Romania

Federative Republic of Romania

Republica Federativă a României (Romanian)

Flag of Romania

2.4% Gagauzes

0.9% German

0.7% Ukrainian

1% Other

5.1% Protestantism

1.7% Other

**Romania** (Romanian: *România*), officially the **Federative Republic of Romania** (Romanian: *Republica Federativă a României*), is a country located in Eastern Europe bordering, Ukraine, Hungary, Rascia and Bulgaria. The capital is in București, and the country has a population of just above 35.1 million. It has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, part of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007.

## History

The Dacians, who are widely accepted as part of the Getae described earlier by the Greeks, were a branch of Thracians who inhabited Dacia, which corresponds with modern Romania, Moldova, northern Bulgaria and surrounding nations. The Dacian Kingdom reached its maximum expansion during the reign of King Burebista between 82 BC and 44 BC. Under his leadership, Dacia became a powerful state that threatened the regional interests of the Romans.

Julius Caesar intended to start a campaign against the Dacians due to the support that Burebista gave to Pompey but he was assassinated in 44 BC. The Dacians were eventually defeated by Emperor Trajan in two separate campaigns that lasted from 101 AD to 106 AD, and the core of their kingdom was turned into the province of Roman Dacia (Latin: *Dacia Romana*). The Romans colonized the province extensively, beginning a period of intense romanization, during which the oldest form of the Romanian language, Proto-Romanian emerged. The Romans withdrew from *Dacia Romana* around 271 AD, making it the first province to be abandoned by the Roman Empire.

Between 271 and 275, the Roman army and administration left Dacia, which was invaded later by Gothic peoples. The Goths mixed with the local people until the 4th century, when the Huns, a nomadic people, arrived. The Gepids, the Pannonian Avars, the Bulgars and their Slavic subjects ruled what is now Transylvania until the 8th century. The territories of Wallachia and Moldavia were under the control of the First Bulgarian Empire from its establishment in 681 until around the time of the Hungarian conquest of Transylvania at the end of the 10th century, and their independence as the Kingdom of Wallachia and the Kingdom of Moldavia in the 12th century.

The Pechenegs, a semi-nomadic Turkic peopleof the Central Asian steppes, occupied the steppes north of the Black Sea from the 8th to the 12th centuries, and by the 10th century they were in control of all of the territory between the Don and the lower Danube rivers. During the 11th and 12th centuries, the nomadic Cuman-Kipchak Confederacy dominated the territories between present-day Kazakh Yeli, southern Russia, Ukraine, southern Moldavia and western Wallachia.

The Kingdom of Hungary invited settlers from Central and Western Europe, such as the Saxonsto occupy Transylvania. The Székelys were brought to southeastern Transylvania as border guards, but later became part of the general population. Among them were also Saxons, who were the ancestors of present-day Romanian Germans.

Wallachia, an independent state bordering Hungary had been near the border of the Ottoman Empire since the 14th century until it had gradually succumbed to the Ottomans' influence during the next centuries with brief periods of independence. It’s most known leader, Vlad Tepes III, was remembered for his raids against the Ottoman Empire and his initial success of keeping his small country free for a time, and preventing Ottoman imperialism from spreading throughout more parts of Europe.

However, the entire Balkan peninsula and northern Hungary became Ottoman provinces by 1541. Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania came under Ottoman suzerainty but remained fully autonomous and until the 18th century, had some external independence. During this period, the Romanian lands experienced a slow disappearance of the feudalism and the distinguishing of some of it’s rulers. The last territories held in Romania the river ports of Giurgiu and Turnu were not returned until 1817.

John II, the non-Habsburg King of Hungary, moved his royal court to Alba Iulia in Transylvania and after his abdication from the Hungarian throne, he became the first Prince of Transylvania. His 1568 Edict of Torda was the first decree of religious freedomin the modern European history, which lead to Protestantism and Catholicism to a lesser extent to thrive in Transylvania. During the Austro-Hungarian rule of Transylvania, Romanians formed the majority of the population, thus leading to issues involving previous Magyarization policies by past rulers.

In 1699, Transylvania became a part of the Habsburg Monarchy following the Austrian victory over the Turks. The Habsburgs rapidly expanded their empire; in 1718 Oltenia, a major part of Wallachia, was annexed to the Habsburg monarchy and was only returned in 1739. In 1775, the Habsburgs later occupied the north-western part of Moldavia, which was later called Bukovina and was incorporated to the Austrian Empire in 1804. The Russian Empire, also seeking to expand, incorporated Bessarabia into it’s lands in 1812.

