Deva 

 is a city in Romania, in the historical region of Transylvania, on the left

bank of the Mureș River. It is the capital of Hunedoara County.
Its name was first recorded in 1269 as castrum Dewa. The origin of the
name gave rise to controversy. It is considered that the name comes from the
ancient Dacian word dava, meaning "fortress" (as in Pelendava, Piroboridava,
or Zargidava). Other theories trace the name to a Roman Legion, the Legio II
Augusta, transferred to Deva from Castrum Deva, now Chester (Deva Victrix)
in Britain. János András Vistai assume the name is of old Turkic origin from the
name Gyeücsa.[2] Others assert that the name is probably of Slavic origin
where Deva or Devín means "girl" or "maiden". (A similar case exists
in Slovakian for the Devín Castle, located at the confluence of
the Danube and Great Morava, at the site of the former town of Devín.)
Additionally, it is possible the name Deva was derived from the
reconstructed proto-Indo-European dhewa ("settlement").
On medieval maps Deva appears as: Dewan (first mention), Deva, or
later Diemrich.
Documentary evidence of the city's existence first appeared in 1269
when Stephen V, King of Hungary and Duke of Transilvania, mentioned "the
royal castle of Deva" in a privilege-grant for the Count Chyl
of Kelling (Romanian: comitele Chyl din Câlnic). Partially destroyed by
the Ottoman Turks in 1550, it was afterward rebuilt and the fortress extended. In
1621 Prince Gabriel Bethlen transformed and extended the Magna Curia
Palace (also known as the Bethlen Castle) in Renaissance style.
In 1711–1712, Deva was settled by a group of Roman
Catholic Bulgarian merchant refugees from the unsuccessful anti-
Ottoman Chiprovtsi Uprising of 1688. The refugees were originally mostly
from Chiprovtsi and Zhelezna, though also from the
neighbouring Kopilovtsi and Klisura. However, the refugees came to Deva
from Wallachia and from Alvinc (now Vinţu de Jos, Romania), where a similar
colony had been established in 1700.[7]
They numbered in 1716[8] 51 families and three Franciscan friars,
established their own neighbourhood, which was known to the locals
as Greci ("Greeks", i.e. "merchants"). Their influence over local affairs caused
Deva to be officially called a "Bulgarian town" for a short period, even though
the The maximum population of the colony was 71 families in 1721. The
Bulgarians received royal privileges of the Austrian crown along with their
permission to settle and their acquisition of land and property. The construction
of Deva's Franciscan friary commenced in 1724 with the funding and efforts of
its Bulgarian population, so that the monastery was commonly known as the
Bulgarian Monastery. However, the Great Plague of 1738 and the gradual
assimilation of the Deva Bulgarians into other ethnicities of Transylvania
prevented the colony from growing and by the late 19th century the Bulgarian
ethnic element in the town had disappeared completely.[
Deva is situated in the central part of Hunedoara County, on the left bank
of the middle course of the Mureș River at 187 m above sea level.[9] The city
administers four villages: Archia (Árki), Bârcea Mică (Kisbarcsa), Cristur
(Csernakeresztúr) and Sântuhalm (Szántóhalma).
According to the last census, from 2011, there were 56,647 people living within
the city of Deva, making it the 37th largest city in Romania. The ethnic makeup
is as follows:
Romanians: 89.67%
Hungarians: 7.79%
Roma: 1.6%
Other: 0.91%
Automotive, commerce, construction materials and power industries are
important to Deva's economy.