eventh largest population of the European Union with over 19 million people.[2] Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, the tenth largest city in the EU with about two million people. The Kingdom of Romania emerged when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were united under Prince Alexander Ioan Cuza in 1859. Independence from the Ottoman Empire was declared on 9 May 1877, and was internationally recognized the following year. At the end of World War I, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia united with the Kingdom of Romania. Greater Romania emerged into an era of progression and prosperity that would continue until World War II. By the end of the War, many north-eastern areas of Romania's territories were occupied by the Soviet Union, and Romania forcibly became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact. With the fall of the Iron Curtain and the 1989 Revolution, Romania began its transition towards democracy and a capitalist market economy. After a decade of post-revolution economic problems, extensive reforms fostered economic recovery making Romania now an upper middle-income country with high human development.[10] Romania joined NATO on 29 March 2004, the European Union on 1 January 2007 and is also a member of the Latin Union, of the Francophonie, the OSCE, the WTO, the BSEC and the United Nations. Today, Romania is a unitary semi-presidential republic, in which the executive branch consists of the President and the Government.[11] Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2.1 Prehistory 2.2 Antiquity 2.3 Middle Ages 2.4 Independence and monarchy 2.5 World Wars and Greater Romania 2.6 Communism 2.7 Present-day democracy 3 Geography 3.1 Climate 3.2 Natural environment 3.3 Administrative divisions 4 Politics 4.1 Government 4.2 Foreign relations 4.3 Military 5 Social welfare 6 Economy 6.1 Transport 6.2 Tourism 6.3 Science and technology 7 Demographics 7.1 Demographic evolution 7.2 Languages 7.3 Religion 7.4 Urbanization 8 Education 9 Culture 9.1 Arts, literature and philosophy 9.2 Music 9.3 Monuments 9.4 Sports 9.5 Traditions 9.6 Cuisine 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 External links Etymology Main article: Name of Romania The name of Romania, România, comes from român (previously rumân), "Romanian", which in turn is a derivative of the Latin romanus, meaning "citizen of Rome".[12] The fact that Romanians call themselves a derivative of romanus is first mentioned in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia.[13][14][15][16] The first written record of a Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans was written by the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor in the 6th century about a military expedition against the Avars from 587, when a Vlach muleteer accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of the animals and shouted to a companion Torna, torna fratre ("Return, return brother!"). The oldest surviving document written in Romanian is a 1521 letter known as the "Letter of Neac?u from Câmpulung".[17] Among other firsts, this text is also notable for having the first documented occurrence of a Romanian word denoting the country's name: Wallachia is mentioned under the name of ?eara Rumâneasca ("The Romanian Land", ?eara from the terra, "land"; current spelling: ?ara Româneasca). Neacsu's Letter from 1521, the oldest surviving document written in Romanian In the following centuries, Romanian documents use interchangeably two spelling forms: român and rumân.[note 1] Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late 17th century led to a process of semantic differentiation: the form rumân, presumably usual among the lower classes, received the meaning of "bondsman", while the form român kept an ethno-linguistic meaning.[18] After the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the form rumân gradually disappears and the spelling definitively stabilises to the form român, românesc.[note 2] Tudor Vladimirescu, a revolutionary leader of the early 19th century, used the term Rumânia to refer exclusively to the principality of Wallachia, the southern part of modern Romania.[19] The name România as common homeland of all Romanians is documented in the early 19th century.[note 3] This name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861.[20] English-language sources still used the terms Rumania or Roumania, borrowed from the French spelling Roumanie, as recently as World War II,[21] but since then those terms have largely been replaced with the official spelling Romania.[22] History Main article: History of Romania Prehistory Main articles: Prehistoric Romania, Cucuteni culture, and Hamangia culture Characteristic Cucuteni-Trypillian zoomorphic representation Some 42,000-year-old human remains were discovered in the "Cave With Bones", and being Europe’s oldest remains of Homo sapiens, they may represent the first modern humans to have entered the continent.