Romania

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Romania (disambiguation).
Romania
Romnia (Romanian)
Flag
Coat of arms
Anthem: De?teapt-te, romne!
(Awaken thee, Romanian!)
MENU0:00
Location of Romania (dark green) in Europe (green & dark grey) in the European
Union (green)
[Legend]
Location of Romania (dark green)
in Europe (green & dark grey)
in the European Union (green)
[Legend]
Capital
and largest city
ROU Bucharest CoA1.svg Bucharest
4425'N 2606'E
Official languages
Romanian[1]
Ethnic groups (2011[2])
88.9 % Romanians
6.5% Hungarians
3.3% Roma
0.3% Ukrainians
0.2% Germans
0.8% other minorities
Demonym Romanian
Government
Unitary semi-presidential
republic
President
Klaus Iohannis
Prime Minister Victor Ponta
President of the Senate Clin Popescu-Triceanu
President of the Chamber of Deputies
Valeriu Zgonea
Legislature
Parliament
Upper house
Senate
Lower house
Chamber of Deputies
Formation
Principality of Wallachia
1330
Principality of Moldavia
1346
Principality of Transylvania
1570
United Principalitiesa 24 January 1859
Independence from
the Ottoman Empire
1877 / 1878b
Kingdom of Romania
14 March 1881
Great Unionc
1 December 1918
Proclamation of the Romanian People's Republic 30 December 1947
Romanian Revolution
16 27 December 1989
Current republic
21 November 1991
Accession to the European Union 1 January 2007
Area
Total 238,391 km2 (83rd)
92,043 sq mi
Water (%)
3
Population
2014 estimate 19,942,642[3] (58th)
2011 census
20,121,641[2] (58th)
Density 84.4/km2 (118th)
218.6/sq mi
GDP (PPP)
2015 estimate

Total $309.155billion (46th)[4]

Per capita
$20,355 (61st)[5]
GDP (nominal) 2015 estimate
Total $205.302 billion [6] (51st)
Per capita
$10,859 [7] (72nd)
Gini (2013)
Steady 34[8]
medium
HDI (2013)
Increase 0.785[9]
high 54th
Currency
Romanian leu (RON)
Time zone
EET (UTC+2)
Summer (DST)
EEST (UTC+3)
Drives on the right
Calling code
+40
Patron saint
Saint Andrew
ISO 3166 code RO
Internet TLD
.rod
a.
The double election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza in Moldavia and Wallachia (re
spectively, 5 and 24 January 1859).
b.
Independence proclaimed on 9 May 1877, internationally recognised in 187
8.
c.
The union of Romania with Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania in 1918.
d.
Also .eu, shared with other European Union member states.
Romania (Listeni/ro?'me?ni?/ roh-may-nee-?; Romanian: Romnia [rom?'ni.a] ( listen
)), occasionally spelled Rumania,[10][11][12][13][14] and formerly also spelled
Roumania[15][16] is a unitary semi-presidential republic located in Southeastern
-Central Europe, north of the Balkan Peninsula and on the western shore of the B
lack Sea. It borders Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Bulgaria. It covers
238,391 square kilometres (92,043 sq mi) and has a temperate-continental climate
. With its 20.1 million inhabitants, it is the seventh most populous member of t
he European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth largest
city in the European Union.
Modern Romania emerged within the territories of the ancient Roman province of D
acia, and was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the principalities of M
oldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gaine
d independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877. At the end of World War I, Trans
ylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of Romania. A
t the end of World War II, territories which today roughly correspond to the Rep
ublic of Moldova were occupied by the Soviet Union, and a few years later Romani
a became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revo
lution, Romania began a transition back towards democracy and a capitalist marke
t economy.
Following rapid economic growth in the 2000s, Romania has an economy predominant
ly based on services, and is a producer and net exporter of machines and electri
c energy, featuring companies like Automobile Dacia and OMV Petrom. Living stand
ards have improved, and currently, Romania is an upper-middle income country wit
h a high Human Development Index. It has been a member of NATO since 2004, and p
art of the European Union since 2007. Around 90% of the population identify them
selves as Eastern Orthodox Christians, and are native speakers of Romanian, a Ro
mance language. With a rich cultural history, Romania has been the home of influ
ential artists, musicians, and inventors, and features a variety of tourist attr
actions such as "Dracula's Castle".
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.2 Middle Ages

