Potted History

Romania (Land of the Romans) occupies parts of the regions known to the Romans as Dacia and Moesia.  The area under secure Roman control corresponds to much of Transylvania plus land between the Carpatii Mountains and the River Danube.  This region was conquered by the Romans in 106 AD, i.e. in the last stages of the empire's expansion.  The remainder of Dacia and Moesia within the boundaries of modern day Romania, was less clearly Roman controlled.

For many centuries Romania suffered unwanted incursions and occupations.  In 1947, it abolished the monarchy and declared itself a republic.  From 1967, internal conditions got much worse as the country entered a most repressive time.  Nicolae Ceau?escu assumed the presidency, and his brutal dictatorial rule of corruption, terror and human rights violation almost ruined Romania.  His regime finally ended during the revolution of 1989.  Ceau?escu and his wife, Elena, were captured, quickly brought to trial before a military tribunal, found guilty of genocide and other crimes against the state, and executed by firing squad.  

Since then, Romania has moved towards a free-market economy.  The Black Sea holiday resorts, the Carpathian Mountains for their hiking and skiing potential, and the Transylvania region (famed location of the Count Dracula legend), are international tourist destinations.

Snippets

Currency – Leu

Capital City – Bucharest

Main Cities – The biggest cities, in descending order, are Bucharest 2,060,551, Constanta 348,575, Iasi 339,728, Timisoara 327,830,  Galati 326,728, Cluj-Napoca 326,017, Brasov 324,210 and Craiova 306,825.  Twenty-five cities have a population of over 100,000.

Population – 22,355,551 (July 2004 est.), more than 55% of whom live in towns and cities, and officially just over 2,500,000 belong to 17 ethnic minorities.

Land Area – 230,340 sq km (88,934 sq miles) = half the size of France, or almost the size of the United Kingdom

Languages – Romanian (official), Hungarian, German and others.  Romanian is the easternmost representative of the Romance family of languages.  It descends directly from the Latin spoken in Dacia and Moesia (which comprised the adjacent border regions of modern Bulgaria and Serbia) in the time of the Roman empire.

Time Zone – East European zone time (GMT + 2 hours).  From the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in September, there is Daylight Saving Time (GMT + 3 hours).  Romania lies in the same time zone as Moldova, Greece, Israel, Egypt and the Republic of South Africa.

Ethnic Mix

Romania's multi-ethnicity is most obvious in Transylvania where 1,600,000 ethnic Hungarians live, with the highest concentration in the eastern counties of Covasna and Harghita, where their ancestors, the Szekely, settled in the 10th century. The Magyar party has representatives in Parliament. The Roma population probably accounts for 10% of the total population, although government statistics say there are only 420,000 of them.  The German population in Romania peaked in the 1930s when there were 800,000 Saxons.  Most of the ethnic German population has left Romania, leaving under 120,000 people behind, most of them in Transylvania and Banat.  There are around 65,000 Ukrainians and 45,000 Russians (who live in the east), 45,000 Serbs and around 18,000 Slovaks in the Banat and Crisana regions.  Of the 760,000 Jews recorded in Romania between 1918-1944, there are around 9,000 left.  Ceausescu allowed Jews to emigrate to Israel in return for large cash payments, and over 300,000 had left by 1989. There are around 7,000 Armenians. There are over 8,000,000 Romanians living abroad.

Religion

Religion plays an integral part in the lives of Romanians. 1992 census figures indicate that over 86.8 % of the population belonged to the Orthodox church.  Roman Catholic and Protestant minorities, such as the Hungarian Reformed Church, are well represented in Transylvania.  In Maramures region many Romanians follow the Uniate creed.  The Schwab and Landler Germans are Roman Catholics, while the Saxons embraced Lutheranism, although a few are Seventh-Day Adventists.  About 75,000 Hungarians are Unitarian and since 1989 the Baptists and newer Evangelican churches have been making great gains.  About 1% of the population are Greek Catholic and 0.1% Jewish.

Landscape

The Carpathian Mountains, running southeast from Poland, and the Carpatii Meridionali Mountains (Transylvanian Alps), running west from Serbia, almost encircle the central plain.  They form a loop through Romania from the north to the southwest.  The tallest peak is Mt. Moldoveanu at 2544 m (8346 ft). The Carpathian/Carpatii loop slopes down to much flatter land in the south and southeast.  This mountain region accounts for about a third (31%) of the country's area.  Another third (33%) is covered by hills and plateaus full of orchards and vineyards.  The final third is a fertile plain where cereals, vegetables, herbs and other crops are grown.

The Prut River forms the eastern border with Moldova, and the Danube River forms the southern border with Bulgaria before, in its lowest reaches, it flows north and east into the Black Sea.

Climate

The climate is temperate continental, with hot summers and very cold winters, and lots of snow from mid December until the end of March.  Romania's average annual temperature is 11C (52F) in the south and on the coast, and 2C (36F) in the mountains.  The mild, sunny days of autumn linger from early September until late October. Spring starts in mid March in most of Romania's regions, but not until April in the mountains and in the northern part of the country.  Annual rainfall is 600 mm to 700 mm (about 25 inches), much of it in the spring.  Precipitation is heaviest in Transylvania and the Carpathian/Carpatii Mountains, with an average of 53 inches (about 1350 mm) of rain and snow.

Also known as Ardeal and comprising more than a third of Romania, Transylvania contains numerous counties, provinces, and ethnic groups.  It has always been a source of confusion for Westerners.  Part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for centuries, Transylvania has had several major Hungarian and German settlements since the 1500s, and big cities in Transylvania still have Romanian, Hungarian and German names.  Generally better off than the south, Transylvania has some of Romania's most important cultural centres and a verdant countryside.