Currency | Romanian leu (RON) |
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Romania (old spelling: Rumania, Roumania; Romanian: România, IPA: [ro.mɨˈni.a]) is a country in the southeast of Central Europe. It is north of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube River. Part of Romania is circled by the Carpathian Mountains. It also has a border on the Black Sea.[1] Most of the Danube Delta is found inside Romania. Romania shares borders with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine to the far northeast, the Republic of Moldova to the near northeast, and Bulgaria to the south.
Romania is a semi-presidential unitary state. It was created when Moldavia and Wallachia joined together in 1859. It was given its independence in the Treaty of Berlin of 1878. At the end of World War II, some of its land (close by what is now known as Moldova) was occupied by the USSR. After the Iron Curtain fell in 1989, Romania started political and economical reforms that let Romania join the European Union on January 1, 2007.
Romania has the 9th biggest area of land and the 7th biggest population (with 22 million people[2]) of the European Union member states. The capital and biggest city in Romania is Bucharest (Romanian: Bucureşti /bu.kuˈreʃtʲ/ (help·info)), with a population of 1.9 million people. One of the cities in Transylvania, Sibiu, was named a European Capital of Culture.[3] Romania joined NATO on March 29, 2004.
The word Romania (Rumania or România) comes from the Romanian word Român, which comes from the Latin word Romanus which means "Roman".[4][5] English texts still used the word Rumania during World War II. This came from the French word Roumania.[6]
The oldest human remains found in Europe were found in Romania.[7] They were about 42,000 years old. This may have been when the first people came to Europe.[8]
The first written proof of people living in what is now Romania comes from Herodotus in the fourth book of The Histories. The book was written in about 440 BCE. He wrote that the Getae were defeated by the Persian Emperor Darius the Great when he was battling the Scythians.[9] The Getae were called the Dacians by the Romans. They were Thracians who were living in Dacia, which is where Romania, Moldova and the northern part of Bulgaria are now. The Dacians attacked the Roman province, which was bordered by the Danube, in 87 CE. This was during Emperor Domitian's rule. The Dacians were defeated by the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan in two battles that lasted from 101 CE until 106 CE.[10] The Roman Empire made Dacia into the province of Roman Dacia.
A lot of ore, such as gold and silver, were found in Roman Dacia.[11] A lot of gold and silver were found in the Western Carpathians. Trajan went back to Rome with 165 tons (330,000 pounds) of gold and 330 tons (660,000 pounds) of silver after his conquest.
There were a lot of Romans living in the province of Roman Dacia.[12] They spoke Vulgar Latin. They began to write the local languages using the Latin alphabet. The process of writing languages with the Latin alphabet is called romanization. This was to become the first version of Romanian.[13][14]
In the 3rd century, the province was attacked by groups of nomadic people like the Goths. They made the Roman Empire leave Dacia about 271 CE. This became the Roman Empire's first abandoned province.[15][16]
The origin of modern Romanians is widely talked about by historians to this day. It is thought that the Romanians were formed from big ethnic groups that came from both the south and north parts of the Danube.[17]
From 271 to 275, the Goths took over the abandoned Roman province.[18] They lived in Dacia until the 4th century, when another group of wandering peoples, the Huns, came to Dacia.[19] The Gepids,[20][21] Avars, with the Slavic people,[22] were in control of Transylvania through the 8th century. In the 8th century, however, the country was taken over by the Bulgarians.[20] It was made part of the First Bulgarian Empire, which ended Romania's Dark Ages.
The Bulgarians held Transylvania until the 11th century. The Pechenegs,[23] the Cumans,[24] and the Uzes were a few of the people later noted in the history of Romania.
In 1310, now called the High Middle Ages, Basarab I started the Romanian principality of Wallachia.[25] Moldavia was begun by Dragoş around 1352.[26] During the Middle Ages, Romanians were living in three different areas: Wallachia (Romanian: Ţara Românească—"Romanian Land"), Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova), and Transylvania.
Transylvania belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary from around the 10th century until the 16th century,[27] when it turned into the Principality of Transylvania.[28] This lasted until 1711.[29] Wallachia had been on the border of the Ottoman Empire since the 14th century. As the Ottoman Empire's influence grew, it gradually fell under the suzerainty (control) of the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.
The best known ruler of this period was Vlad III the Impaler, also known as Vlad Dracula, or Vlad Ţepeş, IPA: ['tsepeʃ], Prince of Wallachia, during the years of 1448, 1456–62, and 1476.[30][31] While he was the leader of his people, he had an agreement with the Ottoman Empire to stay independent. Many people in Romania during this time thought of him as a ruler with a great sense of justice[32] and defense for his country.
Moldavia was at its greatest when Stephen the Great was ruling between 1457 and 1504.[33] He was a great military leader, winning 47 battles and losing only 2.[34] After every battle he won, Stephen would build a church. Because he won 47 of the battles that he fought, he ended up building 48 churches.[35] After Stephen the Great's death, Moldavia came under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire during the 16th century.