2.3 Independence and monarchy

2.4 World Wars and Greater Romania
2.5 Communism
2.6 Democracy
3 Geography
4 Governance
4.1 Foreign relations
4.2 Military
4.3 Administrative divisions
5 Economy
5.1 Infrastructure
5.2 Tourism
5.3 Science and technology
6 Demographics
6.1 Languages
6.2 Religion
6.3 Urbanization
6.4 Education
6.5 Healthcare
7 Culture
7.1 Arts and monuments
7.2 Holidays, traditions and cuisine
7.3 Sports
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 Sources
11.1 Primary sources
11.2 Secondary sources
12 External links
Etymology[edit]
Main article: Name of Romania
Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning "citizen of Rome".[17] The first
known use of the appellation was attested in the 16th-century by Italian humani
sts travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia.[18][19][20][21]
Neac?u's letter from 1521, the oldest surviving document written in Romanian.
The oldest surviving document written in Romanian, a 1521 letter known as the "L
etter of Neac?u from Cmpulung",[22] is also notable for including the first docum
ented occurrence of the country's name: Wallachia is mentioned as ?eara Rumneasc (
"The Romanian Land", ?eara from the Latin terra, "land"; current spelling: ?ara
Romneasc).
Two spelling forms: romn and rumn were used interchangeably [a] until sociolinguis
tic developments in the late 17th century led to semantic differentiation of the
two forms: rumn came to mean "bondsman", while romn retained the original ethnoli
nguistic meaning.[23] After the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumn gradu
ally fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form romn.[b] Tudor Vladi
mirescu, a revolutionary leader of the early 19th century, used the term Rumnia t
o refer exclusively to the principality of Wallachia."[24]
The use of the name Romania to refer to the common homeland of all Romanians its m
odern-day meaning is first documented in the early 19th century.[c] The name has b
een officially in use since 11 December 1861.[25] English-language sources still
used the terms Rumania or Roumania, derived from the French spelling Roumanie a
nd/or the Greek ???????, as recently as World War II,[26] but the name has since
been replaced with the official spelling Romania.[27]
History[edit]

Main article: History of Romania

Early history[edit]
Main articles: Romania in Antiquity, Dacia and Roman Dacia
Map of Roman Dacia
Roman provinces in the regions now forming Romania in the 2nd century AD
The human remains found in Pe?tera cu Oase ("The Cave of the Bones"), radiocarbo
n dated as being from cca. 40,000 years ago, represent the oldest known Homo sap
iens in Europe.[28][29]
Prior to the Roman conquest of Dacia, the territories between Danube and Dnieste
r rivers were inhabited by various Thracian peoples, including the Dacians and t
he Getae.[30] Herodotus, in his work "Histories", notes the religious difference
between the Getae and other Thracians,[31] however, according to Strabo, the Da
cians and the Getae spoke the same language.[30] Dio Cassius draws attention to
the cultural similarities between the two people.[30] There is a scholarly dispu
te whether the Dacians and the Getae were the same people.[32][33]
Roman incursions under Emperor Trajan between 101 102 AD and 105 106 AD led to resul
t that about half of the Dacian kingdom became a province of the Roman Empire ca
lled "Dacia Traiana". The Roman rule lasted 165 years. During this period the pr
ovince was fully integrated to the Roman Empire and a sizeable part of the popul
ation was newcomers from other provinces.[34] The Roman colonists introduced the
Latin language. According to followers of the continuity theory, the intense Ro
manization gave birth to the Proto-Romanian language.[35][36] The province was r
ich of ore deposits (especially gold and silver in places like Alburnus Maior).
As a result of invasions by Germanic tribes, Roman troops were pulled out of Dac
ia around 271 AD, making it the first province to be abandoned.[37][38]
The territory was later invaded and dominated by various peoples, including Goth
s,[39] Huns,[40] Gepids,[41] Avars,[42] Bulgars,[41] Slavs, Magyars, Pechenegs,[
43] and Cumans, who have been labelled as "migratory peoples" in Romanian histor
iography. Many of these populations also settled, cohabitated and mixed with the
locals.[44][45] Several competing theories have been proposed to explain the re
lations (or non-relations) between ancient Dacians and present-day Romanians.[46
]
Middle Ages[edit]
Main articles: Origin of the Romanians, Romania in the Early Middle Ages and Rom
ania in the Middle Ages
The three Romanian principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania in 16
00.
Border animation showing the territorial changes of the Romanian principalities
throughout the Middle Ages and the Modern Age
In the Middle Ages, Romanians lived in three Romanian principalities: Wallachia
(Romanian: ?ara Romneasc "The Romanian Land"), Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova) and in
Transylvania. [47] The existence of independent Romanian voivodeships in Transy
lvania as early as the 9th century is mentioned in Gesta Hungarorum,[48] but by
the 11th century, Transylvania had become a largely autonomous part of the Kingd
om of Hungary.[49] In the other parts, many small local states with varying degr
ees of independence developed, but only under Basarab I and Bogdan I the larger
principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia would emerge in the 14th century to fig
ht the threat of the Ottoman Empire.[50][51]
By 1541, as with the entire Balkan peninsula and most of Hungary, Moldavia, Wall
achia, and Transylvania were under Ottoman suzerainty, preserving partial or ful
l internal autonomy until the mid-19th century (Transylvania until 1711[52]). Th
is period featured several prominent rulers such as: Stephen the Great, Vasile L
upu, and Dimitrie Cantemir in Moldavia; Matei Basarab, Vlad the Impaler, and Con