Sometime during the 1700’s, a group of “Bulgars” migrated from Eastern Bulgaria, possibly fleeing the real Turks, arrived in Romania, migrating through Wallachia & Moldavia before finally settling in Bessarabia. The Romanian locals were indifferent to the migrants, but turned on them upon finding out they were Muslims. These “Bulgars” were converted to Orthodoxy, after the Romanians decided to let them stay, so long as they converted. The “Bulgars” were the ancestors of the modern-day Gagauz people.

In 1848, there was a revolution in Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania perpetrated by Tudor Vladimirescu and his Pandurs in the Wallachian Uprising of 1821. The goals of the revolutionaries were full independence for Moldavia and Wallachia, and national emancipation in Transylvania. Said uprisings helped the population of all three principalities recognize their unity of language and similar cultures and interests.

After the revolutions in 1848, the Great Powers accepted the idea of a single, Romanian state, and Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldovia united to form the United Principalities (Romanian: *Principatele Unite*), much to the anger of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The status of Romania was elevated from a principality to a kingdom as per the 1878 Berlin Treaty. It’s first king was Carol I. The period between 1878 and 1914 was one of stability and progress for Romania. During the Second Balkan War, Romania joined Greece, Rascia and Montenegro against Bulgaria.

In August 1914, when World War I broke out, Romania declared its neutrality. However, in 1916, it became an Allied power when Austria-Hungary declared war on Romania over Transylvania. The Hungarians swept through the west, and when that failed, tried attacking through Ukraine, from Slovakia. The campaign ended in a slight victory; the Romanians had successfully kept their territories, but on the other hand, much of the country’s army was killed, and much of Transylvania’s cities were fully or partially destroyed.

In 1918, at the end of World War I, the union of Romania with Bukovina was ratified in 1919 in the Treaty of Saint Germain, and Bessarabia later joined in 1919. With the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, Hungary lost the Crișana region, as well as parts of Satmar-Maramureș to Romania. The sudden gain of land also meant that the country was now in possession of even more minority groups (Hungarians, Gagauzes, Germans, Ukrainians, etc). National minorities were recognized by the 1923 Constitution of Romania and supported by laws; they were represented in Parliament and several of them created political parties.

From 1938 to 1944, Romania was a dictatorship. The first dictator was King Carol II, who abolished the parliamentary regime and ruled with his *camarilla*. During the Second World War, Romania tried 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. King Mihai I attempted to scramble troops out of Bukovina, but by then the Russians were already invading from the north. By the mid-part of WWII, Nazi Germany & Hungary were successful in occupying Transylvania, and began the Holocaust in Romania. On 23 August 1944, Antonescu was toppled and arrested by King Mihai I of Romania, who joined the Allies and declared war on Germany.

The end of WWII saw Transylvania being ceded back to Romania, only for Romania itself to become part of the USSR, as the Romanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Romanian: *Republica Socialistă Sovietică Română*; Russian: Румынская Советская Социалистическая Республика *Rumynskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika*). Soviet occupation following World War II strengthened the position of Communists, who became dominant in the left-wing coalition government that was appointed in March 1945.

From 1974 to 1991, Nicolae Ceauşescu served as the RSSR’s Head of State. Under his leadership, an estimated 0.6-1.7 million perished under his rule. His leadership was also one of the main focuses of his cult of personality, inspired by multiple European dictatorships of the time. In the early 1980’s he implemented austerity policies that impoverished the nation. This eventually lead to the 1989 Romanian Revolution which saw Nicolae and his wife executed. The country officially left the USSR on 25 December, 1990, becoming the first country to secede from the USSR.

After the fall of Ceauşescu, the National Salvation Front (FSN) led by Ion Iliescu introduced partial multi-party democratic and free market measures. Post–Cold War Romania developed closer ties with Western Europe, eventually joining NATO in 2004. In June 1993, the country applied for membership in the European Union (EU). It became an Associated State of the EU in 1995, an Acceding Country in 2004, and a full member on 1 January 2007.