[23] Among the oldest traces of human existence and activity found in Romania include those dating from the Paleolithic. These remains were found at Bugiule?ti (Vâlcea County), Ohaba-Ponor (Hunedoara County) or Valea Dârjovului (Olt County), belonging to some of the more distant human ancestors. According to studies of historical anthropology, these hominids used carved stone tools, were gatherers, fishermen and hunters, lived organized in bands and were sheltered in caves and hollows. The first manifestations of prehistoric art on current Romanian territory are the cave drawings from Lapu? (Maramure? County) and Cuciulat (Salaj County). Statues, such as those from Hamangia (Tulcea County) for example, are representations of male and female deities, expressions of the cult of fecundity predominantly in the Stone Age. The Neolithic Age Cucuteni area in Northeast Romania was the Western region of the earliest European civilization[24][25] known as the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture. Antiquity Main articles: Ancient history of Romania, Getae, Dacians, Dacia, and Roman Dacia The Helmet of Cotofenesti - a full gold Geto-Dacian helmet dating from the first half of the 4th century BC The earliest written evidence of people living in the territory of the present-day Romania, the Getae, comes from Herodotus, in his Histories book IV (c. 440 BC).[26] Territories located north of the Danube were inhabited by Dacian tribes, including Carpi, Apuli, Tyragetae, Costoboci, Burs, Krobyzoi and Suci and other peoples. Dacians, like the majority of Thracians, were henotheists, the main deities being: Zalmoxis, Gebeleizis, Bendis, Derzelas and Kotys. Dacians, considered a part of the Getae tribes mentioned by Herodotus, were a branch of Thracians who inhabited Dacia (corresponding mostly to present-day Romania). He describes the Getae as "the most brave and honest amongst all Thracians". The Dacian kingdom reached its peak between 82–44 BC during the reign of Burebista. Emperor Trajan's annexation of Dacia in 106 set the stage for the ethnogenesis of modern Romanians Over the next century, relations between the Dacian tribes and Rome were relatively peaceful, however the ascent to the throne of Rome of emperor Domitian (81 AD) damaged relations between the Roman Empire and Dacia. He led military campaigns in the region between 87–88 AD at Tapae. Roman incursions continued in 101–102 AD and 105–106 AD under Trajan, who successfully defeated Dacia and annexed its south western parts to the vast Roman Empire. The Dacian population subsequently underwent the ethno-linguistic process of Romanization and the conquered parts became an imperial province. Due to Dacia's rich ore deposits (especially gold and silver),[27] Rome brought colonists from all over the empire.[28] This introduced Vulgar Latin and started a period of intense romanization that would give birth to the Proto-Romanian language.[29][30] During the 3rd century AD, with the invasions of migratory populations, the Roman Empire was forced to pull out of Dacia around 271 AD, making it the first province to be abandoned.[31][32] After the Roman army and administration left Dacia, the territory was invaded by various migratory populations including Goths,[33] Huns,[34] Gepids,[35] Avars,[36] Bulgars,[35] Pechenegs,[37] and Cumans.[38] Several competing theories have been generated to explain the origin of modern Romanians. Linguistic and geo-historical analysis tend to indicate that Romanians have coalesced as a major ethnic group both South and North of the Danube in the regions previously colonized by Romans.[39] Middle Ages Main articles: Romania in the Early Middle Ages and Romania in the Middle Ages Bran Castle, built in 1212. Gesta Hungarorum, also known as the Chronicle of Anonymus, mentioned the existence of three voivodeships in Transylvania in the 9th century: the Voivodeship of Gelou, the Voivodeship of Glad (originally from Vidin, then inhabited by Proto-Romanians[citation needed]) and the Voivodeship of Menumorut. The anonymous author describes the first as Vlach.[40] Another voivodeship, ruled by Gyula[disambiguation needed ], was mentioned in the 11th century. It was mentioned as being large and prosperous ("Jatissimum et opulentisimum").[citation needed] It is known to have included the strongholds of Dabâca, More?ti (on the Mure? River), Moigrad and Balgrad (near Alba Iulia). Gyula was described as being an Orthodox Christian, therefore he was very probably either Romanian or Slav. A 1176 Slavonic inscription attests the existence of a župan Dimitri that ruled over Dobrogea in 943. In the Alexiad, Byzantine princess Anna Komnene mentioned the political entities led by Sesthlav, Satza and Tatos, all in Southern Dobrogea, in 1086.[41] In the Middle Ages, Romanians lived in three distinct principalities: Wallachia (Romanian: ?ara Româneasca – "Romanian Land"), Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova) and Transylvania (Romanian: Transilvania). By the 11th century, Transylvania became a largely autonomous part of the Kingdom of Hungary,[42] and became independent as the Principality of Transylvania from the 16th century,[43] until 1711.