stantin Brncoveanu in Wallachia; and John Hunyadi and Gabriel Bethlen in Transylv
ania.[53] In 1600, the three principalities were ruled simultaneously by the Wal
lachian prince Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul), which was considered in later
periods as the precursor of a modern Romania and became a point of reference fo
r nationalists, as well as a catalyst for achieving a single Romanian state.[54]
Independence and monarchy[edit]
Changes in Romania's territory since 1859.
Main articles: Early Modern Romania, National awakening of Romania, United Princ
ipalities, Romanian War of Independence and Kingdom of Romania
During the period of the Austro-Hungarian rule in Transylvania and of Ottoman su
zerainty over Wallachia and Moldavia, most Romanians were given few rights[55] i
n a territory where they formed the majority of the population.[56][57] National
istic themes became principal during the Wallachian uprising of 1821, and the 18
48 revolutions in Wallachia and Moldavia. The flag adopted for Wallachia by the
revolutionaries was a blue-yellow-red horizontal tricolour (with blue above, in
line with the meaning "Liberty, Justice, Fraternity"),[58] while Romanian studen
ts in Paris hailed the new government with the same flag "as a symbol of union b
etween Moldavians and Wallachians".[59][60] The same flag, with the tricolour be
ing mounted vertically, would later be officially adopted as the national flag o
f Romania.[61]
After the failed 1848 revolutions not all the Great Powers supported the Romania
ns' expressed desire to officially unite in a single state.[62] But in the after
math of the Crimean War, the electors in both Moldavia and Wallachia voted in 18
59 for the same leader, Alexandru Ioan Cuza, as Domnitor (prince in Romanian), a
nd the two principalities became a personal union formally under the suzerainty
of the Ottoman Empire.[63] Following coup d'tat in 1866, Cuza was exiled and repl
aced with Prince Carol I of Romania of the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Du
ring the 1877 1878 Russo-Turkish War Romania fought on the Russian side,[64] and i
n the aftermath, it was recognized as an independent state both by the Ottoman E
mpire and the Great Powers by the Treaty of San Stefano and the Treaty of Berlin
.[65][66] The new Kingdom of Romania underwent a period of stability and progres
s until 1914, and also acquired Southern Dobruja from Bulgaria after the Second
Balkan War.[67]
World Wars and Greater Romania[edit]
A 1917 British map showing territories with majority Romanian populations.
Romanian dictator Ion Antonescu and Adolf Hitler in Munich (June 1941).
Main articles: Romania during World War I, Greater Romania and Romania during Wo
rld War II
Romania remained neutral for the first two years of World War I. Following the s
ecret Treaty of Bucharest, according to which Romania would acquire territories
with a majority of Romanian population from Austria-Hungary, it joined the Enten
te Powers and declared war on 27 August 1916.[68] The Romanian military campaign
began disastrously for Romania as the Central Powers occupied two-thirds of the
country within months, before reaching a stalemate in 1917. Total military and
civilian losses from 1916 to 1918, within contemporary borders, were estimated a
t 748,000.[69] After the war, the transfer of Bukovina from Austria was acknowle
dged by the 1919 Treaty of Saint Germain,[70] of Banat and Transylvania from Hun
gary by the 1920 Treaty of Trianon,[71] and of Bessarabia from Russian rule by t
he 1920 Treaty of Paris.[72]
The following interwar period is referred as Greater Romania, as the country ach
ieved its greatest territorial extent at that time (almost 300,000 km2 or 120,00
0 sq mi).[73] The application of radical agricultural reforms and the passing of
a new constitution created a democratic framework and allowed for quick economi

