Portal:Romania

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Introduction

Romania (/roʊˈmeɪniə/ (listen) ro-MAY-nee-ə; Romanian: România [r o m ɨ ˈ n i .a ] (listen)) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the southeast, Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, and Moldova to the east. It has a predominantly temperate-continental climate. With a total area of 238,397 square kilometres (92,046 sq mi), Romania is the 12th largest country and also the 7th most populous member state of the European Union, having almost 20 million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, and other major urban areas include Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, Constanța, Craiova, and Brașov.

The River Danube, Europe's second-longest river, rises in Germany's Black Forest and flows in a general southeast direction for 2,857 km (1,775 mi), coursing through ten countries before emptying into Romania's Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the north to the southwest, include Moldoveanu Peak, at an altitude of 2,544 m (8,346 ft).

Selected general articles

The Republic of Moldova is the most common country of origin of foreign-born residents in Romania.

Romania has recently experienced a growing wave of immigration, mostly from the Republic of Moldova, Turkey, Italy, Spain, China, and Vietnam, but also from North Africa, the Middle East, and the former Soviet Union, and to a lesser extent other parts of the world. In 2013, there were 198,839 immigrants living in Romania, of which 13,000 were refugees. Immigration is expected to increase in the future, as large numbers of Romanian workers leave the country and are being replaced by foreigners.

According to DIICOT, Romania has evolved since 1990 from a country of transit for illegal migrants to a country of destination. Within the European Union, the country has the second highest rate of immigration from non-EU countries (86%), just behind Slovenia (90%). Read more...
This is the list of longest rivers of Romania which entirely or partially flow through Romania. For the full list in alphabetical order, see List of rivers of Romania (alphabetic). Read more...
In Romania there are several spoken languages. Beside Romanian, the countrywide official language, other spoken languages are spoken and sometimes co-official at a local level. These languages include Hungarian, Romani, Ukrainian, German, Russian, Turkish, Tatar, Serbian, Slovak, Bulgarian, and Croatian. Read more...
Romanian troops at Mărășești battlefield in 1917.

The Kingdom of Romania was neutral for the first two years of World War I, entering on the side of the Allied powers from 27 August 1916 until Central Power occupation led to the Treaty of Bucharest in May 1918, before reentering the war on 10 November 1918.
It had the most significant oil fields in Europe, and Germany eagerly bought its petroleum, as well as food exports. King Carol favored Germany but after his death in 1914, King Ferdinand and the nation's political elite favored the Entente. For Romania, the highest priority was taking Transylvania from Hungary, with its 3,000,000 Romanians. The Allies wanted Romania to join its side in order to cut the rail communications between Germany and Turkey, and to cut off Germany's oil supplies. Britain made loans, France sent a military training mission, and Russia promised modern munitions. The Allies promised at least 200,000 soldiers to defend Romania against Bulgaria to the south, and help it invade Austria.

The Romanian campaign was part of the Balkan theatre of World War I, with Romania and Russia allied with Britain and France against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria, and Turkey. Fighting took place from August 1916 to December 1917 across most of present-day Romania, including Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time, as well as in southern Dobruja, which is currently part of Bulgaria. Read more...
A poster of the 1848 Revolution in Romania evidencing the national flag.

In the Romantic era, the concept of a national state emerged among the Romanians, as among many other peoples of Europe and a "national awakening" began. Defining their nation against the nearby Slavs, Germans, and Hungarians, the nationalist Romanians looked for models of nationality in the other Latin countries, notably France.

The Romanian upper classes looked for support firstly from the Russian Empire, who they thought would help the Orthodox Romanian people in their struggle against the Islamic Ottoman Empire. However, Russia's expansionist goals after annexing Bessarabia in 1812, made them suspicious that they would just become part of another far-flung empire. Since Austria also had similar goals, as shown by the annexations of Oltenia (1718–1739) and Bukovina (1775), the Romanian elites started looking for allies in Western Europe. Read more...
Map of Romanian counties with notable Hungarian presence (2011 census)

The Hungarian minority of Romania (Hungarian: Magyarok Romániában, Romanian: Maghiarii din România) is the largest ethnic minority in Romania, consisting of 1,227,623 people and making up 6.1% of the total population, according to the 2011 census.

