"Romania" derives from the local name for Romanian (Romanian: român), which in turn derives from Latinromanus, meaning "Roman" or "of Rome".[13] This ethnonym for Romanians is first attested in the 16thcentury by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia.[14][15][16] The oldest known surviving document written in Romanian that can be precisely dated, a 1521 letter known as the "Letter of Neacșu from Câmpulung",[17] is notable for including the first documented occurrence of Romanian in a country name: Wallachia is mentioned as Țara Rumânească.
Human remains found in Peștera cu Oase ("Cave with Bones"), radiocarbon date from circa 40,000 years ago, and represent the oldest known Homo sapiens in Europe.[18]Neolithic agriculture spread after the arrival of a mixed group of people from Thessaly in the 6thmillennium BC.[19][20] Excavations near a salt spring at Lunca yielded the earliest evidence for salt exploitation in Europe; here salt production began between the 5th and 4th millennium BC.[21] The first permanent settlements developed into "proto-cities",[22] which were larger than 320 hectares (800 acres).[23][24]
The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture—the best known archaeological culture of Old Europe—flourished in Muntenia, southeastern Transylvania and northeastern Moldavia between c. 5500 to 2750 BC.[25] During its middle phase (c. 4000 to 3500 BC), populations belonging to the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture built the largest settlements in Neolithic Europe, some of which contained as many as three thousand structures and were possibly inhabited by 20,000 to 46,000 people.[26]
The first fortified settlements appeared around 1800BC, showing the militant character of Bronze Age societies.[24]
Greek colonies established on the Black Sea coast in the 7thcenturyBC became important centres of commerce with the local tribes.[27][28] Among the native peoples, Herodotus listed the Getae of the Lower Danube region, the Agathyrsi of Transylvania and the Syginnae of the plains along the river Tisza at the beginning of the 5thcenturyBC.[29] Centuries later, Strabo associated the Getae with the Dacians who dominated the lands along the southern Carpathian Mountains in the 1stcenturyBC.[30]
Burebista was the first Dacian ruler to unite the local tribes.[30][31] He also conquered the Greek colonies in Dobruja and the neighbouring peoples as far as the Middle Danube and the Balkan Mountains between around 55and44 BC.[30][32] After Burebista was murdered in 44BC, his kingdom collapsed.[30][33]
The Romans reached Dacia during Burebista's reign and conquered Dobruja in 46AD.[33]Dacia was again united under Decebalus around 85AD.[30][34] He resisted the Romans for decades, but the Roman army defeated his troops in 106AD.[35] Emperor Trajan transformed Banat, Oltenia, and the greater part of Transylvania into a new province called Roman Dacia, but Dacian and Sarmatian tribes continued to dominate the lands along the Roman frontiers.[36][37]
Ruins of sanctuaries at Sarmizegetusa Regia (Dacia's capital during the reigns of Burebista and Decebalus)
The Romans pursued an organised colonisation policy, and the provincials enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity in the 2ndcentury.[38][39] Scholars accepting the Daco-Roman continuity theory—one of the main theories about the origin of the Romanians—say that the cohabitation of the native Dacians and the Roman colonists in Roman Dacia was the first phase of the Romanians' ethnogenesis.[40][41] The Carpians, Goths, and other neighbouring tribes made regular raids against Dacia from the210s.[42]
The Romans could not resist, and Emperor Aurelian ordered the evacuation of the province Dacia Trajana in the 270s.[43] Scholars supporting the continuity theory are convinced that most Latin-speaking commoners stayed behind when the army and civil administration were withdrawn.[44] The Romans did not abandon their fortresses along the northern banks of the Lower Danube for decades, and Dobruja (known as Scythia Minor) remained an integral part of the Roman Empire until the early 7thcentury.[40][45]
Gothic-speaking Thervingi, and the neighbouring tribes (370s AD)
The Goths were expanding towards the Lower Danube from the230s, forcing the native peoples to flee to the Roman Empire or to accept their suzerainty.[46][47][48] The Goths' rule ended abruptly when the Huns invaded their territory in376, causing new waves of migrations.[46][48][49] The Huns forced the remnants of the local population into submission, but their empire collapsed in454.[46][50] The Gepids took possession of the former Dacia province.[51][52] Place names that are of Slavic origin abound in Romania, indicating that a significant Slavic-speaking population lived in the territory.[53] The first Slavic groups settled in Moldavia and Wallachia in the 6thcentury,[54] in Transylvania around600.[55] The nomadic Avars defeated the Gepids and established a powerful empire around570.[46][56] The Bulgars, who also came from the European Pontic steppe, occupied the Lower Danube region in680.[46]
After the Avar Khaganate collapsed in the790s, the First Bulgarian Empire became the dominant power of the region, occupying lands as far as the river Tisa.[46] The First Bulgarian Empire had a mixed population consisting of the Bulgar conquerors, Slavs, and Vlachs (or Romanians) but the Slavicisation of the Bulgar elite had already begun in the 9th century. Following the conquest of southern Transylvania around 830, people from the Bulgar Empire mined salt at the local salt mines.[57] The Council of Preslav declared Old Church Slavonic the language of liturgy in the country in893.[58] The Vlachs also adopted Old Church Slavonic as their liturgical language.[59]
The Magyars (or Hungarians) took control of the steppes north of the Lower Danube in the830s, but the Bulgarians and the Pechenegs jointly forced them to abandon this region for the lowlands along the Middle Danube around894.[60] Centuries later, the Gesta Hungarorum wrote of the invading Magyars' wars against three dukes—Glad, Menumorut and the Vlach Gelou—for Banat, Crișana and Transylvania.[61][62] The Gesta also listed many peoples—Slavs, Bulgarians, Vlachs, Khazars, and Székelys—inhabiting the same regions.[63][64] The reliability of the Gesta is debated. Some scholars regard it as a basically accurate account, others describe it as a literary work filled with invented details.[65][66][67] The Pechenegs seized the lowlands abandoned by the Hungarians to the east of the Carpathians.[68]
Byzantine missionaries proselytised in the lands east of the Tisa from the940s[69] and Byzantine troops occupied Dobruja in the970s.[70] The first king of Hungary, StephenI, who supported Western European missionaries, defeated the local chieftains and established Roman Catholic bishoprics (office of a bishop) in Transylvania and Banat in the early 11thcentury.[71][72] Significant Pecheneg groups fled to the Byzantine Empire in the1040s; the Oghuz Turks followed them, and the nomadic Cumans became the dominant power of the steppes in the1060s.[73] Cooperation between the Cumans and the Vlachs against the Byzantine Empire is well documented from the end of the 11thcentury.[74] Scholars who reject the Daco-Roman continuity theory say that the first Vlach groups left their Balkan homeland for the mountain pastures of the eastern and southern Carpathians in the 11thcentury, establishing the Romanians' presence in the lands to the north of the Lower Danube.[75]
Contemporary woodcut depicting Vlad III of Wallachia (also known as Vlad the Impaler) medieval ruler of Wallachia, published in Nuremberg in 1488. The most famous Romanian ruler in world history.Contemporary depiction of Stephen the Great, voivode of Moldavia, 1488, Voroneţ Monastery. The longest reigning ruler in Romanian medieval history, from 1457 to 1504, 47 years.
