Romania

Wide view over the northern Transfagarasan

Anthem: Deşteaptă-te, române! (Awaken thee, Romanian!)
Capital (and largest city): Bucharest, 44°25′N 26°06′E
Official language: Romanian
Ethnic groups (2011): 88.6% Romanians, 6.5% Hungarians, 3.2% Roma, 1.7% other minorities
Demonym: Romanian
Government Unitary semi-presidential republic
– President Traian Băsescu
– Prime Minister Victor Ponta
– President of the Senate Crin Antonescu
– President of the Chamber Valeriu Zgonea
Legislature Parliament
– Upper house Senate
– Lower house Chamber of Deputies
Formation
– Little Union(1) 24 January 1859
– Independence from the Ottoman Empire(2) 1877/1878
– Great Union(3) 1 December 1918
Area
– Total 238,391 km2 (83rd), 92,043 sq mi
– Water (%) 3
Population
– 2011 census 19,043,767 (59th)
– Density 80/km2 (121st), 207/sq mi
GDP (PPP) 2012 estimate
– Total $274.070 billion
– Per capita $12,838
GDP (nominal) 2012 estimate
– Total $171.401 billion
– Per capita $8,029
Gini (2008) 32 (medium)
HDI (2011) Increase 0.781 (high) (50th)
Currency Romanian leu (RON)
Time zone EET (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST) EEST (UTC+3)
Drives on the right
ISO 3166 code RO
Internet TLD .ro4
Calling code 40
(1) The double election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza in Moldavia and Wallachia (5 January, respectively 24 January 1859).
(2) Independence proclaimed on 9 May 1877, internationally recognized in 1878.
(3) The union of Romania with Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania in 1918.

Romania is a unitary state located in South-Central Europe, on the Lower Danube, north of the Balkan peninsula and the north-western coast of the Black Sea. In Romania is located almost the entire Delta and southern and central part of the Carpathian Mountains. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Serbia to the southwest, Hungary to the northwest, north and east Ukraine, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast.

Throughout history, different parts of the territory of today”s Romania was in or under the administration of Dacia, the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Romania became a sovereign state in 1859 by the merging of medieval principalities of Moldova and the Romanian Country led by Alexandru Ioan Cuza and was recognized as an independent country 19 years later. In 1918, Transylvania, Bukovina and Bessarabia were also united with Romania, creating the modern Romania Mare (meaning the whole) or interwar Romania, which was the maximum territorial extent of Romanian history (295,641 km2).

On the eve of the Second World War (1940), Romania Mare, under pressure from Nazi Germany led by Hitler, was forced during the pro-Nazi government led by Gigurtu, to give Hungary (northern Transylvania), Bulgaria (Quadrilateral), and Soviet Union (Bessarabia and northern Bukovina Herta). After the abolition of Antonescu”s regime on 23 august 1944 and returning weapons against the Axis Powers, Romania joined the Allied Powers (Britain, U.S., France and the Soviet Union) and recovered Northern Transylvania, which is completed by the Paris Peace Treaty signed on February 10, 1947.

When the Soviet Union collapsed and the removal of the regime of communism in Romania (1989), the country initiated a series of economic and political reforms. After a decade of economic problems, Romania has introduced new general economic reforms (such as the flat tax in 2005) and joined the European Union on January 1, 2007.

Romania is a semi-presidential republic. It is the nineth country by land area (238,391 km ²) and seventh after the population (over 22 million) of European Union member states. The capital, Bucharest, is its largest city and the sixth city in the EU by population (1.9 million inhabitants). In 2007, Sibiu was elected European Capital of Culture. Romania is a member of international organizations: UN from 1955, CoE from 1993, the European Union from  January1, 2007, NATO since March 29, 2004, the OSCE, OIF in 2003, the Latin Union in 1980, and economic institutions: the World Bank Group, the IMF since 1972, EBRD since 1991, OECD.

Image http://www.flickr.com/photos/10361931@N06/4259933727

Materials translated and adapted by Nicolae Sfetcu from the Wikipedia under the GNU Free Documentation License.