The Republic is the form of government in Romania.
National currency: "Leu".
Bucharest Municipality is the capital of Romania.
Official language: Romanian.
GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES
POSITION
In the geographic centre of the European continent.
COORDINATES
43 degrees 37'07" and 48 degrees 15'06" North latitude; 20 degrees 15'44" and 29 degrees 41'24" East longitude. Shaped like an ellipse, Romania stretches approximately 514 km North to South and 720 km East to West.
BOUNDARIES
East, The Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the Black Sea; South, Bulgaria; South-West, F. R. Yugoslavia; West, Hungary; North, Ukraine.
BORDER LENGTH
3190.3 km.
AREA
238,391 sq. km,(12th position in Europe, about the size of Honshu and Shikoku put together).
PHYSICAL FEATURES
MOUNTAINS: three main divisions of the Carpathian Mountains: Eastern, Southern and Western Carpathians (highest peak in Fagaras Mountains, Southern part, MOLDOVEANU - 2,543 m -).
HILLS AND PLATEAUS: within the Carpathian arch, Transylvanian Tableland, outside of the mountain arch the Plateaus of Moldova, Muntenia and Somes as main divisions.
PLAINS: the most important is the Lower Danube Plain (Romanian Plain), main agricultural zone.
DANUBE DELTA: in the Northern part of the Dobrogea Plateau, the youngest physical feature of the land, stretches on 4,340 sq. km, out of which 78% are submerged. Through its three main branches, Chilia,Sulina and Sf. Gheorghe, the Danube is flowing into the Black Sea.
HYDROGRAPHY
DANUBE, flows for the last 1,075 km of its 2,850 km total length bordering or crossing the Southern part of Romanian territory.
Other major rivers
MURES (768 km)
OLT (736 km)
PRUT (716 km)
SIRET (596 km)
LAKES
Some 2,300 lakes and 1,150 ponds account for an area of 2,620 sq. km
CLIMATE
Temperate continental, average annual temperature 8 degrees Celsius in the North and 11 degrees Celsius in the South. Lowest temperature recorded -38.5 degrees Celsius, January 25, 1942; highest record 44,5 degrees Celsius, August 10, 1951. Average rainfall per year 640 mm, unevenly distributed.
ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION
County, Town, Commune, Village. 40 counties and the capital of Bucharest with county status, 262 towns (79 municipalities), 2,686 communes (about 13,000 villages).
CAPITAL CITY
BUCHAREST, situated in the Southern part of the country, with approx. 2.3 million inhabitants. First documentary record in 1459, as residence of Vlad the Impaler and capital of Wallachia (Muntenia) in the 17th-19th centuries, since 1862 capital city of ROMANIA. (See also this site about Bucharest.)
MAIN CITIES
| Constanta (348,000 inhabitants) harbour at the Black Sea. | |
| Iasi (343,000) important industrial and cultural centre. | |
| Timisoara (333,000) known for igniting the events of 1989. | |
| Cluj-Napoca (330,000) | |
| Galati (328,000) | |
| Brasov (322,000) | |
| Craiova (308,000) |
STATE ORGANIZATION
The Constitution voted by the Constituent Assembly on November 21, 1991 and validated ad referendum on 8 December 1991 proclaims Romania as Republic, a sovereign and independent nation-state, unitary and indivisible. Romania is a democratic state characterized by the rule of law, where human rights and dignity, civic rights and freedoms, the unhindered development of human personality, justice, private ownership and political pluralism are supreme and guaranteed values. The two-chamber Parliament, elected by universal vote for a four-years term is the people's supreme representative body and unique law-making authority. The President, elected by universal vote for a four-year term, watches over the activity of public authorities and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. He nominates the Prime Minister and appoints the Government. The Government ensures implementation of the country's domestic and foreign policies.
NATIONAL INSIGNIA
NATIONAL FLAG
Proportion 3/2, three equal vertical stripes, next to the staff blue, yellow and red.
NATIONAL COAT OF ARMS
(since 1992): An eagle holding a cross in its beak, a sword and a scepter in its claws, adorned with the symbols of historical provinces : Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania (including Crisana and Maramures), Banat (with Oltenia), and Dobrudja.
NATIONAL DAY
(since 1990): December 1st, anniversary of the 1918 Union of all Romanians into a single state.
STATE ANTHEM
"AWAKE, YE, ROMANIAN". Lyrics: Andrei Muresanu; music: Anton Pann.
International Relations
Romania has diplomatic relations with
172 states and is a member of UNO, FAO, IAEO, IBRD, EBRD, ICAO, IFAD, IFC,
ILO, IMF, IMO, ITU, MIGA, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WTO and WMO.
Romania detains the chairmanship of OSCE for the year 2001. In 1993 Romania
signed a free trade agreement with EFTA and on February 1, 1995 became an
associate member of the European Union. In 1993 Romania became member of the
Council of Europe. On January 26, 1994, Romania joined the NATO's
Partnership for Peace. On July 1st 1997, Romania has become full member of
CEFTA (Central-European Free Trade Area).