Most ethnic Hungarians of Romania live in areas that were, before the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, parts of Hungary. Encompassed in a region known as Transylvania, the most prominent of these areas is known generally as Székely Land (Ținutul Secuiesc, Szekelyföld), where Hungarians comprise the majority of the population, comprising Harghita and Covasna counties and parts of Mureș county. Transylvania also includes the historic regions of Banat, Crișana and Maramureș. There are forty-one counties of Romania; Hungarians form a large majority of the population in the counties of Harghita (85.21%) and Covasna (73.74%), and a large percentage in Mureș (38.09%), Satu Mare (34.65%), Bihor (25.27%), Sălaj (23.35%) and Cluj (15.93%) counties. Read more...
A total of 41 counties (Romanian: județe), along with the municipality of Bucharest, constitute the official administrative divisions of Romania. They represent the country's NUTS-3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – Level 3) statistical subdivisions within the European Union and each of them serves as the local level of government within its borders. Most counties are named after a major river, while some are named after notable cities within them, such as the county seat.

The earliest organization into județe of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (where they were termed ținuturi) dates back to at least the late 14th century. For most of the time since modern Romania was formed in 1859, the administrative division system has been similar to the French departments one. The system has been changed several times since then, and the number of counties has varied over time, from the 71 județe that existed before World War II to only 39 after 1968. The current format has largely been in place since 1968 as only small changes have been made since then, the last of which was in 1997. Read more...
Ethnic map of Romania in 2011

About 10.5% of Romania's population is represented by minorities (the rest of 89.5% being Romanians). The principal minorities in Romania are Hungarians (Szeklers, Csangos, and Magyars; especially in Harghita, Covasna, and Mureș counties) and Romani people, with a declining German population (in Timiș, Sibiu, Brașov) and smaller numbers of Poles in Bukovina (Austria-Hungary attracted Polish miners, who settled there from the Kraków region in contemporary Poland during the 19th century), Serbs, Croats, Slovaks and Banat Bulgarians (in Banat), Ukrainians (in Maramureș and Bukovina), Greeks (Brăila, Constanța), Jews (Wallachia, Bucharest), Turks and Tatars (in Constanța), Armenians, Russians (Lippovans, in Tulcea), Afro-Romanians and others.

To this day, minority populations are greatest in Transylvania and the Banat, historical regions situated in the north and west of the country which were former territorial possessions of either the Kingdom of Hungary, the Habsburgs, or the Austrian Empire (since 1867 the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary until World War I). Read more...
The location of Romania

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Romania:

Romania – unitary semi-presidential republic located in Central-Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Ukraine. It also borders Hungary, Serbia, and Moldova. It covers 238,391 square kilometres (92,043 sq mi) and has a temperate-continental climate. With 19.9 million inhabitants, it is the seventh most populous member of the European Union. Its capital and largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth largest city in the EU. It encompasses the historical regions of Wallachia (including Dobruja), Moldavia (including Bukovina), Transylvania (including Banat, Maramureș, and Crișana). Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning "citizen of Rome". Read more...
This is a list of cities and towns in Romania, ordered by population according to the 2002 and 2011 censuses. For the major cities, average altitude is also given. Cities in bold are county capitals. The list includes major cities with the status of municipiu (103 in total), as well as towns with the status of oraș (217 in total).

Romania has 1 city with more than 1 million residents (Bucharest with 1,883,425 people), 19 cities with more than 100,000 residents, and 178 towns with more than 10,000 residents. Read more...
The Romanian Academy (Romanian: Academia Română) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life.

According to its bylaws, the academy's main goals are the cultivation of Romanian language and Romanian literature, the study of the national history of Romania and research into major scientific domains. Some of the academy's fundamental projects are the Romanian language dictionary (Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române), the dictionary of Romanian literature, and the treatise on the history of the Romanian people. Read more...
Romania's administration is relatively centralized and administrative subdivisions are therefore fairly simplified.

According to the Constitution of Romania, its territory is organized administratively into communes, towns and counties: Read more...
The Kingdom of Romania (Romanian: Regatul României) was a constitutional monarchy that existed in Romania from 26 March 1881 with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King Carol I, until 1947 with the abdication of King Michael I of Romania, and the Romanian parliament proclaiming Romania a socialist republic.

