Brgan Plain

The Brgan Plain (Romanian: Cmpia Brganului) is a steppe plain in south-eastern

Romania. It makes up much of the eastern part of the Wallachian Plain. The region is known for
its black soil and a rich humus, and is mostly a cereal-growing area.
It is bounded on the south and east by the Danube, and in the North by the Buzu and Clmui
rivers, both tributaries of the Danube. The western limit is a line joining the cities of Buzu,
Urziceni, Budeti & Oltenia.
The city of Bucharest is not part of Brgan but is on the Vlasiei Plain.
Due to lack of forest in the past, the Baragan was an important route for the migratory peoples
who roamed the area that is south-eastern Romania today. The Baragan Steppe was traditionally
used as pasture by the shepherds in the Carpathians (including Transylvania) during
transhumance, but was converted to arable land in the second half of the 19th century.
It was used as a depot for mass deportations by the Communist authorities during the 1950s.
About 40,000 political prisoners were relocated here from the west of the country.
The Brgan Plain has a harsh climate with hot and dry summers and includes the location where
the highest-ever temperature in Romania was recorded (44.5 C, at Ion Sion). Winters are cold,
and subject to the effects of a blizzard wind, known as "criv" (this feature also gives the plain
its name, derived from the Cuman language for "place where the blizzard is raging").
Due to its climate, it is one of the most inhospitable areas in Romania.
In his novel, Ciulinii Brganului, the Romanian writer Panait Istrati describes the Brgan Plain
as follows:
No trees grow here, and it's so far from one water well to the next that you can die of thirst halfway. The inhabitant of Brgan constantly hopes that one day someone will come and teach him
how to live better in the Brgan, in this dreadful wilderness where water is hidden in the deepest
bowels of the earth and where nothing grows except thistles. They cover the land in less than a
week. It's the only thing the Brgan will tolerate, except for the sheep who lust after these
thistles and devour them greedily. Come winter, the shepherd abandons this God forsaken land
and returns home. Then the Brgan dons its white fur coat and lays to rest for six months.
Nothing lives here any more. That's the Brgan.