Romania

For other uses, see Romania.

România
Flag of Romania Flag Coat of arms of Romania Coat of arms
Motto: none former Royal motto: "Nihil Sine Deo" (Nothing without God)
Anthem: Deşteaptă-te, române!
Capital and largest city	Bucharest
Official languages	Romanian
Government	Democratic republic
Independence
• Water (%)	3%
Population
• 2004 estimate	22,355,551 (49th)
• 2002 census	21,698,181
GDP (PPP)	2004 estimate
• Total	183.162 billion USD (46th)
• Per capita	8,258 USD (70th)
Currency	Leu (RON)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
Calling code	40
ISO 3166 code	RO
Internet TLD	.ro

Romania (formerly also spelled Rumania or Roumania; Romanian: România) is a country situated in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Ukraine and Moldova in the northeast; Hungary in the west; Serbia and Bulgaria to the south along the Danube River. Romania has a stretch of sea coast on the Black Sea and the eastern and southern Carpathian mountains run through its centre. Romania has been a member of NATO since 2004, and is also an acceding country to the European Union. The EU Adherence Treaty was signed in early 2005, and Romania is due to join the Union on January 1, 2007.

Name

Main article: Etymology of Romania

The name of Romania (România) comes from Român (Romanian) which is a derivative of the word Romanus ("Roman") from Latin.

The first document written in the Romanian language is a 1521 letter which notifies the mayor of Braşov about the imminent attack of the Turks. This document is also notable for having the first occurrence of "Rumanian", Wallachia being here named The Rumanian Land - Ţeara Rumânească (Ţeara < Latin Terra = land). In the following centuries, Romanian documents use both forms: Român and Rumân, with the latter being the more common form.

It was only in the 19th century, with the rise of nationalism that the form Român was adopted as an official spelling, being chosen over Rumân in order to emphasise the linguistic connection to ancient Rome.

Romanians take pride in being the most eastern Romance people, completely surrounded by non-Latin peoples ("an island of Latinity").

History

Main article: History of Romania

In 513 BC, south of the Danube, the tribal confederation of the Getae were defeated by Darius during his campaign against the Scythians (Herodotus IV.93). Over half a millennium later, the Getae (also named Daci by Romans) were defeated by the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan in two campaigns stretching from 101 to 106, and the core of their kingdom was turned into the Roman province of Dacia. The Gothic and Carpic campaigns in the Balkans during 238–256 forced the Roman Empire to reorganize a new Roman province of Dacia south of Danube, inside former Moesia Superior.

In 271 the ancient Dacia became the Kingdom of the Goths until the end of the fourth century, when it was included in the Hunnic Empire. The Gepids and the Avars ruled Transylvania until the 8th century, thence the Bulgars included Romania in their Empire until 1000. The Pechenegs, the Cumans and Uzes were also mentioned by historic chronicles on the territory of Romania until the founding of the Vlachian principalities of Wallachia by Basarab I, and Moldavia by Dragoş during the 13th and 14th centuries respectively. In the Middle Ages, Romanians lived in three distinct principalities: Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania.

Wallachia and Moldavia came under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire during the 15th and 16th centuries respectively, with internal autonomy under the millet system, and brief periods of independence. Moldavia lost its eastern side Bessarabia to the Russian Empire in 1812 (though partially regained it with the Treaty of Paris in 1856), its northern part Bukovina to the Austrian Empire in 1775 and its south-eastern part Bugeac to the Ottoman Empire.

Transylvania came under control of the Kingdom of Hungary by the 11th century (since 1301 Hungary and Transylvania became possessions of the Houses of Anjou, Habsburg, and of the Holy Roman Empire). Later, in 1526, it became a Principality under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, following the Battle of Mohács. At the end of the 18th century, the Austrian Empire (since 1867 Austria-Hungary) incorporated Transylvania until 1918 at the end of World War I.

The modern state of Romania was formed by the merging of the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 under the Moldavian domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza. He was replaced by a Hohenzollern dynasty in 1866, and independence and status as a kingdom were recognised by the Great Powers in 1878, following the Russo-Turkish War, in which Romania fought on the Russian side (with the kingdom's status confirmed in 1881). At that time, Russia once again seized the two southern districts of Bessarabia that had been regained by Moldova after the Crimean War 1852, as a swap with Dobruja.

