Geography,
Climate, Population and Culture
Romania
as a united entity (comprising the principalities
of Moldavia and Wallachia) formed in the late
1850s, emerging from Ottoman rule, and taking
its current name shortly thereafter. Its independence
was recognised in 1878 by the Treaty of Berlin.
In
the First World War, Romania
joined the Allied Powers, gaining control of Transylvania
afterwards (although disputes over this with Hungary
rumbled on until the Second World War, when the
territory was recognised as fully belonging to
Romania).
Fighting,
initially, on the side of the Axis powers in the
Second World War, and unrecognised in the Treaty
of Paris by the Allies after the war, Romania
– occupied by the Soviet Union during and
after the war – found itself increasingly
under Communist influence, leading to the formation
of the ‘People’s Republic of Romania’,
and the abdication of the king.
Assuming
power in 1965, Nicolae Ceausescu oversaw decades
of oppression and increasing poverty, and he was
overthrown and executed in 1989. The influence
of Communism continued to dominate in the country
until the mid-1990s, although some moves were
made towards freeing the market. Since 1996, Romania
has continued to increase its ties with Western
Europe, and to move towards free market policies.
It joined NATO in 2004, and the European Union
in 2007.
Romania
has a land area of 238,391 sq km, and is situated
in South Eastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea,
between Bulgaria and Ukraine. Borders also exist
between Romania and Hungary, Moldova and Serbia.
Land use is divided, approximately, into arable
land: 39.49%, permanent crops: 1.92%, and other:
58.59%, and earthquakes and landslides are not
unusual, particularly in the south of the country.
The
climate is temperate, and natural resources include
natural gas, coal, petroleum, hydropower, timber,
iron ore, salt, arable land.
The
population of Romania was estimated, in July 2009,
at 22,215,421.
Further information
on Romania:
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