."
http://www.net.hu/corvinus/lib/hmcb/hmcb04.htm
"Tisza follows the break line determining the south-east - north-west
direction of Iza at the foot of the Avas mountains"
http://www.terra.hu/cian/vizgyujto-en.html
Additional Link:
Another possibility for the route taken -
Danube Exodus:
?Danube Exodus? documents the Jewish exodus from Slovakia just before
the beginning of World War II. In two boats, a group of nine hundred
Slovak and Austrian Jews tried to reach the Black Sea via the river
Danube, in order to get to Palestine."
http://www.oneworld.cz/oneworld/2000/english/films/century/danubex.htm
I hope we've been able to help you sort this out, it's been an
interesting journey for us. If you have any questions, please post a
clarification request before closing/rating my answer and I'll be
happy to assist you.
Thank you,
hummer & co
Google Search Terms Used:
Czechoslovakia turkey hungary map
avas mountain range hungary
avas carpathian mountains
avas mountains romania
transylvania map
tisza river
tur river
map romania
"Satu Mare"
"oas land"
etc.
We also consulted our "National Geographic Atlas of the World" and our
globe of the world. |
