History of Transylvania issue of international contention. This has abated (but not disappeared) since the Revolution of 1989 restored democracy in Romania. Transylvania retains a significant Hungarian-speaking minority, slightly less than half of which identify themselves as Székely. Ethnic Germans in Transylvania (known as Saxons) comprise about one percent of the population; however, Austrian and German influences remain in the architecture and urban landscape of much of Transylvania. The region's history may be traced through the religions of its inhabitants. Most Romanians in Transylvania belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church faith, but from the 18th to the 20th centuries the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church
Northern Transylvania After the Roman legions withdrew in 271 AD, it was overrun by a succession of various tribes, bringing it under the control of the Carpi, Visigoths, Huns, Gepids, Avars and Slavs. From 9th to 11th century Bulgarians ruled Transylvania. The Magyars conquered much of Central Europe at the end of the 9th century and for almost six hundred years, Transylvania had been a voivodeship in the Kingdom of Hungary. After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, and the Hungarian defeat by the Ottomans, Transylvania became a semi-independent principality (Principality of Transylvania) under native Hungarian rule but owing suzerainty to the