The city, a part of the
Kingdom of Hungary, was first documented in 1214 under the name of
Zolonta and in 1332 a Papal document used the name
Zalanta. The Hungarian spelling
Szalonta was used since 1587. Etymologically, the name is probably related with those of other Romanian localities (slavic names) like Slatina, Zlatna, or Slănic, whose Romanian meaning is "Sărata" ("Saline"). It can also be derived from Hungarian
szalonna ("bacon"), a term having the same etymological meaning, and in regional context – the name of two contiguous villages are probably related with the types of stock growth in the area: Mădăras, from Hungarian "madar" ("bird"), and Tulca from Hungarian "tulok" ("bullock") – it may refer to the numerous pig growers in its perimeter. Until the 16th century, it was only a small village of about 300 inhabitants and was on the land of the Toldi family. A bigger city was the fort of Culișer, which was however destroyed by the
Ottoman Turks in 1598. Culiser was never rebuilt and Salonta began to have a more important role in the region after 1606, when the prince of
Transylvania,
Stephan Bocskai settled 300 soldiers here and appropriated land for them. They built their own farms, but had to keep their arms ready to repel an attack by the Turks. 3 June, the day in which the soldiers were settled, is nowadays declared "the day of the city". However, Ottoman Turks captured the town in 1660 and as , it became the sanjak center of
Varat vilayet until 1692. The 19th century Hungarian poet
János Arany was born and lived in Salonta for most of his life.
Lajos Zilahy, another noted Hungarian author, was also born in Salonta in 1891. Violist and musicologist
Egon Kenton was born there the same year. 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 Salonta in April 1919, during the
Hungarian–Romanian War. The city officially became part of the territory ceded to the
Kingdom of Romania in June 1920 under the terms of the
Treaty of Trianon. During the
interwar period, it became the seat of
plasa Salonta, in
Bihor County. In August 1940, under the auspices of
Nazi Germany, which imposed the
Second Vienna Award,
Hungary retook the territory of
Northern Transylvania (which included Salonta) from Romania. Towards the end of
World War II, however, the city was taken back from Hungarian and
German troops by Romanian and
Soviet forces in October 1944, during the initial stages of the
Battle of Debrecen. The territory of Northern Transylvania remained under Soviet military administration until 9 March 1945, after which it became again part of Romania. The
Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 reaffirmed the Trianon border. Following the
administrative reform of 1950, the town became the seat of Salonta
Raion within
Bihor Region (renamed Oradea Region in 1952 and Crișana Region in 1960). In 1968, the old territorial division into
județe was reinstituted, and the city reverted to being part of Bihor County. ==Natives==