Exposed to nomadic incursions, Transylvania developed into an important border province of the Kingdom of Hungary.[76][77] The Székelys—a community of free warriors—settled in central Transylvania around1100 and moved to the easternmost regions around1200.[78] Colonists from the Holy Roman Empire—the Transylvanian Saxons' ancestors—came to the province in the1150s.[78][79] A high-ranking royal official, styled voivode, ruled the Transylvanian counties from the1170s, but the Székely and Saxon seats (or districts) were not subject to the voivodes' authority.[80] Royal charters wrote of the "Vlachs' land" in southern Transylvania in the early 13thcentury, indicating the existence of autonomous Romanian communities.[81] Papal correspondence mentions the activities of Orthodox prelates among the Romanians in Muntenia in the1230s.[82] Also in the 13thcentury, the Republic of Genoa started establishing colonies on the Black Sea, including Calafat, and Constanța.[83][84]
The Mongols destroyed large territories during their invasion of Eastern and Central Europe in1241 and1242.[85] The Mongols' Golden Horde emerged as the dominant power of Eastern Europe, but Béla IV of Hungary's land grant to the Knights Hospitallers in Oltenia and Muntenia shows that the local Vlach rulers were subject to the king's authority in1247.[86][87]Basarab I of Wallachia united the Romanian polities between the southern Carpathians and the Lower Danube in the1310s.[88] He defeated the Hungarian royal army in the Battle of Posada and secured the independence of Wallachia in1330.[89][90] The second Romanian principality, Moldavia, achieved full autonomy during the reign of BogdanI around1360.[90] A local dynasty ruled the Despotate of Dobruja in the second half of the 14thcentury, but the Ottoman Empire took possession of the territory after1388.[91]
Princes MirceaI and VladIII of Wallachia, and StephenIII of Moldavia defended their countries' independence against the Ottomans. Most Wallachian and Moldavian princes paid a regular tribute to the Ottoman sultans from1417 and1456, respectively.[92][93] A military commander of Romanian origin, John Hunyadi, organised the defence of the Kingdom of Hungary until his death in1456.[94] Increasing taxes outraged the Transylvanian peasants, and they rose up in an open rebellion in1437, but the Hungarian nobles and the heads of the Saxon and Székely communities jointly suppressed their revolt.[95] The formal alliance of the Hungarian, Saxon, and Székely leaders, known as the Union of the Three Nations, became an important element of the self-government of Transylvania.[96] The Orthodox Romanian knezes ("chiefs") were excluded from the Union.[96]
The Kingdom of Hungary collapsed, and the Ottomans occupied parts of Banat and Crișana in 1541.[96] Transylvania and Maramureș, along with the rest of Banat and Crișana developed into a new state under Ottoman suzerainty, the Principality of Transylvania.[97] Reformation spread and four denominations—Calvinism, Lutheranism, Unitarianism, and Roman Catholicism—were officially acknowledged in 1568.[98] The Romanians' Orthodox faith remained only tolerated,[98] although they made up more than one-third of the population, according to 17th-century estimations.[99][100]
The princes of Transylvania, Wallachia, and Moldavia joined the Holy League against the Ottoman Empire in 1594.[101] The Wallachian prince, Michael the Brave, united the three principalities under his rule in May1600.[102][103] The neighboring powers forced him to abdicate in September, but he became a symbol of the unification of the Romanian lands in the 19thcentury.[102] Although the rulers of the three principalities continued to pay tribute to the Ottomans, the most talented princes—Gabriel Bethlen of Transylvania, Matei Basarab of Wallachia, and Vasile Lupu of Moldavia—strengthened their autonomy.[104]
The united armies of the Holy League expelled the Ottoman troops from Central Europe between 1684 and 1699, and the Principality of Transylvania was integrated into the Habsburg monarchy.[105] The Habsburgs supported the Catholic clergy and persuaded the Orthodox Romanian prelates to accept the union with the Roman Catholic Church in 1699.[106] The Church Union strengthened the Romanian intellectuals' devotion to their Roman heritage.[107] The Orthodox Church was restored in Transylvania only after Orthodox monks stirred up revolts in 1744 and 1759.[108] The organisation of the Transylvanian Military Frontier caused further disturbances, especially among the Székelys in 1764.[109]
Princes Dimitrie Cantemir of Moldavia and Constantin Brâncoveanu of Wallachia concluded alliances with the Habsburg Monarchy and Russia against the Ottomans, but they were dethroned in 1711 and 1714, respectively.[110] The sultans lost confidence in the native princes and appointed Orthodox merchants from the Phanar district of Istanbul to rule Moldova and Wallachia.[111][112] The Phanariot princes pursued oppressive fiscal policies and dissolved the army.[113] The neighboring powers took advantage of the situation: the Habsburg Monarchy annexed the northwestern part of Moldavia, or Bukovina, in 1775, and the Russian Empire seized the eastern half of Moldavia, or Bessarabia, in 1812.[114][115]
A census revealed that the Romanians were more numerous than any other ethnic group in Transylvania in 1733, but legislation continued to use contemptuous adjectives (such as "tolerated" and "admitted") when referring to them.[116][117] The Uniate bishop, Inocențiu Micu-Klein who demanded recognition of the Romanians as the fourth privileged nation was forced into exile.[118][117] Uniate and Orthodox clerics and laymen jointly signed a plea for the Transylvanian Romanians' emancipation in 1791, but the monarch and the local authorities refused to grant their requests.[119][116]
Animated map depicting the territorial changes of Romania from 1859 to 2010
The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca authorised the Russian ambassador in Istanbul to defend the autonomy of Moldavia and Wallachia (known as the Danubian Principalities) in 1774.[120] Taking advantage of the Greek War of Independence, a Wallachian lesser nobleman, Tudor Vladimirescu, stirred up a revolt against the Ottomans in January1821, but he was murdered in June by Phanariot Greeks.[121] After a new Russo-Turkish War, the Treaty of Adrianople strengthened the autonomy of the Danubian Principalities in1829, although it also acknowledged the sultan's right to confirm the election of the princes.[122]
Mihail Kogălniceanu, Nicolae Bălcescu and other leaders of the 1848 revolutions in Moldavia and Wallachia demanded the emancipation of the peasants and the union of the two principalities, but Russian and Ottoman troops crushed their revolt.[123][124] The Wallachian revolutionists were the first to adopt the blue, yellow and red tricolour as the national flag.[125] In Transylvania, most Romanians supported the imperial government against the Hungarian revolutionaries after the Diet passed a law concerning the union of Transylvania and Hungary.[125] Bishop Andrei Șaguna proposed the unification of the Romanians of the Habsburg Monarchy in a separate duchy, but the central government refused to change the internal borders.[126]
Alexandru Ioan Cuza, the first Domnitor (i.e. Prince) of Romania (at that time the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia) between 1862 and 1866
The Treaty of Paris put the Danubian Principalities under the collective guardianship of the Great Powers in1856.[124] After special assemblies convoked in Moldavia and Wallachia urged the unification of the two principalities, the Great Powers did not prevent the election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as their collective domnitor (or ruling prince) in January 1859.[127] The united principalities officially adopted the name Romania on 21February 1862.[128] Cuza's government carried out a series of reforms, including the secularisation of the property of monasteries and agrarian reform, but a coalition of conservative and radical politicians forced him to abdicate in February1866.[129][130]
Cuza's successor, a German prince, Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (or CarolI), was elected in May.[131] The parliament adopted the first constitution of Romania in the same year.[132] The Great Powers acknowledged Romania's full independence at the Congress of Berlin and CarolI was crowned king in 1881.[133] The Congress also granted the Danube Delta and Dobruja to Romania.[133] Although Romanian scholars strove for the unification of all Romanians into a Greater Romania, the government did not openly support their irredentist projects.[134]
The Transylvanian Romanians and Saxons wanted to maintain the separate status of Transylvania in the Habsburg Monarchy, but the Austro-Hungarian Compromise brought about the union of the province with Hungary in1867.[135] Ethnic Romanian politicians sharply opposed the Hungarian government's attempts to transform Hungary into a national state, especially the laws prescribing the obligatory teaching of Hungarian.[133] Leaders of the Romanian National Party proposed the federalisation of Austria-Hungary and the Romanian intellectuals established a cultural association to promote the use of Romanian.[136][137]
Late 19th century ethnic map of Central Europe depicting predominantly Romanian-inhabited territories in blue. Hungarians are marked in yellow and Germans in pink.