From 1859 to 1877, Romania evolved from a personal union of two vassal principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia) under a single prince to an autonomous principality with a Hohenzollern monarchy. The country gained its independence from the Ottoman Empire during the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War (known locally as the Romanian War of Independence), when it also received Northern Dobruja in exchange for the southern part of Bessarabia. The kingdom's territory during the reign of King Carol I, between 14 March (O.S.) (27 March (N.S.)) 1881 and 27 September (O.S.) (10 October (N.S.)) 1914 is sometimes referred as the Romanian Old Kingdom, to distinguish it from "Greater Romania", which included the provinces that became part of the state after World War I (Bessarabia, Banat, Bukovina, and Transylvania). Read more...
The official logo of Romania, used to promote the tourist attractions in the country

According to National Tourism Statistics 15.7 million domestic and foreign tourists stayed in overnight accommodations in 2018. Of these 2.2 million are recorded as foreign tourists.

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. Read more...
Sports in Romania are an important part of the country's culture. Romania has risen to prominence in a number of sporting areas in recent decades. Association football is the most popular sport in Romania, a nation of 20 million. The most successful club is Steaua Bucharest, who were the first Eastern European side to win the European Cup and the European Supercup in 1986. Other important Romanian football clubs are Dinamo, Universitatea Craiova, FC Rapid,
Osk, Rapid and CFR Cluj, each of whom had mixed European success. Romania is one of only four national teams from Europe that took part in the first World Cup in 1930. The Romania national football team has taken part in seven FIFA World Cups and had its most successful run during the 1990s, when they reached the quarterfinals of the 1994 FIFA World Cup, losing a semifinal place against Sweden on the penalty kicks, Romania was ranked third by FIFA in 1997.

Other popular sports include handball, volleyball, basketball, rugby union, tennis, and gymnastics. Many Romanian athletes have achieved significant success and have won World and European medals in numerous sports during the years. Romania participated in the Olympic Games for the first time in 1900 and has taken part in 21 of the 28 summer games. It has been one of the more successful countries at the Summer Olympic Games, with a total of 307 medals won throughout the years, of which 89 gold ones, ranking 15th overall. Almost a quarter of all the medals and 25 of the gold ones were won in gymnastics. Romanian athletes have also won gold medals in other Olympic sports, such as rowing, athletics, canoeing, wrestling, shooting, fencing, swimming, discus throw, weightlifting, boxing, and judo. They are the most successful nation in Balkan Championships in terms of medal-winning. Read more...
The following is a description of the social structure of Romania divided into three distinct categories. Read more...
The Romanian Revolution (Romanian: Revoluția Română) was a period of violent civil unrest in the Socialist Republic of Romania in December 1989 and part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several countries. The Romanian Revolution started in the city of Timișoara and soon spread throughout the country, ultimately culminating in the show trial and execution of longtime Communist Party General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena, and the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania. It was also the last removal of a Marxist-Leninist government in a Warsaw Pact country during the events of 1989, and the only one that violently overthrew a country's government and executed its leader.

Early protests occurred in the city of Timișoara in mid-December on the part of the Hungarian minority in response to an attempt by the government to evict Hungarian Reformed church pastor László Tőkés. In response, Romanians sought revolution and a change in government in light of similar recent events in neighbouring nations. The country's ubiquitous secret police force, the Securitate, which was both one of the largest in the Eastern Bloc and for decades had been the main suppressor of popular dissension, frequently and violently quashing political disagreement, ultimately proved powerless in stopping the looming, and then highly fatal and successful revolt. Read more...
A Fetească neagră from Recaș

Romania is one of the world's largest wine producers and fifth largest among European wine-producing countries, after Italy, France, Spain, and Germany. In 2018 it produced around 5.2 million hectolitres of wine. In recent years, Romania has attracted many European business people and wine buyers, due to the affordable prices of both vineyards and wines compared to other wine-producing nations such as France, Germany, and Italy.