c growth. With oil production of 7.2 million tons in 1937, Romania ranked second
in Europe and seventh in the world.[74][75] and was Europe's second-largest foo
d producer.[76] However, the early 1930s were marked by social unrest, high unem
ployment, and strikes, as there were over 25 separate governments throughout the
decade.[citation needed] On several occasions in the last few years before Worl
d War II, the democratic parties were squeezed between conflicts with the chauvi
nistic Iron Guard and the authoritarian tendencies of king Carol II.[citation ne
eded]
During World War II, Romania tried again to remain neutral, but on 28 June 1940,
it received a Soviet ultimatum with an implied threat of invasion in the event
of non-compliance.[77] Again foreign powers created heavy pressure on Romania, b
y means of the Soviet-Nazi Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of non-aggression from 23 Aug
ust 1939. As a result of it the Romanian government and the army were forced to
retreat from Bessarabia as well as from northern Bukovina in order to avoid war
with the Soviet Union.[78] The king was compelled to abdicate and appointed gene
ral Ion Antonescu as the new Prime-Minister with full powers in ruling the state
by royal decree.[79] Romania was prompted to join the Axis military campaign. T
hereafter, southern Dobruja was ceded to Bulgaria, while Hungary received Northe
rn Transylvania as result of an Axis powers' arbitration.[80] Romanian contribut
ion to Operation Barbarossa was enormous, with the Romanian Army of over 1.2 mil
lion men in the summer of 1944, fighting in numbers second only to Nazi Germany.
[81] Romania was the main source of oil for the Third Reich,[82] and thus became
the target of intense bombing by the Allies. Growing discontent among the popul
ation eventually peaked in August 1944 with King Michael's Coup, and the country
switched sides to join the Allies. It is estimated that the coup shortened the
war by as much as six months.[83] Even though the Romanian Army had suffered 170
,000 casualties after switching sides,[84] Romania's role in the defeat of Nazi
Germany was not recognized by the Paris Peace Conference of 1947,[85] as the Sov
iet Union annexed Bessarabia and other territories corresponding roughly to pres
ent-day Republic of Moldova.
The Antonescu regime played a major role in the The Holocaust in Romania,[86] an
d copied the Nazi policies of oppression and genocide of Jews and Gypsies, mainl
y in the Eastern territories reoccupied by the Romanians from the Soviet Union i
n Transnistria and in Moldavia.[87] Jewish Holocaust victims in Romania totaled
more than 280,000, plus another 11,000 Gypsies ("Roma").[88]
Communism[edit]
Main article: Socialist Republic of Romania
Nicolae Ceau?escu ruled Romania as its dictator from 1965 until 1989.
During the Soviet occupation of Romania, the Communist-dominated government call
ed for new elections in 1946, which were fraudulently won, with a fabricated 70%
majority of the vote.[89] Thus they rapidly established themselves as the domin
ant political force,[90] and in 1947, forced King Michael I to abdicate and leav
e the country, and proclaimed Romania a people's republic.[91][92] Romania remai
ned under the direct military occupation and economic control of the USSR until
the late 1950s. During this period, Romania's vast natural resources were contin
uously drained by mixed Soviet-Romanian companies (SovRoms) set up for unilatera
l exploitative purposes.[93][94][95]
In 1948, the state began to nationalize private firms and to collectivize agricu
lture.[96] Until the early 1960s, the Communist government established a terror
regime carried out mainly through the Securitate (the Romanian secret police). D
uring this period they launched several campaigns of purges in which numerous "e
nemies of the state" and "parasite elements" of the society were imprisoned for
political or economic reasons, tortured and eventually killed.[97] Punishments i
ncluded deportation, internal exile and internment in forced labour camps and pr
isons, sometimes for life; dissent was vigorously suppressed by the regime.[98]