When the Austro-Hungarian Empire was in control of Transylvania, and the Ottoman Empire was in control of Wallachia and Moldavia, almost all of the Romanians were second-class citizens or non-citizens.[36] They stayed this way even when they made up most of the people in those areas.[37][38]
The Revolution of 1848 did not succeed, and the Great Powers did not like the idea of Romania becoming a free nation. The people who voted in 1859 in Moldavia and Wallachia picked the same person – Alexandru Ioan Cuza – to be the prince in those areas.[39] This made Romania into a personal union, which happens when the same person rules two different areas. The personal union did not include Transylvania, because most of the people that were living there in the upper class were still Hungarian.
In 1866, a coup d'état resulted in Cuza being exiled; he was not allowed into that part of the country. Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen became the new leader, and was later called Prince Carol I of Romania. While the Russo-Turkish War was happening, Romania battled on the Russian side.[40] When the Treaty of Berlin of 1878[41] was signed, the Great Powers made Romania an independent state.[42] In return, they had to give Russia three of their southern districts of Bessarabia. In 1881, the principality became a kingdom, with Prince Carol ruling as King Carol I.
When World War I started in August of 1914, Romania said it was a neutral country. In 1916, after pressure from the Allies, Romania joined the Allies. Romania then started a war against Austria-Hungary.[43]
The Romanian military campaign was very bad for Romania. The Central Powers took over most of the country. Much of the Romanian army were either captured or killed during the military campaign of Romania. Moldova was one of the only parts of Romania that was not captured when it stopped its attackers in 1917. By the time World War I was over, Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire had fallen apart. This allowed Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania to become part of the Kingdom of Romania again in 1918. After the Treaty of Trianon was signed in 1920, Hungary, as agreed, gave up the claims of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy over Transylvania.[44] Romania and Bukovina were joined together in 1919 as a result of the Treaty of Saint Germain.[45] Bessarabia joined with Romania in 1920 when the Treaty of Paris was signed.[46]
Romanians called their country România Mare, meaning Greater Romania, in the time between World War I and World War II. They called it România Mare because Romania was in control of almost 300,000 square kilometres (115,831 sq mi)[47] of land. When taken from the Romanian language, România Mare means Great Romania. However, it is usually translated to English as Greater Romania instead.
In World War II, Romania called itself neutral. However, on June 28, 1940, a Soviet ultimatum said that they would invade Romania if they did not join the Axis Powers.[48] Because of the pressure from Moscow and Berlin, Romania gave up Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to avoid war.[49][50] Romania was pressured into joining the Axis Powers. Bulgaria was given the southern part of Dobruja and Hungary was given Northern Transylvania.[51] This loss of land caused King Carol II, the king of Romania, to abdicate the throne in 1940. The National Legionary State then came into power and shared government between Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard. Antonescu then defeated the Iron Guard and a year later, Romania joined the war on the Axis Power's side. Over the course of World War II, Romania was the source for most of the oil for Nazi Germany.[52] This made it an important target for many bombing raids (where airplanes attempted to drop bombs on important places) by the Allies. The actions that Antonescu's government did during World War II played a big part in the Holocaust.[53]
In August 1944, Antonescu lost power and was arrested by King Michael I of Romania. As a result of this, Romania changed sides and joined the Allies. Even though they helped to defeat Nazi Germany, Romania was not able to join in the Paris Peace Conference of 1947.[54] By the end of the war, 300,000 people in the Romanian Army were killed.[55]
The Soviet's Red Army stayed in the country and Communists got most of the votes using some forms of cheating. This included tampering with the votes and killing other party members that did not agree with them.[56] This gave them control of the country.
Michael I abdicated the throne and had to leave Romania in 1947 because of the Communists. Romania became a republic.[57][58] The USSR kept control of Romania until the late 1950s, when the Soviet troops agreed to leave Romania. During this time, resources in Romania were taken by the Soviet Union with agreements made by the communists.
After the Soviet troops left Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu wanted Romania to become a free country. Romania started following free policies. After the Six-Day War in 1967, Romania began talks with Israel and started relations with the Federal Republic of Germany.[59] Romania started to make friends with the Arab countries. By being friends with the Arab countries, Romania was allowed to be a part of the peace talks between Israel and Egypt and between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.[60]
The amount of money that Romania owed to other countries went up from $3 billion to almost $10 billion between 1977 and 1981.[61] The amount of money that Romania owed other countries caused them to rely on banks and other such companies from around the world. President Nicolae Ceauşescu's autarchic ways meant he did not want to rely on other countries for help with money. He decided to give back all the money that they had borrowed from other countries. This caused Romanians to become poor, and their economy failed. To try to stay in power, Ceauşescu had anyone who disagreed with him put in prison.[62] Many people were killed or hurt. Almost 60,000 people were put in psychiatric hospitals.[63][64] Because of this, Ceauşescu lost power and was killed in the Romanian Revolution of 1989.
In 1989, the National Salvation Front came into power. It was led by Ion Iliescu. When they came into power, several other parties from before World War II were remade. These included the Christian-Democratic National Peasants' Party, the National Liberal Party and the Romanian Social Democrat Party. In April 1990, as a result of several rallies, protests started. The people who protested did not recognize the results of the election. This was because they thought that members of the National Salvation Front were communists. More and more people protested, and it became a demonstration – a very big protest. This was called the Golaniad, and it became very violent.