Romania's most cultivated grape varieties are for white wines Fetească Albă, Fetească Regală, Riesling, Aligoté, Sauvignon, Muscat, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay, Tămâioasă Românească, Grasă de Cotnari, Galbenă de Odobești. Also, the main grape varieties for red wines are Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Băbească Neagră, Fetească Neagră, Pinot Noir. Read more...
Countries whose citizens have flown in space

On May 14, 1981 Romania became the 11th country in the world to have an astronaut in space. That astronaut, Dumitru Prunariu is today's president of Romanian Space Agency.

Henri Coandă was a Romanian inventor and pioneer of aviation. He discovered the Coanda effect of fluidics. Read more...
The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) (Romanian: Bursa de Valori București) is the stock exchange of Romania located in Bucharest. As of November 2017, there are 88 companies (87 local and 1 international) listed on BVB's regulated market and 299 companies listed on AeRO market ( 297 local and 2 international) with a total market capitalization of €35.6 billion ($42.6 billion). Starting 2014 and up to date ( November 22, 2017), the main index BET went up by 19.9%, thus exceeding the maximum of the last 9 years. Read more...
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.

Prehistory / Millennia: 1st BC · 1st–2nd · 3rd
Read more...
Historical regions of Romania

The Early Middle Ages in Romania started with the withdrawal of the Roman troops and administration from Dacia province in the 270s. In the next millennium a series of peoples, most of whom only controlled two or three of the nearly ten historical regions that now form Romania, arrived. During this period, society and culture underwent fundamental changes. Town life came to an end in Dacia with the Roman withdrawal, and in Scythia Minor – the other Roman province in the territory of present-day Romania – 400 years later. Fine vessels made on fast potter's wheels disappeared and hand-made pottery became dominant from the 450s. Burial rites changed more than once from cremation to inhumation and vice versa until inhumation became dominant by the end of the 10th century.

The East Germanic Goths and Gepids, who lived in sedentary communities, were the first new arrivals. The Goths dominated Moldavia and Wallachia from the 290s, and parts of Transylvania from the 330s. Their power collapsed under attacks by the nomadic Huns in 376. The Huns controlled Eastern and Central Europe from around 400, but their empire disintegrated in 454. Thereafter the regions west of the Carpathian Mountains – Banat, Crişana, and Transylvania – and Oltenia were dominated by the Gepids. Within a century, the lands east of the mountains became important centers of the Antes and Sclavenes. Hydronyms and place names of Slavic origin also prove the one-time presence of Early Slavs in the regions west of the Carpathians. Read more...
Petroleum field at Moreni, Romania (1920)

Romania was the largest European producer of oil in World War II. The oil extracted from Romania was essential for Axis military operations. The petrochemical industry near Ploieşti was bombed heavily by American bombers (see Operation Tidal Wave). After the war, a heavy reconstruction and expansion was done under the communist regime. Since then, most of the industry has been privatized.

Possessing substantial oil refining capacities, Romania is particularly interested in the Central Asia-Europe pipelines and seeks to strengthen its relations with some Arab States of the Persian Gulf. With 10 refineries and an overall refining capacity of approximately 504,000 bbl/d (80,100 m³/d), Romania has the largest refining industry in the region. Romania's refining capacity far exceeds domestic demand for refined petroleum products, allowing the country to export a wide range of oil products and petrochemicals — such as lubricants, bitumen, and fertilizers — throughout the region. Read more...
The Land Forces, Air Force and Naval Forces of Romania are collectively known as the Romanian Armed Forces (Romanian: Forțele Armate Române or Armata Română). The current Commander-in-chief is General Nicolae Ionel Ciuca who is managed by the Minister of National Defence while the president is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces during wartime.

As of 2017, the Armed Forces number 69,300 active personnel and 50,000 reserves, along with 79,900 in paramilitary forces. The Land Forces have a reported strength of 36,000, the Air Force 10,300, the Naval Forces 6,500, and Joint Forces 16,500. Total defence spending currently accounts for 2% of total national GDP, which represents approximately 4.04 billion US dollars. The Armed Forces are built for territorial defence, with contributions to NATO missions such as in Afghanistan a secondary priority. Read more...

Did you know...