Nevertheless, anti-communist resistance was one of the most long-lasting in the

Eastern Bloc.[99] Tens of thousands of people were killed as part of repression
in Communist Romania.[100][101] A 2006 Commission estimated the number of direct
victims of the communist repression at two million people.[102] This excludes c
ivilians who died in liberty as a result of their "treatment" and malnutrition i
n communist prisons and those who died because of the dire economic circumstance
s in the country, and whose numbers remain unknown but could reach a few million
s.[102][103]
The Romanian Revolution in 1989 was one of the few violent revolutions in Europe
that brought an end to communist rule.
In 1965, Nicolae Ceau?escu came to power and started to conduct the foreign poli
cy more independently from the Soviet Union. Thus, communist Romania was the onl
y Warsaw Pact country who refused to participate at the Soviet-led 1968 invasion
of Czechoslovakia (Ceau?escu even publicly condemned the action as "a big mista
ke, [and] a serious danger to peace in Europe and to the fate of communism in th
e world"[104]); it was also the only communist state to maintain diplomatic rela
tions with Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War; and established diplomatic relatio
ns with West Germany the same year.[105] At the same time, close ties with the A
rab countries (and the PLO) allowed Romania to play a key role in the Israel Egypt
and Israel PLO peace talks.[106] As Romania's foreign debt sharply increased betw
een 1977 and 1981 (from US$3 billion to $10 billion),[107] the influence of inte
rnational financial organizations (such as the IMF and the World Bank) grew, gra
dually conflicting with Ceau?escu's autocratic rule. The latter eventually initi
ated a policy of total reimbursement of the foreign debt by imposing austerity s
teps that impoverished the population and exhausted the economy. At the same tim
e, Ceau?escu greatly extended the authority of the Securitate secret police and
imposed a severe cult of personality, which led to a dramatic decrease in the di
ctator's popularity and culminated in his overthrow and eventual execution, toge
ther with his wife, in the violent Romanian Revolution of December 1989.
Democracy[edit]
Main article: History of Romania since 1989
Romania joined the European Union in 2007 and signed the Lisbon Treaty
The 2008 NATO Summit was held in Bucharest.
After the revolution, the National Salvation Front (NSF), led by Ion Iliescu, to
ok partial multi-party democratic and free market measures.[108][109] In April 1
990 a sit-in protest contesting the results of the elections and accusing the NS
F, including Iliescu, of being made up of former Communists and members of the S
ecuritate, rapidly grew to become what was called the Golaniad. The peaceful dem
onstrations degenerated into violence, prompting the intervention of coal miners
summoned by Iliescu. This episode has been documented widely by both local[110]
and foreign media,[111] and is remembered as the June 1990 Mineriad.[112][113]
The subsequent disintegration of the Front produced several political parties in
cluding the Social Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party. The former govern
ed Romania from 1990 until 1996 through several coalitions and governments with
Ion Iliescu as head of state. Since then there have been several democratic chan
ges of government: in 1996 Emil Constantinescu was elected president, in 2000 Il
iescu returned to power, while Traian Bsescu was elected in 2004 and narrowly reelected in 2009.[114]
After the Cold War Romania developed closer ties with Western Europe and the Uni
ted States, eventually joining NATO in 2004, and hosting the 2008 summit in Buch
arest.[115] The country applied in June 1993 for membership in the European Unio
n and became an Associated State of the EU in 1995, an Acceding Country in 2004,
and a full member on 1 January 2007.[116] Following the "free travel agreement"

with the EU and the economic instability throughout the 1990s, a large number o
f Romanians emigrated to North America and Western Europe, with particularly lar
ge communities in Italy and Spain. Currently, the Romanian diaspora is estimated
at over two million people.[117]
During the 2000s, Romania enjoyed one of the highest economic growth rates in Eu
rope and has been referred at times as "the Tiger of Eastern Europe".[118] This
has been accompanied by a significant improvement in living standards as the cou
ntry successfully reduced internal poverty and established a functional democrat
ic state.[119][120] However, Romania's development suffered a major setback duri
ng the late-2000s recession leading to a large gross domestic product contractio
n and budget deficit in 2009.[121] This led to Romania heavily borrowing, eventu
ally becoming the largest debtor to the International Monetary Fund in 2010.[122
] Worsening economic conditions led to unrest and triggered a political crisis i
n 2012.[123] Romania still faces issues related to infrastructure,[124] medical
services,[125] education,[126] and corruption.[127] Another major concern is emi
gration, which has kept unemployment low but is seen as a threat to the country'
s future.
Geography[edit]