## Politics

Romania is a federal constitutional republic and representative democracy. The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the Constitution of Romania, the country's supreme legal document. The seat of government is the city of Bucharest, as designated by Congress. Suffrage is universal, equal, secret and mandatory. The current president is Klaus Iohannis, and the current Prime Minister is Ludovic Orban. The country has a parliament, and it's upper house is the Senate (Romanian: *Senat*), and the lower house is the Chamber of Deputies (Romanian: *Camera Deputaților*).

The Romanian judicial system is strongly influenced by the French model, is based on civil law and is inquisitorial in nature. The Constitutional Court (Romanian: *Curtea Constituțională*) is responsible for judging the compliance of laws and other state regulations with the constitution, which is the fundamental law of the country and can only be amended through a public referendum. Romania's 2007 entry into the EU has been a significant influence on its domestic policy, and including judicial reforms, increased judicial cooperation with other member states, and measures to combat corruption.

The country itself is divided into 10 federal entities known as states (Romanian: *stări*), and a federal capital territory comprising Bucharest. All states, including Ilfov have a degree of self-governance, each with their own state-level government. The states are further divided into counties (Romanian: *județul*), while Ilfov acts as both a federal territory and a canton. All states roughly correspond to a historical kingdom or region.

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 Lieutenant General Daniel Petrescu who is managed by the Minister of National Defence while the president is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces during wartime.

The Romanian Armed Forces consist of land, air, and naval forces led by a Commander-in-chief under the supervision of the Ministry of National Defence, and by the president as the Supreme Commander during wartime. Approximately 25,000-45,000 are serving in the armed forces, and 2.5% of the country’s GDP is spent on the armed forces annually. In modern times, Romania has contributed troops, most notably in Afghanistan in 2002, Iraq in 2006, and Nigeria in 2020. The country is an NATO member, joining the alliance in 2004, and has been in the alliance for 18 years now. It has agreed to the construction of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence System.

## Geography & Nature

The country has an area of 276,177 km2 (106,632 square miles), making it the 10th largest country in Europe, just ahead of Belarus, and behind Italy. It has a coastline on the Black Sea, measuring 362 kilometres (224 miles) in length. The country has 12 national parks, and a further 29 protected areas such as regional parks and reserves. It is home to the Danuba Delta, and the Rodna and Retezat Mountains, which are all natural UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The south is comprised of the regions of Oltenia, Muntenia, Ilfov and Dobrogea, and is characterized by it’s coastline, it’s Bulgarian border and the Danube flowing through the area. Most of it made up of plains, but also contains the Danube Valley, and it’s respective Delta. A few of Romania’s ports are located along the river, including Giurgiu, Corabia, and Turnu Severin. The coastline contains the Danubian Steppem which is arid, while the rest of the region is humid continental climate. Marshes are also present at the Danube Delta, although it is at risk due to pollution.

The west is comprised of Transylvania, Banat, Crișana and Maramureș. The Carpathian Mountains wind through the region in the shape of a backwards “c”, encompassing the Transylvanian Plateau. The region is home to the Făgăraș Range, which is considered the most scenic area in the country. Mount Moldoveanu, the highest peak in the country at 2,544 meters (8,346 ft) is located in this region. The climate here is also continental, and is much colder in the mountains.

The east contains the regions of Bucovina, Moldavia and Bessarabia. The east contains many forests and plains. It’s climate is suitable for farming and cultivation, as evidenced by the existence of the wine-producing Codru region in Bessarabia. The Estuary of the Dniester is located in the southern halve of the Bessarabia Region, and is one of 2 estuaries in the country. It contains sections of the Danube, and the river ports of Brăila, Galați and Smil. Like the rest of the country, the region has a continental climate.

At least 90 mammal species are present in the country, of which 20 of them are threatened to a degree. Notable native animals include the Harbour porpoise, Eurasian lynx, chamois and European bison (Wisent). Much of this wildlife can be found in neighbouring countries, given Europe’s medium-sized range of animal species. While not particularly endangered, Romania's animal species are at risk, due to partial logging and industrialization of the Danube Delta. The country's wildlife is similar to that of Ukraine's and Hungary's wildlife, being as Romania, like most other European countries lie in the temperate climate zone.

## Economy

The country's economy is a fast developing, high-income mixed economy with a very high Human Development Index and a skilled labour force and a GDP of $628.519 billion. Romania is a leading destination in Central and Eastern Europe for foreign direct investment: the cumulative inward FDI in the country since 1989 totals more than $240 billion. Romania is the largest electronics producer in Central and Eastern Europe. In the past 20 years Romania has also grown into a major centre for mobile technology, information security, and related hardware research. The country uses the Leu (L) as it's currency.

