The historical geography of settlement in the P tarlagele Depression of Romania is examined with reference to the documentary and oral evidence. Although the area is assumed to have a long history dating back to Prehistory - and is widely seen as part of a Subcarpathian region used a refuge during the Dark Age Migration Period - documentary evidence is not available before the sixteenth century. Furthermore the most remarkable developments occurred in the nineteenth century when the unstable hillsides - with extensive landslide surfaces - attracted a growing peasant population seeking a base...