When the National Salvation Front lost power, several other parties were made. These were the Social Democratic Party, the Democratic Party, and a couple of other parties from before the war. The Social Democratic Party ruled Romania from 1990 until 1996. Ion Iliescu was the head of state, or person in charge. After 1996, several other parties came into power and lost it. In 2004, Traian Băsescu became the president.
After the Cold War, Romania became closer friends with Western Europe. In 2004, Romania joined NATO and hosted the 2008 summit.[65] The country applied in June 1993 for membership in the European Union and became an Associated State of the EU in 1995, an Acceding Country in 2004, and a member on January 1, 2007.[66]
See the main article: Geography of Romania |
Romania is in southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea and the Danube River. The Carpathian Mountains lie in the center.
Romania is the biggest country in southeast Europe by population. It has an area of 238,391 square kilometres (92,043 sq mi).[67] It is the twelfth-largest country in Europe. Most of Romania's border with Serbia and Bulgaria is made by the Danube. The Danube joins the Prut River. The Prut River makes the Moldovan–Romanian border. The Danube then flows into the area of the Black Sea inside Romania. This makes the Danube Delta. The delta is a biosphere reserve and a biodiversity World Heritage Site.[68] Some of the other major rivers in Romania are the Siret, the Olt, and the Mureş. The Siret River runs from the north to the south of Moldavia. The Olt River runs from the Carpathian Mountains to Oltenia. The Mureş runs through Transylvania from the east to the west.
The land in Romania is made up of equal parts of mountains, hills, and low-lying areas. The Carpathian Mountains make up a big part of the center of Romania. Fourteen of its mountain ranges are taller than 2,000 m (6,562 ft). The tallest mountain in Romania is Moldoveanu Peak, with a peak altitude of 2,544 m (8,346 ft).[69]
The Danube is the longest river in Romania. Its length inside Romania is about 1,000 kilometres (621 mi). That is almost half of the length of the entire Danube. Almost all of the rivers in Romania are either direct or indirect tributaries of the Danube.
Romania has a climate that changes between temperate and continental climates. The reason for the climate changes is because Romania is near the coast. Romania has four different seasons. The average temperature during the year is 11 °C (51.8 °F) in southern Romania and 8 °C (46.4 °F) in the northern part.[70]
Lots of rain and snow falls on the highest western mountains. Most of this falls as snow. In the southern parts of the country, the amount of rain and snow that falls is around 60 centimetres (23.6 in).[71]
The lowest temperature ever taken in Romania was −38.5 °C (−37.3 °F), at Braşov in 1944.[72] The highest temperature ever recorded in Romania was 44.4 °C (111.9 °F), near Calafat in the 1950s.[72]
In 2002, Romania had a population of around 21,698,181 people. Romanians make up 89.5% of the population.[73] There are a few other minorities in Romania. Hungarians make up about 6.5% of the population in Romania. The Romas make up about 2.5% of the people that live in Romania.[74][75] A lot of Hungarians live in Transylvania. They also make up a big part of the counties of Harghita and Covasna. Ukrainians, Germans, Lipovans, Turks, Tatars, Serbs, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Croats, Greeks, Russians, Jews, Czechs, Poles, Italians, Armenians, and a few other denominations make up the rest of the people of Romania.[73]
The official language of Romania is Romanian. The Romanian language is an Eastern Romance language.
Romania has its own culture because of where it is found. It is the point where 3 different areas meet: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans. Romanian culture is a mix of all these areas.[76] The culture of Romania was influenced by the Greeks, Romans, and Slavs.[77]
Romania is a secular state. This means Romania has no national religion. The biggest religious group in Romania is the Romanian Orthodox Church. It is an autocephalous church inside of the Eastern Orthodox communion. In 2002, this religion made up 86.7% of the population. Other religions in Romania include Roman Catholicism (4.7%), Protestantism (3.7%), Pentecostalism (1.5%) and the Romanian Greek-Catholicism (0.9%).[73]
Bucharest is the capital of Romania. It also is the biggest city in Romania, with a population of over 1.9 million people.[78]
There are 5 other cities in Romania that have a population of more than 300,000 people. These are Iaşi, Cluj-Napoca, Timişoara, Constanţa, and Craiova. Romania also has 5 cities that have more than 200,000 people living in them: Galaţi, Braşov, Ploieşti, Brăila, and Oradea.
Thirteen other cities in Romania have a population of more than 100,000 people.[79]
Romania joined the European Union on January 1, 2007. Romania's economy is healthy. Currently, Romania makes around $264 billion in Gross domestic product and a GDP per capita of $12,285.[80] This has not always been the case, though.
After the communists left Romania in 1989, the economy was in very bad shape. Many people were not able to find jobs. The economy was in need of help. The bad economy lasted for about 10 years. In 2000, Romania's leaders finally started making changes to the economy and the system. People started being able to work again and inflation went down.
Romania is divided into 41 counties, including the municipality of Bucharest, which is also its own county.
Romania is divided further into 319 cities and 2,686 communes.[81] Each of the communes has its own council that is led by a mayor.