Romania

Lore & Background

Romania was settled during the Lower Paleolithic. The modern Romanian state was formed in 1859 with the unification of Moldavia and Wallachia under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, becoming the Kingdom of Romania in 1881 under Carol I. Romania gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, formalised by the Treaty of Berlin. After World War I, Transylvania, Banat, Bukovina, and Bessarabia joined the Old Kingdom, forming Greater Romania. In 1940, under Axis pressure, Romania lost territories to Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union. Following the Act of 23 August, Romania switched sides to join the Allies. After 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 Warsaw Pact member. After the fall of communism and the Romanian revolution in 1989, Romania transitioned to liberal democracy.

In Their Own Story

As dawn broke over the Carpathians, a shepherd's flock drifted through mist that clung to the peaks like ghostly wool, passing beneath the brooding silhouette of Bran Castle. Down in the valley, the crisp scent of woodsmoke from rural hearths tangled with the distant, electric hum of Bucharest's rush hour. It was a place where time refused to move in straight lines; one could step from the silent stone of a 14th-century monastery directly into the neon pulse of a modern art district, hearing the phantom march of Roman legions echoing beneath the asphalt.

Reader's Guide

The Cucuteni–Trypillia culture—the best known archaeological culture of Old Europe—flourished in Muntenia, southeastern Transylvania and northeastern Moldavia in the 3rd millennium BC. The first fortified settlements appeared around 1800 BC. Greek colonies established on the Black Sea coast in the 7th century BC. The Romans reached Dacia during Burebista's reign and conquered Dobruja in 46 AD. Dacia was again united under Decebalus around 85 AD. Emperor Trajan transformed Banat, Oltenia and the greater part of Transylvania into a new province called Roman Dacia in 106 AD. The Romans abandoned the province Dacia Trajana in the 270s. Dobruja remained an integral part of the Roman Empire until the early 7th century. The Goths expanded towards the Lower Danube from the 230s. The Huns invaded in 376. The Gepids took possession of the former Dacia province. The first Slavic groups settled in Moldavia and Wallachia in the 6th century, in Transylvania around 600. The Avars established a powerful empire around 570. The Bulgars occupied the Lower Danube region in 680. After the Avar Khaganate collapsed in the 790s, the First Bulgarian Empire became the dominant power. The Magyars took control of the steppes north of the Lower Danube in the 830s, but were forced to abandon this region around 894. The Pechenegs seized the lowlands east of the Carpathians. Byzantine missionaries proselytised from the 940s. The first king of Hungary, Stephen I, established Roman Catholic bishoprics in Transylvania and Banat in the early 11th century. The nomadic Cumans became the dominant power of the steppes in the 1060s.

Did You Know?

• Romania derives from the local name for Romanian, which in turn derives from Latin romanus, meaning 'Roman' or 'of Rome'.
• The oldest known surviving document written in Romanian that can be precisely dated is a 1521 letter known as the 'Letter of Neacșu from Câmpulung'.
• Human remains found in Peștera cu Oase date from circa 40,000 years ago and represent the oldest known Homo sapiens in Europe.
• Excavations at the Poiana Slatinei site yielded the earliest evidence for salt exploitation in Europe, beginning between the 5th and 4th millennium BC.
• Romania is a global net exporter of automotive parts and has some of the fastest internet speeds in the world.