Baia Mare appeared on the map of urban settlements as a result of the exploitation activity of non-ferrous metals; the first reliable information on mining originate from the 14th century, although early medieval activities like this are much earlier, at least from the second half of the thirteenth century.
The community memory records as the first town’s identity card the document from May 29, 1329, through which King Carol Robert (1301-1342) was offering to the Corrardus governor, judge of Baia Mare and Baia Sprie, the forest located between the two settlements for this territory to be populated. Baia Mare appears here as civitas Rivuli Dominarum, the Corrardus judge being the same for Mons Medius (Baia Sprie), too. The document from 1329 was not kept, its content being summarized in a document from 1479.
