ROMANIA....is a country in Southeastern Europe.Romania borders Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the south. Romania has a stretch of sea coast along the Black Sea, and the eastern and southern Carpathian Mountains run through its center The modern state of Romania was formed by the merging of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 and Transylvania in 1918. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the sixth largest city in the EU. Romania joined NATO on March 29, 2004, and the European Union (EU) on January 1, 2007. Romania has the seventh largest population and the ninth largest territory in the EU.
The name of Romania (România) comes from Român ("Romanian"), which is a derivative of the word Romanus ("Roman") from Latin.The fact that Romanians refer to themselves using a derivative of Romanus (Romanian: român/rumân) is mentioned in scholarly works as early as the 16th century by many authors, among them Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia. The oldest surviving document written in the Romanian language is a 1521 letter (known as "Neacsu's Letter from Câmpulung") which notifies the mayor of Brasov about the imminent attack of the Ottoman Turks. This document is also notable for having the first occurrence of "Rumanian" in a Romanian written text, Wallachia being here named "the Rumanian land" - Teara Rumâneasca.
The territory of Romania has been inhabited since prehistory. One of the fossils found - a male, adult jawbone - has been dated to be between 34,000 and 36,000 years old, which would make it one of the oldest fossils found to date of modern humans in Europe. In 513 BCE, south of the Danube, the tribal confederation of the Getae were defeated by the Persian Emperor Darius the Great during his campaign against the Scythians (Herodotus IV). Over half a millennium later, the Getae (also named Daci by Romans) were defeated by the Roman Empire under Emperor Trajan in two campaigns stretching from 101 CE to 106 CE, and the core of their kingdom was turned into the Roman province of Dacia. The Gothic and Carpic campaigns in the Balkans during 238–269 CE(from the beginning of the period of military anarchy to the battle of Naissus), forced the Roman Empire to reorganize a new Roman province of Dacia south of the Danube, inside former Moesia Superior.
With a surface area of 238,391 km², Romania is the largest country in southeastern Europe and the twelfth-largest in Europe. A large part of Romania's border with Serbia and Bulgaria is formed by the Danube. The Danube is joined by the Prut River, which forms the border with the Republic of Moldova. The Danube flows into the Black Sea on Romanian territory, forming the Danube Delta, the largest delta in Europe, which is currently a biosphere reserve and World Heritage-listed site due to its biodiversity. The country's most significant rivers are the Danube, which marks part of the border between Romania and Bulgaria, the Siret, running vertically through Moldavia, the Olt, running from the oriental Carpathian Mountains to Oltenia, the Tisa, marking a part of the border between Romania and Hungary, the Mures, running through Transylvania from East to West, and the Somes. Romania's terrain is distributed roughly equally between mountainous, hilly and lowland territories. The Carpathian Mountains dominate the centre of Romania, with fourteen of its peaks reaching above the altitude of 2,000 metres. The highest mountain in Romania is Moldoveanu Peak (2544 m). In south-central Romania, the Carpathians sweeten into hills, towards the Baragan Plains. Romania's geographical diversity has led to an accompanying diversity of flora and fauna. The country has the largest brown bear population in Europe, while chamois are also known to live in the Carpathian Mountains, which dominate the centre of Romania.
The official language of Romania is Romanian, an Eastern Romance language related to French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. Romanian is spoken as a first language by 91% of the population, with Hungarian and Romani being the most important minority languages, spoken by 6.7% and 1.1% of the population, respectively.[23] Until the 1990s, there was also a substantial number of German-speaking Transylvanian Saxons, even though many have since emigrated to Germany, leaving only 45,000 native German speakers in Romania. In localities where a given ethnic minority makes up more than 20% of the population, that minority's language can be used in the public administration and justice system, while native-language education and signage is also provided. English and French are the main foreign languages taught in schools. English is spoken by 5 million Romanians, French is spoken by 4-5 million, and German, Italian and Spanish are each spoken by 1-2 million people.[24] Historically, French was the predominant foreign language spoken in Romania, even though English has since superseded it. Consequently, Romanian English-speakers tend to be younger than Romanian French-speakers. Romania is, however, a full member of La Francophonie, and hosted the Francophonie Summit in 2006. German has been taught predominantly especially in Transylvania.
The largest Romanian cities are: Bucharest (Bucuresti) with 2,082,334 inhabitants, Iasi with 320,888, Cluj-Napoca with 318,027, Timisoara with 317,660, and Constanta with 310,471.[26]
Medias, historic city centreThe UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites includes Romanian sites such as the Saxon villages with fortified churches in Transylvania, the Painted churches of northern Moldavia with their fine exterior and interior frescoes, the Wooden Churches of Maramures unique examples that combine Gothic style with traditional timber construction, the citadel of Sighisoara and the Dacian Fortresses of the Orastie Mountains. Also, in 2007, the city of Sibiu will be the European Capital of Culture alongside the city of Luxembourg.
