Romania's History
 The
history of Romania cannot be isolated from the history of the
European peoples as a whole, though it could be seen as among the
most eventful. As with other Romance peoples, their origins lie at
the beginning of the Ist millennium AD. They have continuously
inhabited the same geographical space to this day, a space inhabited
by their Thracian kin as long ago as the 2nd millennium BC. Today
the Romanians are the sole descendent of the Eastern Roman world,
and their language, along with Spanish, Portuguese, French and
Italian, is a major offspring of Latin. They are the only people who
through their name - roman (derived from the Latin "romanus") - have
preserved to this day the memory of the Seal of Rome, a memory to be
further perpetuated in the name adopted by the national state -
Romania. It is a Romance island that has survived among a sea of
Slavic and Finno-Ugric neighbors, in a region that has been
devastated for more than a millennium by wave after wave of migrants
and invaders. Christians of the Orthodox rite, the Romanians lived
from the Middle Ages to modern times in three neighborhoods
self-dependent principalities - Walachia, Moldavia and Transylvania
- which despite their location at the crossroads of great
expansionist empires - Czarist Russia and the Ottoman and Habsburg
Empires - managed to preserve their statehood, faith and
civilization, at a time when neighboring kingdoms like Byzantium,
Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Poland were being wiped off the map of
Europe. Later, despite the hostility and open opposition of the same
great and powerful neighbors, they managed to achieve national
unification in 1859, a process eventually completed in 1918. At the
and of World War I, the centuries old dream of reuniting all
Romanians within the boundaries of a single state became reality, an
achievement paid for with the sacrifice of over 800,000 lives. The
ensuing two decades of economic, political and cultural advances
were cut short in 1940 by the outbreak of World War II, when one
third of the country's area and population were annexed. In 1945,
after four years of war, leaving another 700,000 dead, the almost
century old democratic tradition of the Romanian state was cut short
by the arrival of Soviet troops and the imposition of a communist
regime. The hopes awakened by the Party's deviation from the Soviet
model between 1960 and 1968 were soon dispelled by the rise to power
of Nicolae Ceausescu with his oppressive and absurd totalitarian
regime. That devastating period of dictatorship was brought to an
end by the revolution of December 1989, closing the historical black
hole into which Romania had descended for the previous 45 years, and
opening a new page in Romania's contemporary history.
Geography
 With
an area of 238,391 sq. km, Romania is the largest country in Eastern
Europe. The River Danube drains the whole of Romania, apart from the
Black Sea coast. It finishes the 2850-km course it has taken through
nine countries in Romania's Danube Delta. Most of Romania's rivers
are tributaries of the Danube. Much of northern and central Romania
is made up of the U-shaped Carpathian Mountains, which loop north
through Romania, western Ukraine, southern Poland, and Slovakia. The
loftiest peak in the Romanian Carpathians is Mount Moldoveanu
(2544m), which belongs to the Fagaras range, southeast of Sibiu.
Campia Transilvaniei, or the Transylvanian plain, a worn down
plateau of hills and valleys, takes up the center of the U. To the
east is the Moldavian plateau. In the south and southwest of the
country earthquakes are not unusual. The recent major earthquake in
Turkey was felt in Bucharest. Geographers usually split the
Carpathians up into the southern Carpathians, or "Transylvanian
Alps"; the western Carpathians, which consist mainly of the Apuseni
Mountains; and the eastern Carpathians, often known as the "Oriental
Carpathians". It is in this latter region than 40% of Romania's
forests are to be found. Almost a third of the country's territory
is taken up by the Carpathians, with their alpine pastures at higher
altitudes and thick forests of beech, fir, spruce and oak lower
down. Hills and tablelands rich in orchards and vineyards account
for another third, while the fertile plains with their cereals,
vegetables, herbs and other crops, make up the remainder of rural
Romania.