Fearing Russian expansionism, Romania secretly joined the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy in1883, but public opinion remained hostile to Austria-Hungary.[138][139] Romania seized Southern Dobruja from Bulgaria in the Second Balkan War in 1913.[140] German and Austrian-Hungarian diplomacy supported Bulgaria during the war, bringing about a rapprochement between Romania and the Triple Entente of France, Russia and the United Kingdom.[140] The country remained neutral when World War I broke out in1914, but Prime Minister Ion I. C. Brătianu started negotiations with the Entente Powers.[141] After they promised Austrian-Hungarian territories with a majority of ethnic Romanian population to Romania in the Treaty of Bucharest, Romania entered the war against the Central Powers in 1916.[141][142] The German and Austrian-Hungarian troops defeated the Romanian army and occupied three-quarters of the country by early1917.[143] After the October Revolution turned Russia from an ally into an enemy, Romania was forced to sign a harsh peace treaty with the Central Powers in May1918,[144] but the collapse of Russia also enabled the union of Bessarabia with Romania.[145]King Ferdinand again mobilised the Romanian army on behalf of the Entente Powers a day before Germany capitulated on 11November 1918.[144]
Austria-Hungary quickly disintegrated after the war.[144] The General Congress of Bukovina proclaimed the union of the province with Romania on 28November 1918, and the Grand National Assembly proclaimed the union of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș with the kingdom on 1December.[146][147] Peace treaties with Austria, Bulgaria and Hungary delineated the new borders in 1919 and 1920, but the Soviet Union did not acknowledge the loss of Bessarabia.[148] Romania achieved its greatest territorial extent, expanding from the pre-war 137,000 to 295,000km2 (53,000 to 114,000sqmi).[149] A new electoral system granted voting rights to all adult male citizens, and a series of radical agrarian reforms transformed the country into a "nation of small landowners" between 1918 and 1921.[150]Gender equality as a principle was enacted, but women could not vote or be candidates.[151]Calypso Botez established the National Council of Romanian Women to promote feminist ideas.[151] Romania was a multiethnic country, with ethnic minorities making up about 30%of the population, but the new constitution declared it a unitary national state in 1923.[149][152][153] Although minorities could establish their own schools, Romanian language, history and geography could only be taught in Romanian.[154]
Agriculture remained the principal sector of economy, but several branches of industry—especially the production of coal, oil, metals, synthetic rubber, explosives and cosmetics—developed during the interwar period.[155][156] With oil production of 5.8million tons in 1930, Romania ranked sixth in the world.[156] Two parties, the National Liberal Party and the National Peasants' Party, dominated political life, but the Great Depression in Romania brought about significant changes in the 1930s.[157][158] The democratic parties were squeezed between conflicts with the fascist and anti-SemiticIron Guard and the authoritarian tendencies of King CarolII.[159] The King promulgated a new constitution and dissolved the political parties in 1938, replacing the parliamentary system with a royal dictatorship.[160][161]
The 1938 Munich Agreement convinced King CarolII that France and the United Kingdom could not defend Romanian interests.[162] German preparations for a new war required the regular supply of Romanian oil and agricultural products.[162] The two countries concluded a treaty concerning the coordination of their economic policies in 1939, but the King could not persuade Adolf Hitler to guarantee Romania's frontiers.[163] Romania was forced to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union on 26June 1940, Northern Transylvania to Hungary on 30August, and Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria in September.[164] After the territorial losses, the King was forced to abdicate in favour of his minor son, MichaelI, on 6September, and Romania was transformed into a national-legionary state under the leadership of General Ion Antonescu.[165] Antonescu signed the Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy and Japan on 23November.[166] The Iron Guard staged a coup against Antonescu, but he crushed the riot with German support and introduced a military dictatorship in early 1941.[167]
American B-24 Liberator flying over a burning oil refinery at Ploiești, as part of Operation Tidal Wave on 1August 1943. Due to its role as a significant supplier of oil to the Axis, Romania was a prime target of Allied strategic bombing in 1943 and 1944.
Romania entered World War II soon after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941.[168] The country regained Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina, and the Germans placed Transnistria (the territory between the rivers Dniester and Dnieper) under Romanian administration.[169] Romanian and German troops massacred at least 160,000 local Jews in these territories; more than 105,000 Jews and about 11,000 Gypsies died during their deportation from Bessarabia to Transnistria.[170] Most of the Jewish population of Moldavia, Wallachia, Banat and Southern Transylvania survived,[171] but their fundamental rights were limited.[172] After the September 1943 Allied armistice with Italy, Romania became the second Axis power in Europe in 1943–1944.[173][174] After the German occupation of Hungary in March 1944, about 132,000 Jews – mainly Hungarian-speaking – were deported to extermination camps from Northern Transylvania with the Hungarian authorities' support.[170][175]
After the Soviet victory in the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, Iuliu Maniu, a leader of the opposition to Antonescu, entered into secret negotiations with British diplomats who made it clear that Romania had to seek reconciliation with the Soviet Union.[176] To facilitate the coordination of their activities against Antonescu's regime, the National Liberal and National Peasants' parties established the National Democratic Bloc, which also included the Social Democratic and Communist parties.[177] After a successful Soviet offensive, the young King MichaelI ordered Antonescu's arrest and appointed politicians from the National Democratic Bloc to form a new government on 23August 1944.[178] Romania switched sides during the war, and nearly 250,000 Romanian troops joined the Red Army's military campaign against Hungary and Germany, but Joseph Stalin regarded the country as an occupied territory within the Soviet sphere of influence.[179] Stalin's deputy instructed the King to make the Communists' candidate, Petru Groza, the prime minister in March 1945.[180][181] The Romanian administration in Northern Transylvania was soon restored, and Groza's government carried out an agrarian reform.[181] In February 1947, the Paris Peace Treaties confirmed the return of Northern Transylvania to Romania, but they also legalised the presence of units of the Red Army in the country.[182][183]
During the Soviet occupation of Romania, the communist-dominated government called for new elections in 1946, which they fraudulently won, with a fabricated 70%majority of the vote.[184] Thus, they rapidly established themselves as the dominant political force.[185]Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, a communist party leader imprisoned in 1933, escaped in 1944 to become Romania's first communist leader. In February 1947, he and others forced King Michael I to abdicate and leave the country and proclaimed Romania a people's republic.[186][187] Romania remained under the direct military occupation and economic control of the USSR until the late 1950s. During this period, Romania's vast natural resources were drained continuously by mixed Soviet-Romanian companies (SovRoms) set up for unilateral exploitative purposes.[188][189][190]
In 1948, the state began to nationalise private firms and to collectivise agriculture.[191] Until the early 1960s, the government severely curtailed political liberties and vigorously suppressed any dissent with the help of the Securitate—the Romanian secret police. During this period the regime launched several campaigns of purges during which numerous "enemies of the state" were targeted for different forms of punishment including: deportation, internal exile, internment in forced labour camps and prisons—sometimes for life—as well as extrajudicial killing.[192] Nevertheless, anti-communist resistance was one of the most long-lasting in the Eastern Bloc.[193][verification needed] A 2006 commission estimated the number of direct victims of the Communist repression at two million people.[194]
Nicolae Ceaușescu, who ruled Romania as its communist leader from 1965 until 1989
In 1965, Nicolae Ceaușescu came to power and started to conduct the country's foreign policy more independently from the Soviet Union. Thus, communist Romania was the only Warsaw Pact country which refused to participate in the Soviet-led 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. Ceaușescu even publicly condemned the action as "a big mistake, [and] a serious danger to peace in Europe and to the fate of Communism in the world".[195] It was the only Communist state to maintain diplomatic relations with Israel after 1967's Six-Day War and established diplomatic relations with West Germany the same year.[196] At the same time, close ties with the Arab countries and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) allowed Romania to play a key role in the Israel–Egypt and Israel–PLO peace talks.[197]
As Romania's foreign debt increased sharply between 1977 and 1981 (from US$3billion to $10billion),[198] the influence of international financial organisations—such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank—grew, gradually conflicting with Ceaușescu's autocratic rule. He eventually initiated a policy of total reimbursement of the foreign debt by imposing austerity steps that impoverished the population and exhausted the economy. The process succeeded in repaying all of Romania's foreign government debt in 1989. At the same time, Ceaușescu greatly extended the authority of the Securitate secret police and imposed a severe cult of personality, which led to a dramatic decrease in the dictator's popularity and culminated in his overthrow in the violent Romanian Revolution of December 1989 in which thousands were killed or injured.