Romania's financial sector remains dominated by banks, a large share of which is foreign-owned, but the importance of NBFLs is growing. There are 35 banks in Romania, 29 of which are foreign-owned (22 subsidiaries and 7 branches). The Bursa de Valori București (Romanian: *Bucharest Stock Exchange)* is the stock exchange of Romania located in Bucharest. In 2019, the capitalization of BVB increased 23.4% compared to the previous year, to the value of EUR 37.8 billion. Noted financial institutions in the country include the Commercial Bank of Romania, Raiffeisen Bank, BRD & CEC Bank.

Romania is aggressively promoting and developing its biotechnology industry. Hundred of millions of dollars were invested into the sector to build up infrastructure, fund research and development and to recruit top international scientists to Romania. Romania features one of the world's newest competitive bio-industries, in key areas as pharmacogenomics, protein engineering, glyco-engineering, tissue engineering, bio-informatics, genome medicine and preventive medicine. Romania is devoting substantial resources to developing universities and R&D facilities, increasing bioventure startups, growing bio-clusters (communities of biotechnology companies and institutions) and developing human resources.

Romania has been successful in developing dynamic telecommunications, aerospace, and weapons sectors. Industry and construction accounted for 32% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2018, a comparatively large share even without taking into account related services. The sector employed 26.4% of the workforce. With the manufacture of over 600,000 vehicles in 2018, Romania was Europe's sixth largest producer of automobiles. Dacia, a automobile company based in Mioveni, is producing more than 1,000,000 cars a year (with 1 factory in Morocco).

Agriculture summed up about 4.3% of GDP in 2019, down from 12.6% in 2004. As of 2017, 25.8% of the Romanian workforce is employed in agriculture, compared to an EU average of 4.4%. Mechanization is comparatively poor, with one tractor available for every 54 hectares, while the EU average is one tractor for every 13 hectares. According to the National Statistics Institute, it is Europe's largest producer of sunflower seeds, soybeans and the world's second largest Plum producer (behind China).

The volume of traffic in Romania, especially goods transportation, has increased in recent years due to its strategic location in South-East Europe. In the past few decades, much of the freight traffic shifted from rail to road. A further strong increase of traffic is expected in the future. Due to dependency on oil and gas imports from Russia, the country has placed an increasingly heavy emphasis on nuclear energy since the 1980s. The Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant is the only one of its kind in Romania, although there are plans to build a second one in Transylvania, possibly after 2020.

Romania's tourism sector had a direct contribution of EUR 5.21 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018, making it an important source of income. 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. The most visited cities are Bucharest, Constanța, Brașov, Timișoara, Sibiu, Alba-Iulia, Cluj-Napoca, Sighișoara and Iași. Natural touristic attractions include the Danube, the Carpathian Mountains, and the Black Sea.

## Demographics

As of 2022, Romania had a population of 35.1 million people, making it the 3rd most populous country in Eastern Europe, behind Russia and Ukraine. Since part of Romania falls in the Balkans, it can also be considered the most populous Balkan nation, as the Dobruja region is part of the Balkans. The country's population is expected to rise to 37.8 million by 2035, and then begin falling to 34.1 by 2050. 78.6% of the population lives in cities, constituting a population of 27.5 million. In order to be a “city”, it must have a population over 100,000. A town is above 10,000, and below that is a village. The current rural population is 7.5 million, which is expected to fall to 4.7 million by the next 30 years.

By far the vast majority of the populace is made up of the Romanians, who are native to the country. They are a Romance ethnicity, related to the Aromanians and Greeks (the closest related groups) and the Istrians, a Romance group of Croatia. They represent 90.3% (31.6 million) of the population. They descend from the mixed Daco-Roman population that was present since the days of *Dacia Romana*. Though the Dacians are now extinct, traces of their heritage survive in rural parts of the country.

The largest ethnic minority are the Hungarians, who live in Székelyland, a Hungarian-dominated region in Transylvania, and their population is around 1.6 million. The second largest minority are the Gagauz, a Turkic group who primarily live in Bessarabia who number around 0.8 million. A German population of around 316,000 exits in the country, descended from the Transylvanian Saxons. Additional minorities include Ukrainians, Bulgarians and Russians.

