Romania (Listeni/ro?'me?ni?/ roh-may-nee-?; Romanian: Romnia [rom?'ni.

a] ( listen
)), formerly also spelled Roumania[10][11] and Rumania,[12][13] is a unitary sem
i-presidential republic located in southeastern-central Europe, north of the Bal
kan Peninsula and on the western shore of the Black Sea. It borders Hungary, Ser
bia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Bulgaria. It covers 238,391 square kilometres (92,043
sq mi) and has a temperate-continental climate. With its 20.1 million inhabitan
ts, it is the seventh most populous member of the European Union. Its capital an
d largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth largest city in the European Union.
Romania emerged within the territories of former Roman Empire province Dacia as
the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia formed in 1859 a personal union. It
gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, and at the end of World Wa
r I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of
Romania. At the end of World War II, territories which today roughly correspond
to Moldova were occupied by the Soviet Union and Romania became a socialist repu
blic and member of the Warsaw Pact. Following the 1989 Revolution, Romania began
a transition towards democracy and a capitalist market economy.
Since then, the living standards have seen a vast improvement, and currently, Ro
mania is an upper-middle income country with a high Human Development Index. It
has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007.
Following rapid economic growth in the 2000s, Romania has an economy predominan
tly based on services, and is a producer and net exporter of machines and electr
ic energy, featuring companies like Automobile Dacia and OMV Petrom. Around 90%
of the population identifies themselves as practitioners of Eastern Orthodoxy, a
nd are native speakers of Romanian, a Romance language. With a rich cultural his
tory, Romania has been the home of influential artists, musicians, and inventors
, and features a variety of tourist attractions such as "Dracula's Castle".
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.2 Middle Ages
2.3 Independence and monarchy
2.4 World Wars and Greater Romania
2.5 Communism
2.6 Democracy
3 Geography
4 Governance
4.1 Foreign relations
4.2 Military
4.3 Administrative divisions
5 Economy
5.1 Infrastructure
5.2 Tourism
5.3 Science and technology
6 Demographics
6.1 Languages
6.2 Religion
6.3 Urbanisation
6.4 Education
6.5 Healthcare
7 Culture
7.1 Arts and monuments
7.2 Holidays, traditions and cuisine
7.3 Sports
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 Sources
11.1 Primary sources
11.2 Secondary sources
12 External links
Etymology[edit]
Main article: Name of Romania
Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning "citizen of Rome".[14] The first
known use of the appellation was attested in 16th-century by Italian humanists
travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia.[15][16][17][18]
Neac?u's Letter from 1521, the oldest surviving document written in Romanian.
The oldest surviving document written in Romanian, a 1521 letter known as the "L
etter of Neac?u from Cmpulung",[19] is also notable for including the first docum
ented occurrence of the country's name: Wallachia is mentioned as ?eara Rumneasc (
"The Romanian Land", ?eara from the Latin terra, "land"; current spelling: ?ara
Romneasc).
Two spelling forms: romn and rumn were used interchangeably [a] until sociolinguis
tic developments in the late 17th century led to semantic differentiation of the
two forms: rumn came to mean "bondsman", while romn retained the original ethnoli
nguistic meaning.[20] After the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumn gradu
ally fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form romn.[b] Tudor Vladi
mirescu, a revolutionary leader of the early 19th century, used the term Rumnia t
o refer exclusively to the principality of Wallachia."[21]
The use of the name Romania to refer to the common homeland of all Romaniansits m
odern-day meaningis first documented in the early 19th century.[c] The name has b
een officially in use since 11 December 1861.[22] English-language sources still
used the terms Rumania or Roumania, derived from the French spelling Roumanie a
nd/or the Greek ???????, as recently as World War II,[23] but the name has since
been replaced with the official spelling Romania.[24]
Romania (Listeni/ro?'me?ni?/ roh-may-nee-?; Romanian: Romnia [rom?'ni.a] ( listen
)), formerly also spelled Roumania[10][11] and Rumania,[12][13] is a unitary sem
i-presidential republic located in southeastern-central Europe, north of the Bal
kan Peninsula and on the western shore of the Black Sea. It borders Hungary, Ser
bia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Bulgaria. It covers 238,391 square kilometres (92,043
sq mi) and has a temperate-continental climate. With its 20.1 million inhabitan
ts, it is the seventh most populous member of the European Union. Its capital an
d largest city, Bucharest, is the sixth largest city in the European Union.