After the 1989 revolution, the National Salvation Front (FSN), led by Ion Iliescu, took partial and superficial multi-party democratic and free market measures after seizing power as an ad interim governing body.[201][202] In March 1990, violent outbreaks went on in Târgu Mureș as a result of Hungarian oppression in the region. In April 1990, a sit-in protest contesting the results of that year's legislative elections and accusing the FSN, including Iliescu, of being made up of former Communists and members of the Securitate grew rapidly to become what was called the Golaniad. Peaceful demonstrations degenerated into violence, prompting the intervention of coal miners summoned by Iliescu. This episode has been documented widely by both local[203] and foreign media,[204] and is remembered as the June 1990 Mineriad.[205][206]
The subsequent disintegration of the Front produced several political parties, including most notably the Social Democratic Party (PDSR then PSD) and the Democratic Party (PD and subsequently PDL). The former governed Romania from 1990 until 1996 through several coalitions and governments, with Ion Iliescu as head of state. Since then, there have been several other democratic changes of government: in 1996 Emil Constantinescu was elected president, in 2000 Iliescu returned to power, while Traian Băsescu was elected in 2004 and narrowly re-elected in 2009.[207]
In 2009, the country was bailed out by the International Monetary Fund as an aftershock of the Great Recession in Europe.[208] In November 2014, Sibiu former FDGR/DFDR mayor Klaus Iohannis was elected president, unexpectedly defeating former Prime Minister Victor Ponta, who had been previously leading in the opinion polls. This surprise victory was attributed by many analysts to the implication of the Romanian diaspora in the voting process, with almost 50% casting their votes for Klaus Iohannis in the first round, compared to only 16% for Ponta.[209] In 2019, Iohannis was re-elected president in a landslide victory over former Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă.[210]
The post–1989 period is characterised by the fact that most of the former industrial and economic enterprises which were built and operated during the communist period were closed, mainly as a result of the policies of privatisation of the post–1989 regimes.[211]
Corruption has been a major issue in contemporary Romanian politics.[212] In November 2015, massive anti-corruption protests which developed in the wake of the Colectiv nightclub fire led to the resignation of Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta.[213] During 2017–2018, in response to measures which were perceived to weaken the fight against corruption, some of the biggest protests since 1989 took place in Romania, with over 500,000 people protesting across the country.[214][215] Nevertheless, there have been significant reforms aimed at tackling corruption. A National Anticorruption Directorate was formed in the country in 2002, inspired by similar institutions in Belgium, Norway and Spain.[216] Since 2014, Romania launched an anti-corruption effort that led to the prosecution of medium- and high-level political, judicial and administrative offenses by the National Anticorruption Directorate.[217]
After the end of the Cold War, Romania developed closer ties with Western Europe and the United States, eventually joining NATO in 2004, and hosting the 2008 summit in Bucharest.[218] 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 full member on 1January 2007.[219]
During the 2000s, Romania had one of the highest economic growth rates in Europe and has been referred at times as "the Tiger of Eastern Europe".[220] This has been accompanied by a significant improvement in living standards as the country successfully reduced domestic poverty and established a functional democratic state.[221][222] However, Romania's development suffered a major setback during the late 2000s' recession leading to a large gross domestic product contraction and a budget deficit in 2009.[223] This led to Romania borrowing from the International Monetary Fund.[224] Worsening economic conditions led to unrest and triggered a political crisis in 2012.[225]
Near the end of 2013, The Economist reported Romania again enjoying "booming" economic growth at 4.1% that year, with wages rising fast and a lower unemployment than in Britain. Economic growth accelerated in the midst of government liberalisation in opening up new sectors to competition and investment—most notably, energy and telecoms.[226] In 2016, the Human Development Index ranked Romania as a nation of "Very High Human Development".[227]
Following the experience of economic instability throughout the 1990s, and the implementation of a free travel agreement with the EU, a great number of Romanians emigrated to Western Europe and North America, with particularly large communities in Italy, Germany, and Spain.
Romania is the largest country in Southeastern Europe and the twelfth-largest in Europe, having an area of 238,397 square kilometres (92,046sqmi).[228]:17 It lies between latitudes 43° and 49° N and longitudes 20° and 30° E. The terrain is distributed roughly equally between mountains, hills, and plains. The Carpathian Mountains dominate the centre of Romania, with 14 mountain ranges reaching above 2,000m or 6,600ft—the highest is Moldoveanu Peak at 2,544m or 8,346ft.[228]:11 They are surrounded by the Moldavian and Transylvanian plateaus, the Pannonian Plain and the Wallachian plains.