Romania agreed to enter World War I on the Entente's side, in spite of its previous alliance with Austria, hoping to win Transylvania from the Austro-Hungarian empire. At the end of the World War I, which brought the disintegration of the empires of Russia and Austria-Hungary, Bessarabia and Transylvania united with the Romanian Kingdom in 1918. Union of Transylvania with Romania was ratified in the Treaty of Trianon in 1920.

In 1940, at the beginning of World War II, Northern Bukovina and Bessarabia, Northern Transylvania, and southern Dobrudja were occupied by the Soviet Union, Hungary and Bulgaria respectively, Romania being under the dictatorship of Carol II. In 1940 Carol II abdicated and Romania entered the war joining Germany, Hungary and Bulgaria, thus recovering Bessarabia and northern Bukovina from the Soviet Union and taking part in the ensuing invasion, under the lead of general Ion Antonescu. In August 1944 the Antonescu regime was toppled, Romania joined the Red Army against Nazi Germany, but its role in the defeat of Germany was not recognised by the 1946 Treaty of Paris.

Controlling Romania through the Red Army stationed in the country, communists orchestrated the biggest election fraud of 1946, climbing to power after Western democracies left ally Romania in the hands of the Soviet Union. In 1947, King Michael I was forced by the communists to abdicate and leave the country. Romania was proclaimed a communist state, under direct military and economic control of the USSR until 1958. During this period, Romania's scarce resources left after WWII were drained by the "SovRom" agreements: mixt Soviet-Romanian companies established in the aftermath of World War II to mask the looting of Romania by the Soviet Union, in addition to excessive war reparations paid to the USSR. During this dark period, hundreds of thousands of people were imprisoned for political reasons, there were thousands of abuses, deaths and incidents of torture against political opponents, bringing gloom over Romania.

A short-lived period of relative economic well-being and openness in the beginning of the 1970s (still regarded by old nostalgics as a "golden era") ended abruptly with former dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu's return from an Asian tour in North Korea and China. The dictator imposed several hard lines in the path of the country that empoverished Romanians to exhaustion, promoting a dreadful cult of personality and ruling through fear of oppression imposed by the political police of Securitate. The only positive thing that this excessive economic policy brought was the reduction of Romania's foreign debt to a virtual zero by 1989.

The decades-long reign of Communism under Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, then under Nicolae Ceauşescu, ended in late 1989 (see Romanian Revolution of 1989), and the elections of 1990 were won by FSN, part of which, reformed as the Social Democrats, continued to be present in the democratically elected government until 1996 when CDR, a centre-right coalition took power for one term. After repudiating their 'Contract with Romania' platform which would have required the CDR to resign en masse after 200 days from a mixed coalition government (some members had signed on to the contract programme while others had not), the major CDR parties were electorally eviscerated in 2000, and the Social Democrats returned to power. President of Romania was once again Ion Iliescu and Prime Minister - Adrian Năstase, the president of the Social-Democratic Party (PSD).

The leader of the Democratic Party, Traian Băsescu was elected President on December 12, 2004, and took office December 20. Traian Băsescu managed to form a government around his own political party, the Truth and Justice Alliance (Alianta Dreptate si Adevar), by appointing Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu. The Alliance formed a government with the Romanian Humanist Party (Partidul Umanist Român), now the Conservative Party, which was formerly allied to the Social Democrats, but switched sides, and an ethnic minority rights party, the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (Uniunea Democrată a Maghiarilor din România), which has participated in government since 1996.

Following the end of the Cold War in 1989, Romania developed closer ties with Western Europe, joined NATO in 2004 and became an acceding country to the European Union, being at an advanced stage to join on January 1, 2007. The Treaty of Accession of Romania has been signed by EU Member States representatives in Luxembourg, Abbaye de Neumünster, on April 25 2005. Ratifying Romania and Bulgaria's Accession Treaty is on-going in the Parliaments of all Member States.

