Cavnic

Cavnic
Chalcopyrite on sphalerite, Boldut Mine, Cavnic, Carnegie Museum of Natural History specimen CM27849
Cavnic Location of Cavnic
Coordinates: 47°39′39″N 23°52′40″E / 47.66083°N 23.87778°E / 47.66083; 23.87778Coordinates: 47°39′39″N 23°52′40″E / 47.66083°N 23.87778°E / 47.66083; 23.87778
Country	Romania
County	Maramureș County
Status	Town
Government
• Mayor	Petruț Vladimir (Social Democratic Party (Romania))
Population (2002)
• Total	5,205
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
• Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Area code(s)	+40-(0)262
Climate	Dfb

Cavnic (Hungarian: Kapnikbánya; German: Kapnik) is a former mining town situated in the valley of the same name, 26 km (16 mi) east of Baia Mare, in Maramureş County, northern Romania. The town covers 47.17 km² (18 sq mi), at altitudes ranging from 500 to 1050 meters above sea level.

Cavnic was first documented in 1336, as Capnic. It was named after the river, which got its name from a Slavic word, kopanе, which refers to digging. Mining activity in the area dates back to the Roman age.

The town was destroyed by the Ottomans in 1460 and by the Tatars in 1717, but the Tatars invasion ended with their defeat from the people of Cavnic, making from it the last Tatar invasion to ever take place in Romania. As a proof of the last Tatar invasion, the town hosts a 7.2 m tall obelisk on which a Latin inscription states "Anno 1717 usque hic fuerunt tartari" meaning "During the year 1717 the Tatars have arrived here". The obelisk is known among locals as "Tatar Pole" or "Written Rock". The exact date when the obelisk was built is currently unknown.

In the 1910 Census of the Kingdom of Hungary, Kapnikbánya (as it was then called) was in Szatmár county, Nagybánya district. It then had a population of 3517, out of which 1864 were Hungarians, 49 were Germans and 1604 were Romanians. 1497 identified as Catholic, 1890 as Greek Catholic, and 89 as Jewish.