Romania has one of the largest areas of undisturbed forest in Europe, covering almost 27% of its territory.[236] The country had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.95/10, ranking it 90th globally out of 172 countries.[237] Some 3,700 plant species have been identified in the country, from which to date 23have been declared natural monuments, 74extinct, 39endangered, 171vulnerable, and 1,253rare.[238]
Romania map of Köppen climate classification, according with Clima României from the Administrația Națională de Meteorologie, Bucharest 2008
Owing to its distance from open sea and its position on the southeastern portion of the European continent, Romania has a climate that is continental, with four distinct seasons. The average annual temperature is 11°C (52°F)in the south and 8°C (46°F)in the north.[242] In summer, average maximum temperatures in Bucharest rise to 28°C (82°F), and temperatures over 35°C (95°F) are fairly common in the lower-lying areas of the country.[243] In winter, the average maximum temperature is below 2°C (36°F).[243] Precipitation is average, with over 750mm (30in) per year only on the highest western mountains, while around Bucharest it drops to approximately 570mm (22in).[228]:29 There are some regional differences: in western sections, such as Banat, the climate is milder and has some Mediterranean influences; the eastern part of the country has a more pronounced continental climate. In Dobruja, the Black Sea also exerts an influence over the region's climate.[244]
The justice system is independent of the other branches of government and is made up of a hierarchical system of courts with the High Court of Cassation and Justice being the supreme court of Romania.[247] There are also courts of appeal, county courts and local courts. The Romanian judicial system is strongly influenced by the French model, is based on civil law and is inquisitorial in nature. The Constitutional Court (Curtea Constituțională) is responsible for judging the compliance of laws and other state regulations with the constitution, which is the fundamental law of the country and can be amended only through a public referendum.[245][248] Romania's 2007 entry into the EU has been a significant influence on its domestic policy, and including judicial reforms, increased judicial cooperation with other member states, and measures to combat corruption.[249]
Since December 1989, Romania has pursued a policy of strengthening relations with the West in general, more specifically with the United States and the European Union, albeit with limited relations involving the Russian Federation. It joined NATO on 29March 2004, the European Union (EU) on 1January 2007, while it joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in 1972, and is a founding member of the World Trade Organization.[250]
In the past, recent governments have stated that one of their goals is to strengthen ties with and helping other countries (in particular Moldova, Ukraine, and Georgia) with the process of integration with the rest of the West.[251] Romania has also made clear since the late 1990s that it supports NATO and EU membership for the democratic former Soviet republics in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.
Romania opted on 1January 2007, to accede to the Schengen Area, and its bid to join was approved by the European Parliament in June 2011, but was rejected by the EU Council in September 2011. As of August 2019, its acceptance into the Schengen Area is hampered because the European Council has misgivings about Romania's adherence to the rule of law,[252] a fundamental principle of EU membership.[253]
Romania is a noteworthy ally of the United States, being the first NATO member state that agreed to support increasing its defence spending after the 2017 Trump–Iohannis meeting at the White House.
In December 2005, President Traian Băsescu and United States Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice signed an agreement that would allow a U.S. military presence at several Romanian facilities primarily in the eastern part of the country.[254] In May 2009, Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, declared that "Romania is one of the most trustworthy and respectable partners of the USA."[255]
Relations with Moldova are a special case given that the two countries share the same language and a common history.[251] A movement for unification of Moldova and Romania appeared in the early 1990s after both countries achieved emancipation from communist rule[256] but lost ground in the mid-1990s when a new Moldovan government pursued an agenda towards preserving a Moldovan republic independent of Romania.[257] After the 2009 protests in Moldova and the subsequent removal of Communists from power, relations between the two countries have improved considerably.[258]
Romanian soldiers at the Saber Guardian 23 exercise opening ceremony in Smârdan, Galați
The Romanian Armed Forces consist of land, air, and naval forces led by a Commander-in-chief under the supervision of the Ministry of National Defence, and by the president as the Supreme Commander during wartime. The Armed Forces consist of approximately 55,000 reservists and 71,500 active military personnel—35,800 for land, 10,700 for air, 6,600 for naval forces, and 16,500 in other fields.[259] Total defence spending in 2023 accounted for 2.44%of total national GDP, or approximately US$8.48billion,[260] with a total of $9billion intended to be spent until 2026 for modernisation and acquisition of new equipment.[261] Conscription stopped in 2007, when Romania switched to a volunteer army.
Romania contributed troops to the international coalition in Afghanistan beginning in 2002,[266] with a peak deployment of 1,600 troops in 2010 (which was the 4thlargest contribution according to the US).[267][268] Its combat mission in the country concluded in 2014.[269] Romanian troops participated in the occupation of Iraq, reaching a peak of 730 soldiers before being slowly drawn down to 350 soldiers. Romania terminated its mission in Iraq and withdrew its last troops on 24July 2009, among the last countries to do so. The frigate the Regele Ferdinand participated in the 2011 military intervention in Libya.[270]
In 2024, construction work started on expanding the Mihail Kogălniceanu Air Base (RoAF 57th Air Base). The air base is set to become the largest NATO base in Europe after the implementation of a project spanning 20 years.[273][274]
Romania is divided into 41 counties (județe) and the municipality of Bucharest. Each county is administered by a county council, responsible for local affairs, as well as a prefect responsible for the administration of national affairs at the county level. The prefect is appointed by the central government but cannot be a member of any political party.[275] Each county is subdivided further into cities and communes, which have their own mayor and local council. There are a total of 320cities and 2,861communes in Romania.[228]:17 A total of 103of the larger cities have municipality status, which gives them greater administrative power over local affairs. The municipality of Bucharest is a special case, as it enjoys a status on par to that of a county. It is further divided into six sectors[228]:6 and has a prefect, a general mayor (primar general), and a general city council.
The NUTS-3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) level divisions of the European Union reflect Romania's administrative-territorial structure and correspond to the 41counties plus Bucharest.[276] The cities and communes correspond to the NUTS-5 level divisions, but there are no current NUTS-4 level divisions. The NUTS-1 (four macroregions) and NUTS-2[277] (eight development regions) divisions exist but have no administrative capacity and are used instead for coordinating regional development projects and statistical purposes.[276]
In 2024, Romania has a GDP (PPP) of around $894billion and a GDP per capita (PPP) of $47,203.[6] According to the World Bank, Romania is a high-income economy.[279] According to Eurostat, Romania's GDP per capita (PPS) was 77%of the EU average (100%) in 2022, an increase from 44%in 2007 (the year of Romania's accession to the EU), making Romania one of the fastest growing economies in the EU.[280]
After 1989 the country experienced a decade of economic instability and decline, led in part by an obsolete industrial base and a lack of structural reform. From 2000 onwards, however, the Romanian economy was transformed into one of relative macroeconomic stability, characterised by high growth, low unemployment and declining inflation. In 2006, according to the Romanian Statistics Office, GDP growth in real terms was recorded at 7.7%,one of the highest rates in Europe.[283] However, the Great Recession forced the government to borrow externally, including an IMF €20billion bailout programme.[284] According to The World Bank, GDP per capita in purchasing power parity grew from $13,703 in 2007 to $47,903 in 2023.[285]
After a series of privatisations and reforms in the late 1990s and 2000s, government intervention in the Romanian economy is somewhat less than in other European economies.[286] In 2005, the government replaced Romania's progressive tax system with a flat tax of 16%for both personal income and corporate profit, among the lowest rates in the European Union.[287] The economy is based predominantly on services, which account for 56.2%of the country's total GDP as of 2017, with industry and agriculture accounting for 30%and 4.4%respectively.[288] Approximately 25.8%of the Romanian workforce is employed in agriculture, one of the highest rates in Europe.[289]