Transport Network
 Road
network: Romania has 72,816-km of roads, of which 14,683-km is trunk
motorways (including 4,508-km of European motorways), and 53,133-km
county and commune roads. Railway network: there are 22,367-km of
railway lines, of which 8,643-km are electrified, 5,825-km are
double track and 16,542-km are single track. Inland waterways: these
come to a total length of 1,690-km, of which 1,075-km is on the
internationally navigable River Danube, 524-km on navigable
tributaries of the Danube and 91-km on man-made navigable routes:
the Bega and the Danube-Black Sea canals. Air network: Romania has
17 airports, of which 4 are for domestic and international flights
and 13 are for domestic flights only. Bucharest Underground (Metro):
this has a total length of 59.2-km, four main lines and 42 stations,
and is expanding.
Climate
 Average
annual temperatures range from 110 C in the south of the country to
just 20 C in the mountains. Winters are often very cold, with large
quantities of snow between December and April, while summers are
usually hot and sunny. +40 degrades Celsius is not unusual in
Bucharest in July and August. Spring can be very wet, with a good
portion of each year's 600 to 700 mm rainfall occurring at this
time. Most rains fall in the mountains, while the Danube Delta gets
the least.
Population
 Just
over half of Romania's population of 22,502,803 million (on 1 July
1998) lives in towns and cities. Average population density per sq.
km. is 94.4 people. With a population of 2 million Bucharest dwarfs
its closest rivals, Iasi (348,070), Constanta (342,264), Cluj-Napoca
(332,498), Timisoara (324,304) and Brasov (314,225). Ethnically,
Romania's population is as follows: 89.7% Romanian, 7.2% Hungarian,
1.8% German and 0.3% Jewish. Other ethnic groups make up another 1%.
Religion
 Romania
is the only non-Roman Catholic Romance speaking country. 86% of the
population is Romanian Orthodox, while only 5% are Roman Catholic.
However, the Pope's 1999 visit proved popular with both religious
communities. There are 14 recognized religious denominations in
Romania: 1. Orthodox (the Romanian Orthodox Church and the Serbian
Orthodox Vicariate), 2. Catholic (Catholic Church of Latin Rite and
Uniate Church); the Armenian Catholic Ordinariate; 3. Armenian; 4.
Old Rite Church; 5. Reformed; 6. Evangelical; 7. Lutheran
Evangelical; 8. Unitarian; 9. Baptist; 10. Christian Evangelical;
11. Pentecostal; 12. Christian Adventist; 13. Mosaic; 14. Muslim.
3.5% of Romanians are Protestant, 1% Greco-Catholic, 0.3% Muslim and
0.2% Jewish. Romania's Protestant church is mostly made up of
members of the country's German and Hungarian minorities.
Transylvanian Saxons were traditionally Lutherans, while a large
proportion of the Hungarian community belongs to the Hungarian
Reformed, or Calvinist, Church. The Roman Catholic Church was
brought to the country by the Habsburgs, during their attempt to
convert Transylvania during the 17th century. Most Muslims can be
found in the Constanta, Mangalia area, among the small Turkish
communities existing there. A very few Jewish synagogues are still
in use, serving a congregation with an average age of 60.
Languages
 English
and French are the main languages taught in Romanian schools, and
Hungarian can be useful in Transylvania. Romanian is much closer to
classical Latin than are, and than it is to, other Romance
languages. Speakers of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French won't
understand much spoken Romanian, but may be able to comprehend
written Romanian. Even the English language's stock of Latin-rooted
words means that a certain amount of overlap in meaning exists,
making Romanian words easier to understand and remember.
Money
 The
Romanian currency is known as the Leu (plural Lei), or "Lion". At
the time of writing (15'th of January 2006) $ US would buy 2,9
Lei. This is extremely liable to fluctuation. The Lei is in a
permanent state of decline against foreign hard currencies. The
largest bill is 1,000 Lei, followed by 50, 10, 5,
1, 50 coins, 10 coins, 5 coins and 1 coin. If you are bringing cash ensure it
is in the form of unmarked bills. Exchange offices will often refuse
marked, torn or well-used notes. US dollar notes issued before 1990
are also not usually acceptable.
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