The name Banat is derived from the word ban, the local name for a provincial governor. Banat was an Ottoman province from 1552 to 1718, when it became part of Hapsburg Austria. Banat is bounded by the Danube river on the South, the Marosch River on the North, the Thiesse river on the West and by the Carpathian foothills on the East. From the swampy confluence of rivers in the south-west to the rolling hills in the north and east, Banat is part of the Hungarian Plain. Banat is relatively flat grassland.
Roads stretch off to the horizon unadorned by trees or shrubs.
Banat has a fairly uniform distribution of small villages with a few strategically located cities that were the site of ancient forts. In the summer a glimmering heat hovers over the land a natural greenhouse. The ground is deep layers of fine soil that forms into clouds of dust when disturbed. When it rains the dust is transformed into a dark pasty mud. In the Southwest the roads are on dikes which allows travel between cities and into the heartland fields of corn and wheat.