Romania has attracted increasing amounts of foreign investment following the end of Communism, with the stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Romania rising to €83.8billion in June 2019.[290] Romania's FDI outward stock (an external or foreign business either investing in or purchasing the stock of a local economy) amounted to $745million in December 2018, the lowest value among the 28 EU member states.[290]
Since 1867 the official currency has been the Romanian leu ("lion") and following a denomination in 2005.[291] After joining the EU in 2007, Romania plans to adopt the euro in 2029.[292]
Romania's road networkGraph depicting Romania's electricity supply mix as of 2015
According to the Romania's National Institute of Statistics (INS), Romania's total road network was estimated in 2015 at 86,080 kilometres (53,488mi).[293] The World Bank estimates the railway network at 22,298 kilometres (13,855mi) of track, the fourth-largest railroad network in Europe.[294] Romania's rail transport experienced a dramatic decline after 1989 and was estimated at 99million passenger journeys in 2004, but has experienced a recent (2013) revival due to infrastructure improvements and partial privatisation of lines,[245] accounting for 45%of all passenger and freight movements in the country.[245]Bucharest Metro, the only underground railway system, was opened in 1979 and measures 80.01km (49.72mi) with an average ridership in 2021 of 720,000 passengers during the workweek in the country. [295] There are sixteen international commercial airports in service today. Over 12.8million passengers flew through Bucharest's Henri Coandă International Airport in 2017.[296]
Romania is a net exporter of electrical energy and is 52nd worldwide in terms of consumption of electric energy.[297] Around a third of the produced energy comes from renewable sources, mostly as hydroelectric power.[298] It has one of the largest refining capacities in Eastern Europe, even though oil and natural gas production has been decreasing for more than a decade.[299] With one of the largest reserves of crude oil and shale gas in Europe[300] it is among the most energy-independent countries in the European Union,[301] and is looking to expand its nuclear power plant at Cernavodă further.[302]
There were almost 18.3million connections to the Internet in June 2014.[303] According to Bloomberg, in 2013 Romania ranked fifth in the world, and according to The Independent, it ranks number one in Europe at Internet speeds,[304][305] with Timișoara ranked among the highest in the world.[306]
Tourism is a significant contributor to the Romanian economy, generating around 5%of GDP.[307] The number of tourists has been rising steadily, reaching 9.33million foreign tourists in 2016, according to the Worldbank.[308] Tourism in Romania attracted €400million in investments in 2005.[309] More than 60%of the foreign visitors in 2007 were from other EU countries.[310] The popular summer attractions of Mamaia and other Black Sea Resorts attracted 1.3million tourists in 2009.[311][312]
In 2014, Romania had 32,500 companies active in the hotel and restaurant industry, with a total turnover of €2.6billion.[319] More than 1.9million foreign tourists visited Romania in 2014, 12%more than in 2013.[320] According to the country's National Statistics Institute, some 77%came from Europe (particularly from Germany, Italy, and France), 12%from Asia, and less than 7%from North America.[320]
Historically, Romanian researchers and inventors have made notable contributions to several fields. In the history of flight, Traian Vuia built the first airplane to take off under its own power[321] and Aurel Vlaicu built and flew some of the earliest successful aircraft,[322] while Henri Coandă discovered the Coandă effect of fluidics.[323]Victor Babeș discovered more than 50types of bacteria;[324] biologist Nicolae Paulescu developed an extract of the pancreas and showed that it lowers blood sugar in diabetic dogs, thus being significant in the history of insulin;[325] while Emil Palade received the Nobel Prize for his contributions to cell biology.[326]Lazăr Edeleanu was the first chemist to synthesise amphetamine, and he also invented the procedure of separating valuable petroleum components with selective solvents.[327]
During the 1990s and 2000s, the development of research was hampered by several factors, including: corruption, low funding, and a considerable brain drain.[328] In recent years, Romania has ranked the lowest or second-lowest in the European Union by research and development spending as a percentage of GDP, standing at roughly 0.5%in 2016 and 2017, substantially below the EU average of just over2%.[329][330] The country joined the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2011,[331] and CERN in 2016.[332] In 2018, however, Romania lost its voting rights in the ESA due to a failure to pay €56.8million in membership contributions to the agency.[333]
In the early 2010s, the situation for science in Romania was characterised as "rapidly improving" albeit from a low base.[334] In January 2011, Parliament passed a law that enforces "strict quality control on universities and introduces tough rules for funding evaluation and peer review".[335] Romania was ranked 48th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024.[336]
According to the 2021 Romanian census, Romania's population was 19,053,815.[5] Like other countries in the region, its population is expected to decline gradually as a result of sub-replacement fertility rates and negative net migration rate. According to the 2021 Romanian census, Romanians made up 89.33%of the population, Hungarians 6.05% and the Roma 3.44% of the population,[5] but many ethnicities are not recorded, as they do not have ID cards.[340] International sources give higher figures for Roma than the official census.[341][342][343] According to the Council of Europe, the Roma makes up 8.32%of the population.[344][failed verification] Hungarians constitute a majority in the counties of Harghita and Covasna. Other minorities include Ukrainians, Germans, Turks, Lipovans, Aromanians, Tatars, and Serbs.[345] In 1930, there were 745,421 Germans living in Romania,[346] but only about 36,000 remained in the country to this day.[345]As of 2009[update], there were also approximately 133,000 immigrants living in Romania, primarily from Moldova and China.[221]
The total fertility rate (TFR) in 2018 was estimated at 1.36children born per woman, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1,and one of the lowest in the world,[347] it remains considerably below the high of 5.82children born per woman in 1912.[348] In 2014, 31.2%of births were to unmarried women.[349] The birth rate (9.49‰,2012) is much lower than the mortality rate (11.84‰,2012), resulting in a shrinking (−0.26%per year, 2012) and aging population (median age: 41.6years, 2018), one of the oldest populations in the world,[347] with approximately 16.8%of total population aged 65years and over.[347][350][351] The life expectancy in 2015 was estimated at 74.92years (71.46years male, 78.59years female).[352] The number of Romanians and individuals with ancestors born in Romania living abroad is estimated at 12million.[353] After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, a significant number of Romanians emigrated to other European countries, North America or Australia.[354] For example, in 1990, 96,919 Romanians permanently settled abroad.[355]
Romanian is spoken as a first language by 91.55%of the entire population, while Hungarian and Vlax Romani are spoken by 6.28%and 1.20%of the population, respectively. There are also 40,861 native speakers of Ukrainian (concentrated in some compact regions near the border, where they form local majorities),[358] 17,101 native speakers of Turkish, 15,943 native speakers of German, and 14,414 native speakers of Russian living in Romania.[356][359]
Map highlighting the use of the Romanian language worldwide, both as a native and as a foreign language
According to the Constitution, local councils ensure linguistic rights to all minorities. In localities with ethnic minorities of over20%, that minority's language can be used in the public administration, justice system, and education. Foreign citizens and stateless persons who live in Romania have access to justice and education in their own language.[360] English and French are the main foreign languages taught in schools.[361] In 2010, the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie identified 4,756,100 French speakers in the country.[362] According to the 2012 Eurobarometer, English is spoken by 31%of Romanians, French is spoken by17%, and Italian and German, each by7%.[363]
Romania is a secular state and has no state religion. An overwhelming majority of the population identify themselves as Christians. At the country's 2021 census,[2] 73.86%of respondents identified as Orthodox Christians, with 73.42%belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church. Other denominations include Protestantism(6.22%), Roman Catholicism(3.89%), and Greek Catholicism(0.61%). From the remaining population 128,291 people belong to other Christian denominations or have another religion, which includes 58,335 Muslims (mostly of Turkish and Tatar ethnicity) and 2,707 Jewish (Jews once constituted 4%of the Romanian population—728,115 persons in the 1930 census). Additionally, 71,417 people are irreligious, 57,205 are atheist, 25,485 are agnostic, and 2,895,539 people chose to not declare their religion.[2]
Another 17cities have a population of over 100,000, with Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Constanța and Timișoara of more than 250,000 inhabitants, and Craiova, Brașov and Galați with over 200,000 inhabitants.[371]Metropolitan areas have been constituted for most of these cities.
