The Romania Portal

Location of Romania
LocationAt the confluence of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast. It has a predominantly continental climate, and an area of 238,397 km2 (92,046 sq mi) with a population of 19 million people (2023). Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe and the sixth-most populous member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, followed by Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Timișoara, Constanța, Craiova, Brașov, and Galați.

Settlement in what is now Romania began in the Lower Paleolithic followed by written records attesting the kingdom of Dacia, its conquest, and subsequent Romanisation by the Roman Empire during late antiquity. The modern 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. Following the war and occupation by the Red Army, Romania became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition towards democracy and a market economy.

Romania is a high-income country, with a very high Human Development Index and a highly complex economy, that is emerging to be a middle power in international affairs. Romania ranked 47th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023. Its economy ranks among the fastest growing in the European Union, being the world's 44th largest by nominal GDP, and the 36th largest by PPP. Romanian citizens enjoy one of the fastest and cheapest internet speeds in the world. Romania experienced rapid economic growth in the early 2000s; its economy is now based predominantly on services. It is a producer and net exporter of cars and electric energy through companies like Automobile Dacia and OMV Petrom. The majority of Romania's population are ethnic Romanians and religiously identify themselves as Eastern Orthodox Christians, speaking Romanian, a Romance language (more specifically Eastern Romance). Romania is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Schengen Area, NATO, the Council of Europe, BSEC and WTO. (Full article...)

Entries here consist of Good articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Selected article - show another

The Dacia Logan is a family of automobiles produced and marketed jointly by the French manufacturer Renault and its Romanian subsidiary Dacia since mid-2004, and was the successor to the Dacia 1310 and Dacia Solenza. It has been produced as a sedan, station wagon, and as a pick-up. It has been manufactured at Dacia's automobile plant in Mioveni, Romania, and at Renault (or its partners') plants in Morocco, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Russia, Colombia, Iran and India. The pick-up has also been produced at Nissan's plant in Rosslyn, South Africa.

It has also been marketed as the Renault Logan, Nissan Aprio, Mahindra Verito, Renault L90, Lada Largus (the MCV), Nissan NP200 (the pick-up), Renault Symbol (Mk3) and as the Renault Taliant depending on the existing presence or positioning of the Renault brand. (Full article...)
List of selected articles

Selected biography - show another

Palade on a 2021 Romanian stamp

George Emil Palade ForMemRS HonFRMS (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈdʒe̯ordʒe eˈmil paˈlade] ; November 19, 1912 – October 7, 2008) was a Romanian-American cell biologist. Described as "the most influential cell biologist ever", in 1974 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine along with Albert Claude and Christian de Duve. The prize was granted for his innovations in electron microscopy and cell fractionation which together laid the foundations of modern molecular cell biology, the most notable discovery being the ribosomes of the endoplasmic reticulum – which he first described in 1955.

Palade also received the U.S. National Medal of Science in Biological Sciences for "pioneering discoveries of a host of fundamental, highly organized structures in living cells" in 1986, and was previously elected a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences in 1961. In 1968 he was elected as an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society (HonFRMS) and in 1984 he became a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS). (Full article...)
List of selected biographies

Related portals

Selected picture

Did you know (auto generated)

  • ... that Romanian-born Helen O'Brien escaped advancing Russians on the King's horse, opened Eve, and worked as a spy for MI5 and MI6?
  • ... that Bessarabian legislator Anton Novakov, who was absent when his colleagues voted on union with Romania, sued the Romanian state for land benefits they had received for voting in favor?
  • ... that Romanian author Ion Biberi rejected Marxism at the risk of unemployment, consoling himself that "man eats 20 times more than what he needs"?
  • ... that Romanian adventure novelist N. D. Popescu-Popnedea "generate[d] laughter" with his deposition at a political assassin's trial?
  • ... that following the ban of its labour unions in 1934, the Romanian United Socialist Party would rely on its youth and women's wings for political action?
  • ... that three American bombers were downed over the Romanian village of Suslănești in May 1944?

More did you know

  • ...that Romania's Palace of Parliament, despite the building process not being completely finished, is the biggest building in Europe and the second-largest building in the world?

General images

The following are images from various Romania-related articles on Wikipedia.

Topics

Recognized content

Extended content

Featured articles

Former featured articles

Featured lists

Former featured lists

Good articles

Former good articles

Featured topics

Good topics

Former featured topics

Featured pictures

Did you know? articles

Main page featured articles

Main page featured lists

In the News articles

Picture of the day pictures

New articles

Categories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories

Recent events in Romania

Wikiproject

Things you can do

Administrative divisions

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals