Town in Constanța, Romania
Murfatlar (Romanian pronunciation: [murfatˈlar]) is a town in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. It officially became a town in 1989, as a result of the Romanian rural systematization program.
Etymology
The name of the town originates from the Turkish word of Arabic origin murvet (meaning "generous man").[3]
Between 1921 and 1965, and from 1975 to 2007, the locality was known as Basarabi. On June 26, 2007 the lower house of Romania's Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, approved a proposal to have the name changed back to Murfatlar,[4] which was also ratified by the Senate and promulgated by the president of Romania on December 20, 2007.[5]
Administration
Murfatlar is a port on the Danube–Black Sea Canal and has a population of 9, 173 as of 2021. A complex of caves was found carved in the hills nearby, see the Basarabi Cave Complex.
The village of Siminoc (historical name: Turc-Murfat) is administered by the town of Murfatlar. The name of the village comes from the flower Helichrysum arenarium (siminoc in Romanian), which can be found abundantly in the area.[6]
The Murfatlar Vineyard and Basarabi Cave Complex are located nearby.
Demographics
Historical population| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|
| 1992 | 10,742 | — |
|---|
| 2002 | 10,857 | +1.1% |
|---|
| 2011 | 9,634 | −11.3% |
|---|
| 2021 | 9,173 | −4.8% |
|---|
| Source: Census data |
At the 2021 census, Murfatlar had a population of 9,173.[7] At the 2011 census, the town had 9,634 residents; of those, 8,657 were Romanians (89.86%), 547 Tatars (5.68%), 236 Roma (2.45%), 134 Turks (1.39%), 9 Hungarians (0.09%), 3 Aromanians (0.03%), 16 others (0.17%), and 32 with undeclared ethnicity (0.33%).
Natives
Murfatlar is the birthplace of the 4th Romanian president, Traian Băsescu.
