Romania

Romania sits in both Central and Southeastern Europe, positioned along the lower Danube River, north of the Balkan Peninsula, and on the Black Sea’s northwestern coast. Its neighbors include 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. By area, it ranks as Europe’s twelfth-largest country, spanning 238,397 square kilometers, and it holds the sixth-highest population among European Union member states, with about 19 million people. Bucharest serves as the nation’s capital, its biggest city, and its economic hub. Other significant urban centers are Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Constanța, Timișoara, and Brașov.

Human settlement in the area dates back to the Lower Paleolithic. The region later became Dacia, which was conquered by Trajan during the Dacian Wars and subsequently Romanized. The modern Romanian state emerged in 1859 when Moldavia and Wallachia united under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, and it became the Kingdom of Romania in 1881 under Carol I. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was achieved in 1877 and formalized by the Treaty of Berlin. Following World War I, Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, and Bessarabia joined the Old Kingdom, creating Greater Romania at its largest territorial extent.

In 1940, under pressure from the Axis powers, Romania ceded territories to Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union. After the Act of 23 August, the country switched sides to the Allies. Post–World War II, it regained Northern Transylvania through the Paris Peace Treaties. Under Soviet occupation, King Michael I was forced to abdicate, and Romania became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact. Following the fall of communism and the 1989 Romanian Revolution, the country transitioned to a liberal democracy.

Romania is considered a developed nation with a high-income economy and is often seen as a middle power in global affairs. It hosts 11 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The country is a major net exporter of automotive parts and has grown into a notable technology hub, boasting some of the world’s fastest internet speeds. It belongs to numerous international organizations, including the European Union, NATO, and the BSEC.

The name “Romania” comes from the local term for Romanian, which itself traces back to the Latin romanus, meaning “Roman” or “of Rome.” This ethnonym for Romanians first appears in records from the sixteenth century, used by Italian humanists traveling through Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia. The oldest precisely datable surviving document written in Romanian—a 1521 letter known as the “Letter of Neacșu from Câmpulung”—includes the first documented use of the country name, referring to Wallachia.

Human remains from Peștera cu Oase (“Cave with Bones”) have been radiocarbon-dated to around 40,000 years ago, making them the oldest known Homo sapiens in Europe. Neolithic agriculture arrived in the sixth millennium BC with a mixed group from Thessaly. Excavations at the Poiana Slatinei site near a salt spring in Lunca, Neamț, have yielded the earliest evidence of salt exploitation in Europe, with production starting between the fifth and fourth millennia BC. Early permanent settlements grew into “proto-cities” covering over 800 acres. The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, the most famous archaeological culture of Old Europe, flourished in Muntenia, southeastern Transylvania, and northeastern Moldavia during the third millennium BC. The first fortified settlements appeared around 1800 BC, reflecting the militarized nature of Bronze Age societies.

Greek colonies established along the Black Sea coast in the seventh century BC became key trade hubs with local tribes. Among the native peoples, Herodotus in the early fifth century BC mentioned the Getae of the Lower Danube, the Agathyrsi of Transylvania, and the Syginnae of the plains along the Tisza River. Later, Strabo linked the Getae with the Dacians, who dominated lands along the southern Carpathians in the first century BC. Burebista was the first Dacian ruler to unite local tribes, also conquering Greek colonies in Dobruja and neighboring peoples as far as the Middle Danube and the Balkan Mountains between roughly 55 and 44 BC.

After his murder in 44 BC, his kingdom collapsed. The Romans reached Dacia during Burebista’s reign and conquered Dobruja in 46 AD. Dacia reunited under Decebalus around 85 AD, resisting the Romans for decades until the Roman army defeated his forces in 106 AD. Emperor Trajan turned Banat, Oltenia, and most of Transylvania into the province of Roman Dacia, though Dacian, Germanic, and Sarmatian tribes continued to dominate frontier areas.

The Romans pursued organized colonization, and the province enjoyed a long period of peace and prosperity in the second century. Scholars who support the Daco-Roman continuity theory—a major explanation for Romanian origins—argue that the cohabitation of native Dacians and Roman colonists in Roman Dacia marked the first stage of Romanian ethnogenesis. From the 210s, the Carpians, Goths, and other tribes raided Dacia regularly. Unable to resist, Emperor Aurelian ordered the evacuation of Dacia Trajana in the 270s.

Continuity-theory scholars believe most Latin-speaking commoners stayed behind after the army and civil administration withdrew. The Romans held onto their fortresses along the northern Lower Danube for decades, and Dobruja (Scythia Minor) remained part of the Roman Empire until the early seventh century.