See also: Kings of Romania, Bessarabia, Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania

Politics

Main article: Politics of Romania

Romania is a democratic republic. The legislative branch of the Romanian government consists of two chambers, the Senat (Senate), which has 137 members (as of 2005), and the Camera Deputaţilor (Chamber of Deputies), which has 332 members (as of 2004). The members of both chambers are elected every four years.

The President, the head of the executive branch, is also elected by popular vote, every five years (until 2005, four years). The president appoints a prime minister, who heads the government, the members of which are in turn appointed by the prime minister. The government is subject to a parliamentary vote of approval.

Counties

Main article: Counties of Romania

Romania is divided into 41 judeţe, or counties, and the municipality of Bucharest (Bucureşti) - the capital. See also Administrative divisions of Romania.

The counties are (in alphabetical order):

File:Romani Mare.jpg

Old Romania, The Big Romania

File:Romania-administrative-large.png

Administrative map of Romania
Transylvania is green, Wallachia blue, the Moldavian region red, and Dobrogea yellow

Alba Arad Argeş Bacău Bihor Bistriţa-Năsăud Botoşani Braşov Brăila Buzău Caraş-Severin Călăraşi Cluj Constanţa Covasna Dâmboviţa Dolj Galaţi Giurgiu Gorj Harghita

Hunedoara Ialomiţa Iaşi Ilfov Maramureş Mehedinţi Mureş Neamţ Olt Prahova Satu Mare Sălaj Sibiu Suceava Teleorman Timiş Tulcea Vaslui Vâlcea Vrancea

Geography

Map of Romania with cities

Main article: Geography of Romania

A large part of Romania's borders with Serbia and Bulgaria is formed by the Danube. The Danube is joined by the Prut River, which forms the border with Moldova. The Danube flows into the Black Sea forming the Danube Delta which is a reservation of the Biosphere.

Because many of Romania's borders are defined by natural, sometimes shifting rivers, and because the Danube Delta is constantly expanding towards the sea, about 2-5 linear metres yearly, Romania's surface area has changed over the past few decades, generally increasing. The number has increased from about 237,500 km⊃ in 1969 to 238,319 km⊃ in 2005.

Romania has a fairly distributed landscape, having 34% mountains, 33% hills and 33% lowlands.

The Carpathian Mountains dominate the centre of Romania surrounding the Transylvanian Plateau, 14 peaks reaching above the altitude of 2,000 m, the highest being Moldoveanu Peak at 2,544 m. In the south, the Carpathians sweeten into hills, towards the Bărăgan Plains.

Major cities are the capital Bucharest, Iaşi, Timişoara, Cluj-Napoca, Constanţa, Craiova, Braşov, and Galaţi.

See also:

• List of Romanian Cities
• Rivers of Romania
• Lakes of Romania

Largest cities

#	City	Population	County
1.	Bucharest / Bucureşti	2,304,079	Bucharest
2.	Iaşi	345,541	Iaşi County
3.	Cluj-Napoca	340,244	Cluj County
4.	Timişoara	338,626	Timiş County
5.	Braşov	337,151	Braşov County
6.	Constanţa	335,041	Constanţa County
7.	Galaţi	333,756	Galaţi County
8.	Craiova	326,249	Dolj County
9.	Braila	236,393	Braila County
10.	Ploiesti	220,198	Prahova County
11.	Bacau	208.305	Bacau County
12.	Oradea	206.134	Bihor County

Economy

Main article: Economy of Romania

After Romania's Communist regime was overthrown in late 1989, the country was left with an obsolete industrial base and a pattern of industrial capacity wholly unsuited to its needs. This and the slow reforms led to the country experiencing several years of recession in the early 1990s.

In 1997, Romania began reforms and restructuring programmes which included liquidating large energy-intensive industries and major agricultural and financial sector reforms. The reforms were accelerated in 2000, when it started negotiations with the European Union.