[44] In Wallachia and Moldavia many small local states with varying degrees of independence developed, but only in the 14th century did the larger principalities of Wallachia (1310) and Moldavia (around 1352) emerge to fight the threat of the Ottoman Empire. Both territories inhabited by Romanians have achieved the independence from the Hungarian Crown after military conflicts (Battle of Posada, 1330) or social conflicts (Moldavian boyars revolt against Hungary, 1364), these historical events being initiated by Basarab I of Wallachia (1310–1352) and Bogdan I of Moldavia (1359–1365).[45][46] Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania were briefly united under the rule of Michael the Brave in 1600. By 1541, the entire Balkan peninsula and most of Hungary became Ottoman provinces. Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania were under Ottoman suzerainty, preserving partial-full internal autonomy until middle of the 19th century (Transylvania to 1699). During this period the Romanian lands were characterised by the slow disappearance of the feudal system. A few rulers of present-day Romanian territories distinguished themselves: these rulers include Stephen the Great, Vasile Lupu, and Dimitrie Cantemir in Moldavia; Matei Basarab, Vlad III the Impaler, and Constantin Brâncoveanu in Wallachia; and John Hunyadi (Ioannes Corvinus) and Gabriel Bethlen in Transylvania.[47] In 1600, the principalities of Wallachia, Moldova and Transylvania were simultaneously headed by the Wallachian prince Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul), Ban of Oltenia, but the chance for a unity dissolved after Mihai was killed, only one year later, by the soldiers of Austrian army general Giorgio Basta. After his death, as vassal tributary states, Moldova and Wallachia had complete internal autonomy and external independence, which was finally lost in the 18th century. In 1699, Transylvania became a territory of the Habsburgs' Austrian empire following the Austrian victory over the Turks in the Great Turkish War. The Habsburgs in turn expanded their empire in 1718 to include an important part of Wallachia, called Oltenia (which was only returned in 1739) and in 1775 over the north-western part of Moldavia, later called Bukovina. The eastern half of the Moldavian principality (called Bessarabia) was occupied in 1812 by Russia.[47] Territorial changes of Romania since 1859 until present Independence and monarchy Main articles: Early Modern Romania, National awakening of Romania, Romanian Principalities, Romanian War of Independence, and Kingdom of Romania During the period of Austro-Hungarian rule in Transylvania and Ottoman suzerainty over Wallachia and Moldavia, most Romanians were in the situation of being second-class citizens or even non-citizens[48] in a territory where they formed the majority of the population.[49][50] In some Transylvanian cities, such as Bra?ov (at that time a Saxon citadel) or Timisoara after the Austrian conquest, Romanians were not even allowed to reside within the city walls.[51] Proclamation of the Moldo-Wallachian union, painting by Theodor Aman Following the Wallachian uprising of 1821, more uprisings followed in 1848 in Wallachia as well as Moldavia. The flag adopted for Wallachia by the revolutionaries was a blue-yellow-red tricolour (with blue above, in line with the meaning “Liberty, Justice, Fraternity”),[52] while Romanian students in Paris hailed the new government with the same flag “as a symbol of union between Moldavians and Muntenians”.[53][54] This flag would later become the adopted as the flag of Romania. But after the failed 1848 Revolution, the Great Powers did not support the Romanians' expressed desire to officially unite in a single state, which forced Romania to proceed alone against the Ottomans. The electors in both Moldavia and Wallachia chose in 1859 the same person –Alexandru Ioan Cuza– as prince (Domnitor in Romanian).[55] Thus, Romania was created as a personal union, albeit without including Transylvania. There, the upper class and the aristocracy remained mainly Hungarian and enjoyed strong support from Austria, and the establishment of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy in 1867 kept the Hungarians firmly in control as the Romanians were by far the most numerous ethnic Transylvanian group and constituted the absolute majority. In a 1866 coup d'état, Cuza was exiled and replaced by Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who became known as Prince Carol of Romania. During the Russo-Turkish War Romania fought on the Russian side,[56] and in the Treaty of San Stefano and the Treaty of Berlin, Romania was recognized as an independent state by the Ottoman Empire and the Great Powers.[57][58] In return, Romania ceded three southern districts of Bessarabia to Russia and acquired Dobruja. In 1881, the principality was raised to a kingdom and Prince Carol became King Carol I.