POPULATION
22,651,000 (January 1st, 1996); 49.1% male, 50.9% female; 54.3% urban, 45.7% rural. According to the returns of the census from January 7th 1992, 89.4% of the population are Romanians, 10.6% ethnic minorities (7.1% Hungarians, 1.7% Gypsies, 0.5% Germans, 0.3% Ukrainians). Other nationalities: Russians, Turks, Serbians, Tartars, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Jews, Croats, Czechs, Poles, Greeks, Armenians. Density 95.1 inhabitants per sq. km (January 1st, 1996). Romanians outside the boundaries, over 8 million (Europe, under 6 million, in Republic of Moldova, Hungary, Serbia, Greece, Albania; United States and Canada, close to 2 million, also important Romanian communities in Israel, South America, South Africa and Australia). Life expectancy: men 66.5 years, women 73.2 years.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE
Romanian. The Easternmost representative of the family of Romance languages, Romanian descends from the popular Latin spoken in Dacia and Moesia in ancient times. English is widely spoken. Other languages used by minorities : Hungarian, German.
TRANSPORTATION NETWORK
Roads 72,816 km (4,508 km European motorways)
Railways 22,367 km (8,643 km electrified)
Waterways 1,690 km(1,075 km international Danube)
Air 17 airports (4 international)
Underground (Bucharest) 59.2 km/ 3 main tracks, 40 stations.
STANDARD TIME
East European Zone Time/(GMT+2). From the last Sunday in March to the last Sunday in September, Daylight Saving Time /(GMT+3).
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
The metric system, in force since 1866.
DESCRIPTION
Romania is situated in southeastern part of Central Europe inside and outside of the Carpathians Arch, on the Danube (1075 km.) lower course and has exit to the Black Sea, being placed at a distance ranging between 1050 km. and 2800 km. against the continent extremities.
· Romanian
territory is developing on 4037'59" northern latitude being placed at the
crossing of the parallel 450N with the meridian 250E.
· The exit to the sea enables the
connections with the countries in the Black Sea basin, in the Mediterranean
Sea basin and by means of this with all the countries in the world.
·
Romania's relief consists of three major levels namely: the highest of the
Carpathians, the middle that corresponds to the Sub-Carpathians, to the hills
and to the plateaus and the lowest of the plains, meadows and Danube Delta.
Main features of relief units are: proportionality (31% mountains, 36% hills
and plateaus, 33% plains and meadows), concentric display in amphitheatre, of
the relief major levels.
· Romania's climate is temperate-continental of
transition, with oceanic influences from the west, mediterranean ones from
southwest and continental-excessive ones from the northeast. Average yearly
temperature is latitudinal different, 80C in the north and 110C in the south
and altitudinal with values of -2,50C in the mountain areas (Omu peak- Bucegi
massif) and 11,60C in the plain (Zimnicea town - Teleorman county). Yearly
precipitations decrease in intensity from west to east, from 600 mm to 500 mm
in the Romanian Plain and under 400 mm in Dobrogea and in the mountain areas
they reach 1000-1400 mm.
· Romanian running waters are radially displayed, most
of them having the springs in the Carpathians. Their main collector is the
Danube River, which crosses the country in the south on 1075km length and
flows into the Black Sea. In the mountain areas there are numerous glacial
lakes and recently, anthropic lakes which turn into account the rivers
hydro-energetic potential.
· The vegetation is determined by the relief and by
pedo-climatic elements, being displayed in floors. Mountain areas are covered
by coniferous forests (especially spruce fir), mixture forests (beech,
fir-tree, spruce fir) and beech forests. Higher peaks are covered by alpine
lawns and bushes of dwarf pine, juniper, bilberry a.s.o. In the hills and
plateaus there are plateaus there are broad-leaved forests, prevailing beech,
common oak or durmast oak; the main forests species often met on low hills and
high plains are Quercus cerris and Quercus frainetto. The steppe and
silvosteppe vegetation, which covered the areas of low humidity in Dobrogea
Plateau, Romanian Plain, Moldova Plateau and Western Plain has been mostly
replaced by agricultural crops.
· Romani's fauna is grouped by different areas
according to each species biotype. Relict elements as black goat (chamois) and
mountain vulture occur in the alpine area. In Carpathian forests live various
animals: bear, buck, lynx, wolf, wild boar, roebuck, squirrel and several
species of birds. In a few mountain areas are still met both mountain cock and
birch cock. In hill and field areas there are hares, moles, hedgehogs, various
birds, lizards, batrachians a.s.o.; rodent animals as gopher and hamster are
characteristic for the steppe areas. Water fauna is represented especially by
trout in the mountain waters (huck which was mostly spread in the past has
become rare); dace and barbel in the hill areas, carp, perch, pike, waller,
crucian in the field areas and Danube Delta; sturgeon species are also met in
the marine territorial waters and on the inferior Danube.
· Romania's useful minerals resources are various. Among the main useful mineral resources we can mentions: crude oil, with old exploitation traditions; natural gas; coal, especially coking pitcoal, lignite and brown coal; ferous and nonferous ores, gold, silver and bauxite ore deposits; great reserves of salt as well as numerous nonmetalliferous resources. A special category of subsoil riches is constituted by over 2000 mineral water springs, with consumption and medical treatments valences.
Web-links
Yahoo! Regional > Countries > Romania
USAID: Romania
Library of Congress / Federal Research Division / Country ...
WashingtonPost.com: International: Romania
CIA -- The World Factbook -- Romania