Romania's lagging and unstable economy of the 1990s has been transformed into one of relative macroeconomic stability, high growth and low unemployment, and an an inflation rate of 9.2% (as of 2004), which is expected to be 7.5% in 2005 and is tipped to fall to around 5.0% in 2006. 2002-2004 were successful economic years, economic growth reaching 8.3% in 2004, the fastest growth in the post-Communist era. Romania's economy grew 5.9 percent in the first quarter 2005 compared with the same period last year, the national statistics office said on August 16, 2005. The service sector was the country's main economic growth engine showing a 6.8 percent rise from the same period last year, while industry grew by 5 percent and agriculture by 1.8 percent. Currently GDP growth is forecast at 5.5% per annum. Foreign direct investments reached EUR 4.1 billion in 2004. Romania was granted in October 2004 the much desired 'functional market economy' status by EU officials, and is expected to join the EU in January 2007.

In January 2005, Romania's new Tăriceanu government imposed major fiscal reforms, replacing Romania's progressive tax system with a 16% flat tax on both personal income and company profit. Romania now has one of the most liberal taxation systems in Europe, and it is expected that this, along with increased foreign investment, will boost economic growth in the coming years, as well as lower corruption and bring to light the grey economy. The tax cuts have led a 12 percent jump in household consumption, which was also boosted by a 13 percent rise in wages.

The average gross wage per month in Romania is 943.61 new lei as of June 2005, an increase of 0.2% over the previous month. This equates to EUR 271.15 and US$337.00. The average net salary per month in June 2005 was 721.60 new lei (EUR 207.36), an increase of 0.2%, over the previous month.

Unemployment in Romania is at 5.5% (June 2005), which is very low compared to other large European countries such as Poland, France, or Germany.

Despite the improvements in macroeconomics, privatisation, and fiscal policy of the last few years, corruption remains a major problem at all levels and threatens to stifle economic growth. Additionally, lack of transparency in public spending and lack of competitiveness in the agricultural sector also remain a problem.

Romania's economy is expected to grow strongly in 2005 and 2006, with economists forecasting lower inflation and higher employment. For the first 6 months of 2005, Romania's exports rose 17.2 percent, while imports rose 22 percent as Romanians spent their extra cash by buying more.

The trade deficit was about EUR 3.2 billion (US$3.8 billion) in the first five months of the year, well within the target for 2005.

Inflation is expected to reach 7.5 percent in 2005 and 5.0 percent in 2006, down from 9.3 percent in 2004.

Romania's legal tender is the leu (plural lei). On 1 July 2005, the leu was subjected to redenomination so that 10,000 old lei, in circulation on that date, was exchanged for 1 new leu. The existing banknotes and coins, i.e. the old lei, will be legal tender until the end of December 2006. The official course of change for 10th August 2005 for 1€=3.39 lei (BNR-National Bank of Romania). By 31 December 2006, the existing banknotes and coins, i.e. the old lei, are to be replaced gradually by the new banknotes and coins. The process will prepare Romania for the adoption of the euro, which is expected to take place several years after EU accession. The Romanian government has said that it expects the country will adopt the euro between 2011 and 2014.

National Holidays

The Christian holidays of Christmas and Easter are celebrated. Unlike other Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Romanian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas on 25 December; however, they follow the usual Eastern Orthodox practice for the date of Easter. Other holidays are New Year's Day (January 1), Labour Day (May 1, and the National Day of Romania (December 1, the Union Day). For Christmas and for Labour Day, it is common for businesses to shut down more than a single day.

Minor, but widely observed, holidays include Mărţişor (March 1), marking the start of spring, and International Women's Day (March 8). Many businesses give women employees the day off for International Women's Day. Some holidays celebrated in the United States or in other parts of Europe have recently been gaining some currency in Romania, for example Valentine's Day (February 14).

Sport in Romania

Romania is successful in a number of sports at international level. See also List of Romanians (sport section).

The gymnast Nadia Comaneci was the first gymnast to score a perfect ten (1976 Montreal Olympic Games). She also won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze - all at the age of fourteen. Her success continued in the 1980 Moscow Olympics when she was awarded two gold medals and two silver medals.

Ilie Nastase, the tennis player, is another internationally known Romanian sports star.