Since the Romanian Revolution of 1989, the Romanian educational system has been in a continuous process of reform that has received mixed criticism.[377] In 2004, some 4.4million individuals were enrolled in school. Of these, 650,000 were in kindergarten(three-six years), 3.11million in primary and secondary level, and 650,000 in tertiary level (universities).[378] In 2018, the adult literacy rate was98.8%.[379] Kindergarten is optional between three and five years. Since 2020, compulsory schooling starts at age 5 with the last year of kindergarten (grupa mare) and is compulsory until twelfth grade.[380][381] Primary and secondary education is divided into 12 or 13 grades. There is also a semi-legal, informal private tutoring system used mostly during secondary school, which prospered during the Communist regime.[382]
Romania ranks fifth in the all-time medal count at the International Mathematical Olympiad with 316 total medals, dating back to 1959. Ciprian Manolescu managed to write a perfect paper (42 points) for a gold medal more times than anybody else in the history of the competition, in 1995, 1996 and 1997.[384] Romania has achieved the highest team score in the competition, after China, Russia, the United States and Hungary. Romania also ranks sixth in the all-time medal count at the International Olympiad in Informatics with 107 total medals, dating back to 1989.[385][386][387]
The Colțea Hospital in Bucharest completed a $90million renovation in 2011.
Romania has a universal health care system. Total health expenditures by the government are roughly 5%of GDP.[389]
This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(November 2024)
It covers medical examinations, any surgical operations, and any post-operative medical care, and provides free or subsidised medicine for a range of diseases. The state is obliged to fund public hospitals and clinics. The most common causes of death are cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Transmissible diseases are quite common by European standards.[390] In 2010, Romania had 428state and 25private hospitals,[391] with 6.2hospital beds per 1,000people,[392] and over 200,000 medical staff, including over 52,000 doctors.[393]As of 2013[update], the emigration rate of doctors was 9%,higher than the European average of 2.5%.[394]
The Christmas market in Sibiu is one of the most famous in Europe.
There are 12 non-working public holidays, including the Great Union Day, celebrated on 1December in commemoration of the 1918 union of Transylvania with Romania.[418] Winter holidays include the Christmas and New Year festivities during which various unique folklore dances and games are common: plugușorul, sorcova, ursul, and capra.[419][420] The traditional Romanian dress that otherwise has largely fallen out of use during the 20thcentury, is a popular ceremonial vestment worn on these festivities, especially in rural areas.[421] There are sacrifices of live pigs during Christmas and lambs during Easter that has required a special exemption from EU law after 2007.[422] In the Easter, traditions such as painting the eggs are very common. On 1March mărțișor gifting is featured, which is a tradition whereby females are gifted with a type of talisman that is given for good luck.[423]
Pork, chicken, and beef are the preferred types of meat, but lamb and fish are also quite popular.[426][427] Certain traditional recipes are made in direct connection with the holidays: chiftele, tobă and tochitură at Christmas; drop, pască and cozonac at Easter and other Romanian holidays.[428]Țuică is a strong plum brandy reaching a 70%alcohol content which is the country's traditional alcoholic beverage, taking as much as 75%of the national crop (Romania is one of the largest plum producers in the world).[429][430] Traditional alcoholic beverages also include wine, rachiu, palincă and vișinată, but beer consumption has increased dramatically over recent years.[431]
Football is the most popular sport in Romania with over 219,000 registered players as of 2018[update]. The market for professional football in Romania is roughly €740million according to UEFA.[432]
The governing body is the Romanian Football Federation, which belongs to UEFA. The Romania national football team played its first match in 1922 and is one of only four national teams to have taken part in the first three FIFA World Cups, the other three being Brazil, France, and Belgium. Overall, it has played in seven World Cups and had its most successful period during the 1990s, when it finished 6th at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, eventually being ranked 3rd by FIFA in 1997.[433]
Romania's 306 all-time Summer Olympics medals would rank 12th most among all countries, while its 89 gold medals would be 14th most. The 1984 Summer Olympics was their most successful run, where they won 53 medals in total, 20 of them gold, ultimately placing 2nd to the hosts United States in the medal rankings. Amongst countries who have never hosted the event themselves, they are second in the total number of medals earned.[474]
Gymnastics is the country's major medal-producing sport,[475] with Olympic and sport icon Nadia Comăneci becoming the first gymnast ever to score a perfect ten in an Olympic event at the 1976 Summer Olympics.[476] Other Romanian athletes who collected five gold medals like Comăneci are rowers Elisabeta Lipa (1984–2004) and Georgeta Damian (2000–2008).[477] The Romanian competitors have won gold medals in other Olympic sports: athletics, canoeing, wrestling, shooting, fencing, swimming, weightlifting, boxing, and judo.[478]
The Romanian state was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. During World War I, after declaring its neutrality in 1914, Romania fought together with the Allied Powers from 1916. In the aftermath of the war, Bukovina, Bessarabia, Transylvania, and parts of Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș became part of the Kingdom of Romania. In June–August 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and Second Vienna Award, Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union and Northern Transylvania to Hungary. In November 1940, Romania signed the Tripartite Pact and, consequently, in June 1941 entered World War II on the Axis side, fighting against the Soviet Union until August 1944, when it joined the Allies and recovered Northern Transylvania.
Demographic features of the population of Romania include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population.
Transylvania is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains and to the west the Apuseni Mountains. Broader definitions of Transylvania also include the western and northwestern Romanian regions of Crișana and Maramureș, and occasionally Banat. Historical Transylvania also includes small parts of neighbouring Western Moldavia and even a small part of south-western neighbouring Bukovina to its north east.
Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater metropolitan area of 2.3 million residents, which makes Bucharest the 8th most-populous city in the European Union. The city area measures 240 km2 (93 sq mi) and comprises 6 districts (Sectoare), while the metropolitan area covers 1,811 km2 (699 sq mi). Bucharest is an alpha global city, a major cultural, political and economic hub, and the country's seat of government.
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Muntenia and Oltenia. Dobruja could sometimes be considered a third section due to its proximity and brief rule over it. Wallachia as a whole is sometimes referred to as Muntenia through identification with the larger of the two traditional sections.
The Middle Ages in Romania began shortly after the withdrawal of the Roman legions from the former Roman province of Dacia in the late 3rd century and with the start of the Early Middle Ages and the Migration Period that followed afterwards respectively. It subsequently came to an end with the reign of Domn Michael the Brave (1593–1601) who managed, for a short time between 1599 and 1600, to rule Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania together, the three principalities whose territories were to be united some three centuries later to form modern and contemporary Romania.
Romanians are a Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a common culture and ancestry, they speak the Romanian language and live primarily in Romania and Moldova. The 2021 Romanian census found that 89.3% of Romania's citizens identified themselves as ethnic Romanians.