... that Romanian literary scholar Bonifaciu Florescu had the reputation of an unrepentant bohemian and allegedly slept on a pile of hay?
... that Romanian poet Petre Stoica, assigned to study German by a dean meeting a quota, later became an accomplished translator of German-language authors?
... that after taking up arms against Hungary during the failed 1848 revolution, Ioan Pușcariu, an ethnic Romanian, returned to work in Hungarian government service for decades?
... that Paludititan is a Romanian island dwarf?
... that in marking the centenary of the Horea, Cloșca and Crișan revolt, Transylvanian lawyer Rubin Patiția clashed with both the Hungarian authorities and his own Romanian Orthodox Church?
... that the literary historian Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga, once a member of the Romanian Communist Party's central committee, became a nun late in life?

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Selected images

Timișoara (German: Temeschburg, Hungarian: Temesvár) was designated the European Capital of Culture in 2021.
The Colțea Hospital in Bucharest completed a $90 million renovation in 2011.
Gutthiuda, or the land of the Gothic-speaking Thervingi, and the neighboring tribes (370s AD).
Ruins of sanctuaries at Sarmizegetusa Regia (Dacia's capital during the reigns of Burebista and Decebalus).
"Goddess" (an anthropomorphic clay figurine of the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture).
Eastern Orthodoxy is the most widespread religious denomination in the country.
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was one of the few violent revolutions in the Iron Curtain that brought an end to Communist rule.
Graph depicting Romania's electricity supply mix as of 2015
Ethnic map of Romania based on 2011 census data.
The Bucharest Stock Exchange Palace, situated in the capital's historical city centre.
Ethnic map of the Kingdom of Romania based on the 1930 census data.
Alexandru Ioan Cuza was the first Domnitor (i.e. Prince) of Romania (at that time the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia) between 1862 and 1866.
Romania's territorial losses in the summer of 1940. Of these territories, only Northern Transylvania was regained after the end of World War II.
Dacia Duster concept at the Geneva Motor Show (2009)
King Carol I of Romania with his nephew Ferdinand I of Romania and great-nephew Carol II of Romania.
American B-24 Liberator flying over a burning oil refinery at Ploiești, as part of Operation Tidal Wave on 1 August 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.
Sibiu (German: Hermannstadt, Hungarian: Nagyszeben) was the European Capital of Culture in 2007.
Nicolae Ceaușescu ruled Romania as its Communist leader from 1965 until 1989.
University of Bucharest was opened in 1864.
Romania is the fourth largest contributor of troops in Afghanistan.
Romania joined the European Union in 2007 and signed the Treaty of Lisbon.
Romanian marine troopers during a combined Dutch-Romanian exercise at Vadu beach.
Neacșu's letter from 1521, the oldest surviving document written in Romanian.
Diplomatic missions of Romania
Simona Halep has ended 2017 and 2018 as WTA's World No. 1.
Romania has seen large waves of protests against judicial reforms during the 2017–2018 Romanian protests.
Topographic map of Romania
Ruins of the amphitheatre at Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa (the capital of Roman Dacia).
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.
Since 2007, Romania has been part of the EU single market.
Romanian is an Eastern Romance language, part of the larger linguistic family of Romance languages alongside French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan.
Christmas market in Bucharest
Anti-Communist rally in Bucharest (early 1990)
Skull from the "Cave with Bones" (the oldest known remain of Homo sapiens in Europe).
Romania joined NATO in 2004 and hosted its 2008 summit in Bucharest.
Romania's road network.
A 4th-century pectoral cross from Dinogetia (a Roman town in Scythia Minor).
King Michael I of Romania was forced to abdicate by the Communists in late December 1947, concomitant with the Soviet occupation of the country.
The CEC Palace is situated on Bucharest's Victory Avenue.
Changes in Romania's territory since 1859.
Ceramics from Histria (a Greek colony on the Black Sea coast).
Cristina Neagu is the only female handball player in history to win three IHF World Player of the Year awards.
Maximum territorial extent of the Kingdom of Dacia during Burebista's reign (early 40s BC.)

In the news

24 March 2019 – Status of Jerusalem: In Washington, D.C., the leaders of Romania and Honduras announce they will recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, following the lead of the United States. (Fox News)