[citation needed] The 1878–1914 period was one of stability and progress for Romania. During the Second Balkan War, Romania joined Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Turkey against Bulgaria, and in the peace Treaty of Bucharest (1913) Romania gained Southern Dobrudja.[59] World Wars and Greater Romania Main articles: Romania during World War I, Greater Romania, and Romania in World War II In August 1914, when World War I broke out, Romania declared neutrality. Two years later, under pressure from the Allies (especially France, desperate to open a new front), on 27 August 1916, Romania joined the Allies, declaring war on Austria-Hungary. For this action, under the terms of the secret military convention, Romania was promised support for its goal of national unity for all Romanian people.[60] General Ion Antonescu and Iron Guard leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu at a skiing event in 1935 Romanian Army R35 tanks entering Chi?inau in 1941, during Operation München. The Romanian military campaign began disastrously for Romania as the Central Powers conquered two-thirds of the country within months. Nevertheless, Moldavia remained in Romanian hands and the invading forces were stopped in 1917, when Romania won a series of resounding defensive victories at Marasesti, Marasti and Oituz. Total deaths from 1914 to 1918, military and civilian, within contemporary borders, were estimated at 748,000.[61] By the war's end, Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire had collapsed and disintegrated; Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania proclaimed unions with the Kingdom of Romania in 1918. By the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, Hungary was forced to renounce in favour of Romania all the claims of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy over Transylvania.[62] The union of Romania with Bukovina was ratified in 1919 in the Treaty of Saint Germain,[63] and with Bessarabia in 1920 by the Treaty of Paris.[64] The Romanian expression România Mare (literal translation "Great Romania", but more commonly rendered "Greater Romania"), generally refers to the Romanian state in the interwar period, and by extension, to the territory Romania covered at the time. Romania achieved at that time its greatest territorial extent (almost 300,000 km2/120,000 sq mi),[65] managing to unite essentially all of the territories inhabited by Romanians.[65] During the Second World War, Romania tried again to remain neutral, but on 28 June 1940, it received a Soviet ultimatum with an implied threat of invasion in the event of non-compliance.[66] Under Nazi and Soviet pressure, the Romanian administration and the army were forced to retreat from Bessarabia as well from northern Bukovina to avoid war.[67] This, in combination with other factors, prompted the government to join the Axis. Thereafter, southern Dobruja was ceded to Bulgaria, while Hungary received Northern Transylvania as result of an Axis arbitration.[68] The authoritarian King Carol II abdicated in 1940, and succeeded by the National Legionary State, in which power was shared by Ion Antonescu and the Iron Guard. Within months, Antonescu had crushed the Iron Guard, and the subsequent year Romania entered the war on the side of the Axis powers. During the war, Romania was the most important source of oil for Nazi Germany,[69] which attracted multiple bombing raids by the Allies. By means of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, Romania recovered Bessarabia and northern Bukovina from Soviet Russia, under the leadership of general Ion Antonescu. The Antonescu regime played a major role in the Holocaust,[70] following to a lesser extent the Nazi policy of oppression and massacre of the Jews, and Romma, primarily in the Eastern territories Romania recovered or occupied from the Soviet Union (Transnistria) and in Moldavia.[71] Jewish holocaust victims totaled at least 280,000 and 11,000 Romani victims.[72] In August 1944, Antonescu was toppled and arrested by King Michael I of Romania and Romania changed sides and joined the Allies. But its role in the defeat of Nazi Germany was not recognized by the Paris Peace Conference of 1947;[73] even though the Romanian Army had suffered 170,000 casualties after switching sides.[74] Communism Main article: Communist Romania During the Soviet occupation of Romania, the Communist-dominated government called new elections, which were won with 80% of the vote.[75] They thus rapidly established themselves as the dominant political force.[76] In 1947, the Communists forced King Michael I to abdicate and leave the country, and proclaimed Romania a people's republic.[77][78] Romania remained under the direct military occupation and economic control of the USSR until the late 1950s. During this period, Romania's vast natural resources were continuously drained by mixed Soviet-Romanian companies (SovRoms) set up for exploitative purposes.[79][80][81] In 1948, the state began to nationalize private firms, and to collectiviz