Several theories, in great extent mutually exclusive, address the issue of the origin of the Romanians. The Romanian language descends from the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken in the Roman provinces north of the "Jireček Line" in Late Antiquity. The theory of Daco-Roman continuity argues that the Romanians are mainly descended from the Daco-Romans, a people developing through the cohabitation of the native Dacians and the Roman colonists in the province of Dacia Traiana north of the river Danube. The competing immigrationist theory states that the Romanians' ethnogenesis commenced in the provinces south of the river with Romanized local populations spreading through mountain refuges, both south to Greece and north through the Carpathian Mountains. Other theories state that the Romanized local populations were present over a wide area on both sides of the Danube and the river itself did not constitute an obstacle to permanent exchanges in both directions; according to the "admigration" theory, migrations from the Balkan Peninsula to the lands north of the Danube contributed to the survival of the Romance-speaking population in these territories.
The term Greater Romania usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea.
Romania's tourism sector had a direct contribution of EUR 5.21 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018, slightly higher than in 2017, placing Romania on the 32nd place in the world, ahead of Slovakia and Bulgaria, but behind Greece and the Czech Republic. The total tourism sector's total contribution to Romania's economy, which also takes into account the investments and spending determined by this sector, was some EUR 15.3 billion in 2018, up by 8.4% compared to 2017.
Michael the Brave, born as Mihai Pătrașcu, was the Prince of Wallachia, Prince of Moldavia (1600) and de facto ruler of Transylvania (1599–1600). He is considered one of Romania's greatest national heroes. Since the 19th century, Michael the Brave has been regarded by Romanian nationalists as a symbol of Romanian unity, as his reign marked the first time all principalities inhabited by Romanians were under the same ruler.
The early modern times in Romania started after the death of Michael the Brave, who ruled in a personal union, Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia – three principalities in the lands that now form Romania – for three months, in 1600. The three principalities were subjected to the Ottoman Empire, and paid a yearly tribute to the Ottoman Sultans, but they preserved their internal autonomy. In contrast, Dobruja and the Banat were fully incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.
The history of Christianity in Romania began within the Roman province of Lower Moesia, where many Christians were martyred at the end of the 3rd century. Evidence of Christian communities has been found in the territory of modern Romania at over a hundred archaeological sites from the 3rd and 4th centuries. However, sources from the 7th and 10th centuries are so scarce that Christianity seems to have diminished during this period.
This is a timeline of Romanian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Romania and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Romania.
The founding of Wallachia, that is the establishment of the first independent Romanian principality, was achieved at the beginning of the 14th century, through the unification of smaller political units that had existed between the Carpathian Mountains, and the Rivers Danube, Siret and Milcov.
Hungarian-Romanian relations are foreign relations between Hungary and Romania dating back to the Middle Ages and continuing after the Romanian unification in 1859 and independence in 1877. In the past, they involved Wallachia and Moldavia.
The Hungarian minority of Romania is the largest ethnic minority in Romania. As per the 2021 Romanian census, 1,002,151 people declared themselves Hungarian, while 1,038,806 people stated that Hungarian was their mother tongue.
Freedom of religion in Romania refers to the extent to which people in Romania are freely able to practice their religious beliefs, taking into account both government policies and societal attitudes toward religious groups.
The territorial evolution of Romania includes all the changes in the country's borders from its formation to the present day. The precedents of Romania as an independent state can be traced back to the 14th century, when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were founded. Wallachia during its history lost several portions of its territory, either to the Ottomans or the Habsburgs. However, this land would be later essentially recovered in its entirety. Moldavia, on the other hand, suffered great territorial losses. In 1774, the Habsburgs invaded Bukovina and annexed it one year later, and in 1812, the Russian Empire took control of Bessarabia. Both territories were later exposed to powerful colonization policies. The principalities declared unification in 1859 as the Principality of Romania. This new state sought independence from the Ottoman Empire's vassalage, and in 1878, it fought a war against it alongside Russia. However, the latter would annex Southern Bessarabia, which was recovered decades before. Romania received Northern Dobruja as compensation, and would wage a war for the southern part against Bulgaria in 1913.
↑ Cl. Isopescu (1929). "Notizie intorno ai romeni nella letteratura geografica italiana del Cinquecento". Bulletin de la Section Historique. XVI: 1–90. ...si dimandano in lingua loro Romei... se alcuno dimanda se sano parlare in la lingua valacca, dicono a questo in questo modo: Sti Rominest? Che vol dire: Sai tu Romano,...
↑ Holban, Maria (1983). Călători străini despre Țările Române (in Romanian). Vol.II. Ed. Științifică și Enciclopedică. pp.158–161. Anzi essi si chiamano romanesci, e vogliono molti che erano mandati quì quei che erano dannati a cavar metalli...
↑ Cernovodeanu, Paul (1960). "Voyage fait par moy, Pierre Lescalopier l'an 1574 de Venise a Constantinople, fol 48". Studii și Materiale de Istorie Medievală (in Romanian). IV: 444. Tout ce pays la Wallachie et Moldavie et la plus part de la Transilvanie a eté peuplé des colonies romaines du temps de Traian l'empereur... Ceux du pays se disent vrais successeurs des Romains et nomment leur parler romanechte, c'est-à-dire romain...
↑ Bóna, István (2001). "Southern Transylvania under Bulgar Rule". In Köpeczi, Béla; Barta, Gábor; Bóna, István; Makkai, László; Szász, Zoltán; Borus, Judit (eds.). History of Transylvania. Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN0-88033-479-7. Archived from the original on 26 March 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
↑ Heyd, Guglielmo. Le Colonie Commerciali Degli Italiani in Oriente Nel Medio Evo (in Italian). HardPress Publishing. p.97.
↑ Iliescu, Octavian. Revue Roumaine d'Histoire (Contributions à l'histoire des colonies génoises en Roumanie aux XIIIe – XVe siècles). Editions de l'Académie de la République socialiste de Roumanie. pp.25–52.
↑ Roper, Stephen D. (2000). Romania: The Unfinished Revolution. London: Routledge. p.18. ISBN978-90-5823-027-0.
↑ Cioroianu, Adrian (2005). On the Shoulders of Marx. An Incursion into the History of Romanian Communism (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Curtea Veche. pp.68–73. ISBN978-973-669-175-1.
↑ Stoica, Stan (2007). Dicționar de Istorie a României (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Merona. pp.77–78, 233–34. ISBN978-973-7839-21-3.
↑ Ionițoiu, Cicerone (2000). Victimele terorii comuniste. Arestați, torturați, întemnițați, uciși. Dicționar (in Romanian). Bucharest: Editura Mașina de scris. ISBN978-973-99994-2-7.[pageneeded]
↑ Consiliul National pentru Studierea Ahivelor Securității, Bande, bandiți si eroi; Grupurile de rezistență și Securitatea (1948–1968), Editura Enciclopedica, București, 2003
↑ Carothers, Thomas. "Romania: The Political Background"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 27 August 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2008. This seven-year period can be characterised as a gradualistic, often ambiguous transition away from communist rule towards democracy.
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↑ "Protected Areas in Romania". Romanian Ministry of Waters, Forests and Environmental Protection (via envir.ee). Archived from the original on 17 November 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2008.
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↑ Report from Romanian National Institute of Statistics(PDF) (Report). Archived from the original(PDF) on 16 February 2008. Retrieved 11 January 2008. for the first 9 months of 2007 an increase from the previous year of 8.7% to 16.5million tourists; of these 94.0% came from European countries and 61.7% from EU
↑ "QS World University Rankings 2013". topuniversities.com. October 2013. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. All four universities are ranked at 700+ which means they are ranked among the 701–800 places.
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