Pesac | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
 Location in Timiș County | |
  Pesac Location in Romania | |
| Coordinates:46°0′N20°50′E / 46.000°N 20.833°E /46.000; 20.833 | |
| Country | Romania |
| County | Timiș |
| Government | |
| • Mayor(2020–2024) | Cornel Toma[1] (PSD) |
Area | 34.16 km2 (13.19 sq mi) |
| Population (2021-12-01)[3] | 1,835 |
| • Density | 54/km2 (140/sq mi) |
| Time zone | EET/EEST (UTC+2/+3) |
| Postal code | 307316 |
| Vehicle reg. | TM |
| Website | www |
Pesac (Hungarian:Pészak;German:Pesak) is acommune inTimiș County,Romania. Part ofPeriam commune until 2007, it is composed of a single village, Pesac.
The first recorded mention of Pesac dates from 1399, when it is mentioned in a Hungarian diploma asPuerseegh.[4] In 1426 it is attested with the namePwrsegh, and in 1549Persek.[4] After this period it does not appear mentioned anywhere.
The present-day settlement was re-established in 1768,[5] by settling here the inhabitants of the neighboring village Sânpetru Sârbesc (present-daySânpetru Mare) due to frequent floods and the land being unfavorable for agriculture. The first inhabitants were the Romanians from Sânpetru who settled on the estate of Iosif Bayzath. He offered them land to build their houses. The new locality was namedPesak.[6]
Historian Ioan Lotreanu claims that the first inhabitants were the Romanians from Sânpetru who left there because they did not get along with the Serbs.[7] After the establishment of the locality, the documents speak ofPesak as a Serbian locality. It had a Serbian name, and theSlavonic language was used in the church. However, in 1774, six years after its establishment, Pesac already appears in the documents of the land book of theCenad constituency, on which it depended aswalachisches ort ("Vlach village").[5] It is therefore impossible that the village was Romanianized in such a short time, as it was Romanian from the very beginning.[8]
From 1778Banat was incorporated into Hungary, so that from 1779, Pesac commune was part ofTorontál County.[5] In 1799 Bayzath colonized 62 families of Romanian serfs from the parts ofSibiu, further strengthening the Romanian element. Later, Bayzath's brother colonized Germans from neighboring villages at Pesac. They held a significant share of the population until afterWorld War II, when their numbers began to decline sharply.
Pesac had a population of 1,990 inhabitants at the 2011 census, down 8% from the 2002 census. Most inhabitants areRomanians (88.84%), with a minority ofRoma (5.63%). For 4.72% of the population, ethnicity is unknown.[9] By religion, most inhabitants areOrthodox (82.66%), but there are also minorities ofPentecostals (7.29%),Baptists (2.06%) andAdventists (1.01%). For 4.72% of the population, religious affiliation is unknown.[10]
| Census[11] | Ethnic composition | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Population | Romanians | Hungarians | Germans | Roma |
| 1880 | 2,953 | 2,202 | 13 | 627 | – |
| 1890 | 3,139 | 2,369 | 25 | 667 | 169 |
| 1900 | 3,098 | 2,454 | 38 | 598 | – |
| 1910 | 2,986 | 2,223 | 97 | 479 | 178 |
| 1920 | 2,952 | 2,424 | 60 | 452 | – |
| 1930 | 2,721 | 2,018 | 51 | 458 | 177 |
| 1941 | 2,519 | 1,955 | 28 | 402 | – |
| 1956 | 2,304 | – | – | – | – |
| 1966 | 2,231 | 2,063 | 1 | 158 | – |
| 1977 | 2,213 | 1,999 | 10 | 123 | 55 |
| 1992 | 1,983 | 1,511 | 16 | 35 | 406 |
| 2002 | 2,162 | 1,887 | 12 | 13 | 242 |
| 2011 | 1,990 | 1,768 | 7 | – | 112 |
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