Soccer is popular in Romania with international footballers such as Gheorghe Hagi who played for Galatasaray (Turkey). The Romanian soccer club Steaua Bucureşti was the first Eastern European club to ever win the prestigious UEFA Champions League title (1986).

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Romania

Ethnicity

Ethnic groups (Census 2002):

• Romanian 89.5%
• Hungarian 6.6%
• Rromas (Gypsy) 2.5%
• Ukrainian 0.3%
• German 0.3%
• Russian 0.2%
• Turkish and Tatar 0.2%
• Other 0.4%

Other ethnic groups include natives of Romania's neighbouring countries and some smaller groups like the Polish minority (numbering a few thousand people) living in Suceava County.

Some people say that the Rroma population is undercounted in national censuses (by this account, some Rroma choose to declare themselves as Romanians or Hungarians). The Rroma people are commonly known in Romania as ţigani (tzigany).

Language

The official language is Romanian, a Romance language of the Italic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages, which are also called Romanic, Romantic or Romance languages. This language family includes French, Spanish, Catalan, Italian and Portuguese; its languages are spoken by about 670 million people in many parts of the world, but mainly in Europe and the Western Hemisphere.

Sizeable minorities of Hungarian and German descent, mostly in Transylvania, also speak Hungarian and German.

Religion

Religions (2002 Census):

• Romanian Orthodox - 86.8%
• Roman Catholic - 4.6%
• Protestant - 3.7%
• Pentecostal - 1.5%
• Greek Catholic - Uniate - 0.9%

Most Romanians are members of the Romanian Orthodox Church, which is one of the churches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Catholicism (both Roman Catholic and Greek Catholic) and Protestantism are also represented, mostly in the areas inhabited by population closer to western influence.

In Dobrogea, the region lying on the shore of the Black Sea, there is a small Muslim minority (of Turkish and Tatar ethnicity), a remnant of the Ottoman rule and migrations from Crimea, respectively.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Romania

See also:

• Art of Romania
• Christmas customs in Romania
• List of Romanians
• Literature of Romania
• Music of Romania
• Romanian-American
• Romanian poets
• Tourism in Romania

Miscellaneous topics

• Communications in Romania
• Government of Romania
• Foreign relations of Romania
• Health Care in Romania
• History of Romania
• Holidays in Romania
• List of national parks of Romania
• List of Romania-related topics
• Military of Romania
• Romanian cuisine
• Transportation in Romania
• List of Romanian newspapers

International rankings

• A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Magazine: Globalization Index 2005, ranked 24 out of 62 countries
• IMD International: World Competitiveness Yearbook 2005, ranked 30 out of 60 economies (countries and regions)
• Reporters without borders: Third annual worldwide press freedom index (2004), ranked 28 & 108 (in Iraq) out of 167 countries
• Save the Children: State of the World's Mothers 2005, ranked 45 out of 110 countries
• The Wall Street Journal: 2005 Index of Economic Freedom, ranked 45 out of 155 countries
• The Economist: The World in 2005 - Worldwide quality-of-life index, 2005, ranked 44 out of 111 countries
• Transparency International: Corruption Perceptions Index 2004, ranked 55 out of 146 countries (tied with Belgium and Ireland)
• United Nations Development Programme: Human Development Index 2004, ranked 34 out of 177 countries
• World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005 - Growth Competitiveness Index Ranking, ranked 30 out of 104 countries

External links

Official links

• Official site of the Romanian government
• Presidency of Romania
• The Romanian Senate
• Camera Deputaţilor (lower house of Parliament)
• Tourism Ministry
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• The Romanian Senate
• 2002 Census Data (Romanian only)

Travel guides

• Lonely Planet Guide - Romania
• The Spirit of Romania - travel journals, photography, stories
• Romania travel guide at Wikitravel
• - Sibiu/Hermanstadt, European Cultural Capital in 2007

Currency

• Exchange Rates - from the National Bank of Romania
• Information about redenomination

Articles

• Tom Gallagher, New Statesman, 6 September 2004, "Europe's very own Puerto Rico"

• Alexandru Alexe Business Week, 10 August 2005, "Investors move east to booming Romania"