| Type: | commune |
| County: | Timiș |
| Population Total: | auto |
| Cenei | |
| Leader Name: | Sârgean Tanasin[1] |
| Leader Term: | 2020 - 2024 |
| Coordinates: | 45.7167°N 74°W |
| Area Footnotes: | [2] |
| Area Total Km2: | 60.13 |
| Postal Code: | 307100–307101 |
Cenei (Hungarian: Csene; German: Tschene; Serbian: Ченеј|Čenej; Croatian: Čenej) is a commune in Timiș County, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Bobda and Cenei (commune seat). It also included Checea until 2004, when it was split off to form a separate commune.
Cenei is one of the oldest settlements in Banat, first recorded in 1221 as a property of the archdiocese of Ittebe, today in Serbian Banat. By 1330 it belonged to the Sărad Fortress. Cenei was the site of a battle between the Turkish and Austrian troops on 20 August 1696.[3]
As of 1720, the natives were mostly Romanians and Serbs. Through the efforts of the Vuketići family, Cenei was colonized with Croats between 1801 and 1820.[4] German settlers arrived here only after 1848, much later than other nearby settlements. The Hungarian population did not settle here in waves of colonists, but gradually, over a long period of time. Today's village was formed by merging Ceneiu Sârbesc ("Serbian Cenei"; Serbian: Српски Ченеј|Srpski Čenej) and Ceneiu Croat ("Croatian Cenei"; Croatian: Hrvatski Čenej) in 1902.
Cenei had a population of 2,670 inhabitants at the 2011 census, down 7% from the 2002 census. Most inhabitants are Romanians (67.23%), larger minorities being represented by Serbs (16.1%), Hungarians (8.8%) and Germans (1.46%). For 5.36% of the population, ethnicity is unknown.[5] By religion, most inhabitants are Orthodox (62.17%), but there are also minorities of Serbian Orthodox (15.43%), Roman Catholics (11.09%) and Pentecostals (3.41%). For 5.36% of the population, religious affiliation is unknown.[6]
| Census[7] | Ethnic composition | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Population | Croats | |||||
| 1880 | 3,892 | 841 | 255 | 1,437 | 1,242 | – | |
| 1890 | 4,193 | 833 | 213 | 1,714 | 1,187 | 149 | |
| 1900 | 4,233 | 832 | 317 | 1,575 | 1,223 | 114 | |
| 1910 | 3,917 | 830 | 304 | 1,205 | 1,446 | 96 | |
| 1920 | 950 | 669 | 74 | 200 | – | – | |
| 1930 | 3,800 | 958 | 236 | 1,216 | 1,196 | – | |
| 1941 | 3,609 | 1,087 | 193 | 1,051 | – | – | |
| 1956 | 3,554 | – | – | – | – | – | |
| 1966 | 3,546 | 1,421 | 374 | 573 | 1,156 | – | |
| 1977 | 3,487 | 1,570 | 384 | 468 | 987 | 43 | |
| 1992 | 3,091 | 1,915 | 334 | 110 | 683 | 18 | |
| 2002 | 2,868 | 1,920 | 299 | 65 | 531 | 17 | |
| 2011 | 2,670 | 1,795 | 235 | 39 | 430 | 4 | |