Romania

HISTORY

The earliest known inhabitants in what is now Romania were the Dacians, various Thracian peoples  located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea.

About half of Dacia became a Roman province. The province was fully integrated into the Roman Empire on August 11, 106 AD, and a sizable part of the population were newcomers from other provinces. During this period, the poet Ovid was one of the settlers. Historian estimates of the population of Roman Dacia range from 650,000 to 1,200,000.

Vlad the Impaler, was a ruler of Wallachia (present-day southern Romania) in the 15th century. He became notorious for the extremely cruel punishments that he dealt to his enemies, his favorite form of torture being impaling his victims, then mocking them. In the English speaking world, Vlad the Impaler is perhaps best known for being the inspiration for Dracula.

Wallachia and Moldavia were united when Alexandru Ioan Cuza was elected as the Domnitor (Ruling Prince) of both territories, both of which were still vassals of the Ottoman Empire. This ushered the birth of the modern Romanian state.

Proclamation of the Moldo-Wallachian union

On January 24, 1862, the Principality of Moldavia and the Principality of Wallachia formally united to create the Romanian United Principalities.

Bucharest was designated in 1659 the capital of the princes of Wallachia by Prince Gheorghe Ghica and of Romania in 1862.

During the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War Romania fought on the Russian side - a choice which consecrated her independence.

On May 9, 1877 Romanian prime minister Mihail Kogălniceanu read, in the Chamber of Deputies, the Declaration of Independence of Romania. In the aftermath, it was recognized as an independent state both by the Ottoman Empire and the Great Powers by the Treaty of San Stefano and the Treaty of Berlin.

Romanian troops returning to Bucharest after the war, 8 October 1878.

Romanian inventor Traian Vuia became the first person to fly a heavier-than-air craft with an unassisted takeoff in 1906. Other Romanian engineers such as Henri Coanda and Aurel Vlaicu have also successfully contributed to the history of flight.

During World War II, Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union until 1944, when it joined the Allied powers and faced occupation by the Red Army forces. Romania lost several territories, of which Northern Transylvania was regained after the war.

Following the war, Romania became a socialist republic and member of the Warsaw Pact. On December 30, 1947 King Michael I of Romania was forced to abdicate his throne.

After the Iron Curtain fell in 1989 Romania was liberated from the communist regime.

On December 22, 1989, Communist President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu was overthrown by Ion Iliescu after days of bloody confrontations. The deposed dictator and his wife fled Bucharest with a helicopter as protesters erupted in cheers.

Portret Nicolae Ceaușescu.

Three days later on Christmas Day, Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, First-Deputy Prime-Minister Elena Ceaușescu were condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.

Ceaușescu was the only Communist dictator of Eastern Europe who was charged for crimes against humanity and genocide during the revolutions of 1989.

Elena Ceaușescu was barely literate but was able to obtain a PhD in Chemistry from plagiarism.

The current Romanian flag, a vertical tricolour of blue, yellow, and red, was first adopted in its current form in 1848 during the Wallachian Revolution, though it went through some modifications during the communist era, including the addition of the socialist coat of arms. During the Romanian Revolution, protesters often cut out the communist coat of arms from the flags, symbolizing their rejection of the previous regime.  Decree-Law no. 2 of December 27, 1989 provided at article 1, among other matters, that "the national flag is the traditional tricolor of Romania, with the colors laid out vertically, in the following order, starting from the flagpole: blue, yellow, red."

The similarity with Chad's flag, which differs only in having a darker shade of blue has caused international discussion.

Romanian flag

John Paul II traveled to Romania in 1999 becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.

FUN ROMANIA FACTS

Romanian is a Romance language descended from that of Roman settlers, though later modified by Slav influences.

The Danube is the longest river in Romania. Its length inside Romania is about 1,000 kilometres (621 mi). That is almost half of the length of the entire Danube.

The Danube Delta, which is the second-largest and best-preserved delta in Europe, and also a biosphere reserve and a biodiversity World Heritage Site.

Other World Heritage Sites in Romania, include eight Painted churches of northern Moldavia, eight Wooden Churches of Maramureș, seven Villages with fortified churches in Transylvania, the Horezu Monastery, the Dacian Fortresses of the Orastie Mountains and the Historic Center of Sighișoara.

The Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest was declared the European Museum of the Year in 1996.

Weighing in at about 4 billion kilograms (or about 4.5 million US tons) Romania's Palace of the Parliament is the heaviest building in the world.

The Statue of Decebalus in Orsova is a carving in rock of the face of Decebalus, the last king of Dacia. He fought against the Roman emperors Domitian and Trajan to preserve the independence of his country. At 42.9 m in height and 31.6 m in width it is Europe’s largest rock sculpture.

The rock sculpture of Decebalus. By Erik Cleves Kristensen 

St Andrew is the patron saint of Romania. He is also patron saint of, Barbados, Greece, Russia, Scotland, fishmongers, gout, spinsters, the Order Of The Thistle and several other groups.

The lowest temperature ever taken in Romania was −38.5 °C (−37.3 °F), at Braşov in 1944. The highest temperature ever recorded in Romania was 44.5 °C (112.1 °F), near Calafat in the 1950s.

Romania’s national currency is Leu, which means lion in English.

Source Travelaway