Romania emerged within the territories of former Roman Empire province Dacia as
the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia formed in 1859 a personal union. It
gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877, and at the end of World Wa
r I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the sovereign Kingdom of
Romania. At the end of World War II, territories which today roughly correspond
to Moldova were occupied by the Soviet Union and Romania became a socialist repu
blic and member of the Warsaw Pact. Following the 1989 Revolution, Romania began
a transition towards democracy and a capitalist market economy.
Since then, the living standards have seen a vast improvement, and currently, Ro
mania is an upper-middle income country with a high Human Development Index. It
has been a member of NATO since 2004, and part of the European Union since 2007.
Following rapid economic growth in the 2000s, Romania has an economy predominan
tly based on services, and is a producer and net exporter of machines and electr
ic energy, featuring companies like Automobile Dacia and OMV Petrom. Around 90%
of the population identifies themselves as practitioners of Eastern Orthodoxy, a
nd are native speakers of Romanian, a Romance language. With a rich cultural his
tory, Romania has been the home of influential artists, musicians, and inventors
, and features a variety of tourist attractions such as "Dracula's Castle".
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.2 Middle Ages
2.3 Independence and monarchy
2.4 World Wars and Greater Romania
2.5 Communism
2.6 Democracy
3 Geography
4 Governance
4.1 Foreign relations
4.2 Military
4.3 Administrative divisions
5 Economy
5.1 Infrastructure
5.2 Tourism
5.3 Science and technology
6 Demographics
6.1 Languages
6.2 Religion
6.3 Urbanisation
6.4 Education
6.5 Healthcare
7 Culture
7.1 Arts and monuments
7.2 Holidays, traditions and cuisine
7.3 Sports
8 See also
9 Notes
10 References
11 Sources
11.1 Primary sources
11.2 Secondary sources
12 External links
Etymology[edit]
Main article: Name of Romania
Romania derives from the Latin romanus, meaning "citizen of Rome".[14] The first
known use of the appellation was attested in 16th-century by Italian humanists
travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia.[15][16][17][18]
Neac?u's Letter from 1521, the oldest surviving document written in Romanian.
The oldest surviving document written in Romanian, a 1521 letter known as the "L
etter of Neac?u from Cmpulung",[19] is also notable for including the first docum
ented occurrence of the country's name: Wallachia is mentioned as ?eara Rumneasc (
"The Romanian Land", ?eara from the Latin terra, "land"; current spelling: ?ara
Romneasc).
Two spelling forms: romn and rumn were used interchangeably [a] until sociolinguis
tic developments in the late 17th century led to semantic differentiation of the
two forms: rumn came to mean "bondsman", while romn retained the original ethnoli
nguistic meaning.[20] After the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the word rumn gradu
ally fell out of use and the spelling stabilised to the form romn.[b] Tudor Vladi
mirescu, a revolutionary leader of the early 19th century, used the term Rumnia t
o refer exclusively to the principality of Wallachia."[21]
The use of the name Romania to refer to the common homeland of all Romaniansits m
odern-day meaningis first documented in the early 19th century.[c] The name has b
een officially in use since 11 December 1861.[22] English-language sources still
used the terms Rumania or Roumania, derived from the French spelling Roumanie a
nd/or the Greek ???????, as recently as World War II,[23] but the name has since
been replaced with the official spelling Romania.[24]