The first written mention of the settlement dates back to 1329 as "
Civitas in medio monte", in 1406 as "civitas
Medii Montis", in 1390, 1452, 1455 as "civitas
Felsevbanya", and since 1523 as
Felsőbánya. The old Romanian name of the town was
Baia de Sus, which means "Upper Mine", same as in Hungarian. The town was in
Szatmár County, in the
Kingdom of Hungary. King
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, as part of treaty with
Serbian ruler
Despotus Stefan Lazarević, gave him Baia Sprie as a gift in 1411, until Lazarević' death in 1427. A year later, Lazarević's successor, Despotus
Đurađ Branković of
Serbia, became lord of Baia Sprie. In 1567, Baia Sprie was annexed by János Zsigmond,
Prince of Transylvania. In 1605–1606, 1621–1629, and 1645–1648, the town and the county were part of the
Principality of Transylvania. The 1850 census, conducted in
German, recorded 5,427 inhabitants, representing 1,336 families living in 993 houses. As for the nationalities existing at that time, the
Hungarians numbered 3,800,
Romanians 1,093,
Germans 333,
Slovaks 140, and
Roma 40. In the 1910 census, the following languages were spoken in the township:
Hungarian language 93.8%,
Romanian language 5.2%, and others 1.0%. At the same census, the following religions were represented:
Roman Catholic 52.1%,
Greek Catholic 28.1%,
Calvinist 13.3%,
Judaism 6.1%, and others 0.5%. After the collapse of
Austria-Hungary at the end of
World War I and the declaration of the
Union of Transylvania with Romania, the
Romanian Army took control of the area in the spring of 1919, during the
Hungarian–Romanian War. The town officially became part of the
Kingdom of Romania in June 1920 under the terms of the
Treaty of Trianon which ceded the territory from Hungary. In August 1940, the
Second Vienna Award, arbitrated by
Germany and
Italy, reassigned the territory of
Northern Transylvania (which included Baia Sprie) from Romania to
Hungary. Towards the end of
World War II, however, the town was taken back from Hungarian and
German troops by Romanian and
Soviet forces in October 1944. The township belonged alternately to the
Baia Mare Region (in 1950–1960),
Maramureș Region (1960–1968) and, as of 1968,
Maramureș County. In the early 1950s, a
communist prison camp operated at the mine. ==Population==