The official and main language of daily life in the country is Romanian (Romanian: *română*), a Romance language. It has 32.6 L1 speakers, and an additional 2.5 L2 speakers. Along with Romanian as the official language of the country, the constitution declares 2 national minority languages; Hungarian and Gagauz, having 1 million and 0.5 million speakers at any level respectively. They are co-official in Transylvania, Crișana and Bessarabia respectively. Recognized minority languages include Ukrainian, German and it’s Transylvanian dialect, Bulgarian, Russian, Rascian, Polish and Yiddish.

As according to it’s constitution, Romania is a secular state, though it is primarily Christian. Despite being a Romance country, it is the only one of two of them where Catholicism is not the primary religion, which would be Orthodoxy in this case. 76% of the country follows Orthodoxy, one of 3 major branches of Christianity, and most follow the Romanian Orthodox Church. 11.2% of the population is Catholic, which includes the ethnic Hungarians of the country. Only 5.1% are Protestant, and a further 1.7% either follow other religions or atheism.

## Culture

Romanian culture is the product of the country’s history, geography and it’s neighbours. It’s widely thought that the Romanians, Meglenians, Istrians and Aromanians descended from the inhabitants of the Roman Empire, and absorbed indigenous groups like the Dacians, creating a unique culture amongst the Romance world. Romanians have played and contributed a major role in the advancement of the arts, culture, sciences, technology and engineering.

Minorities have made a major cultural contribution to Romania. Influences came from, most notably, minority groups such as Germans, Greeks, Italians, and Hungarians. The Székely and the Saxons living in Transylvania made many important architectural contributions to the region, including numerous churches, fortifications, and town centers. Also, they figured in some landmarks in the development of ethnic Romanian culture: the first letter written in Romanian was addressed to the mayor of Kronstadt (Romanian: *Braşov*), and the first book printed in Romanian was in Hermannstadt (Romanian: *Sibiu*).

Folk music is the oldest form of Romanian musical creation, characterized by great vitality; it is the defining source of the cultured musical creation, both religious and secular. The religious musical creation, born under the influence of Byzantine music adjusted to the intonations of the local folk music, saw a period of glory between the 15th and 17th centuries, when reputed schools of liturgical music developed within Romanian monasteries. Notable Romanian composers of the 19th and 20th centuries include Ciprian Porumbescu, Anton Pann, Eduard Caudella, Mihail Jora, Dinu Lipatti and especially George Enescu.

Romanian cuisine has been influenced by Austrian and German cuisine (especially in the historical regions that had been formerly administered by the Habsburg Monarchy), but also shares some similarities with other cuisines in the Balkan region such as the Greek, Bulgarian, or Serbian cuisine. *Ciorbă* includes a wide range of sour soups, while *mititei*, *mămăligă* (similar to polenta), and *sarmale* are featured commonly in main courses.

Football is the most popular sport in Romania with over 219,000 registered players as of 2018. The market for professional football in Romania is roughly €740 million according to UEFA. 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. The second most popular team sport is handball. The men's team won the handball world championship in 1961, 1964, 1970, 1974 making them the third most successful nation ever in the tournament. opular individual sports include combat sports, martial arts, and swimming.

Romanian architecture is diverse, including medieval architecture, modern era architecture, interwar architecture, communist architecture, and contemporary 21st century architecture. In Romania, there are also regional differences with regard to architectural styles. It is where thee Brâncovenesc style of architecture emerged, mostly found in churches & palaces across the nation. Another local style is Moldavian, found strictly in Moldavia & Bessarabia, used in churches & monasteries. Nowadays, more modern architecture predominates, often at the cost of endangering historical centres.

Today, the vast majority of Romanians wear modern style dress on most occasions, and the garments described here largely fell out of use during the 20th century. However, they can still be seen in more remote areas, on special occasions, and at ethnographic and folk events. Each historical region has its own specific variety of costume. Nowadays, the main wearers of peasant garb are the soloists of folk music, the folk dance ensembles and the actors in movies and shows.

Television, magazines, and newspapers are all operated by both state-owned and for-profit corporations which depend on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. The Constitution of Romania guarantees freedom of speech. As a country in transition, the Romanian media system is under transformation. Reporters Without Borders ranks Romania 42nd in its Worldwide Press Freedom Index, from 2013. Freedom House ranked it as "partly free" in 2014. Journalists have opposed initiatives for a Law on the Press, fearing that it would impose restrictions rather than granting freedoms.