Romania, officially România [romi nia], state in Southeast Europe with (2018) 19.5 million residents; The capital is Bucharest.
According to Computerminus, today’s Romania essentially comprises the historical areas of the former Danube principalities of Moldova and Wallachia as well as Transylvania. Before 1862 and 1918/19 one can only speak of a history of the areas inhabited by Romanians (also Bessarabia and Bukovina) or a history of the Romanians.
The oldest, ethnically clearly classifiable residents of today’s Romania are the northern Thracian Dacians and Geten, who have been living since the 1st century BC. Were organized in a kingdom under Burebista (70-44 BC). It flourished under King Decebalus (87-106 AD). After Roman rule (since the 1st century AD in Dobruja, 106-271 in Dacia), parts of the Roman civilian population are likely to have stayed behind as cattle breeders and farmers and merged with the Dacians, who accepted their language. The area of today’s Romania was then ruled by migrant peoples (3rd century Goths, 4th / 5th century Alans, 4th – 5th Century Huns, 5th – 6th centuries Century Gepiden [in Transylvania since the 3rd century, until 567], 6th – 8th centuries. Century Avars, 5th – 9th centuries. Century Bulgarians, 10th-12th centuries Century Pechenegen, 11th – 13th centuries Century Cumans, 1241 Mongols). The 6/7 The Slavs (Dakoslawen) invading in the 19th century were the only ones to leave traces of assimilation in the developing Romanian language. In the 13th century the Romanians are first mentioned as a people (Vlahi, Wlachen). In 10./11. In the 19th century, the Magyar conquest of the land in Transylvania, which was soon colonized partly by Magyars and partly by the Transylvanian Saxons from around 1150, and was subordinate to the Hungarian crown.
The first states were formed under Basarab I in Wallachia (»Țara Româneasca«; main towns Curtea de Argeș and Câmpulung, residences later in Târgoviște and Bucharest) and under Bogdan I (1359–65) in Moldova (»Bogdania«; Residence from 1565 Iași). After the end of the dependence on Hungary (Wallachia 1330, Moldova 1359), the areas were threatened by the expansion of the Ottoman Empire from 1396. Wallachia had to recognize Turkish sovereignty since 1415, Moldova since 1513 and Transylvania since 1538; until the beginning of the 18th century they bought themselves a large degree of internal independence from the Ottomans through tribute payments and were never declared Turkish provinces (“paschaliks”). In the defense against the Turks, Hospodar stood out in particular Stephan III, the Great (1457 to 1504), from the Moldau, the Voivode of Transylvania J. Hunyadi (1441–56) and Prince Michael the Brave (1593–1601) from Wallachia, who briefly all of them in 1599/1600 Romanian populated areas under his rule.
In the 17th century, the High Porte appointed the princes (voivods) from the rival local boyar families, including Vasile Lupu (1634–53) for the Moldau, Matei Basarab (1632–54) and C. Brâncoveanu (1688–1714) for brought about an economic and cultural prosperity in Wallachia. From 1711 (Moldova) and 1716 (Wallachia) the princely thrones in Iași and Bucharest were awarded to Greek Phanariotes until the Greek struggle for freedom in 1821.
In the 18th century a Romanian national consciousness developed. 1718–39 belonged the Little Wallachia (Oltenia) to the Alt and 1775–1918 the northern part of the Moldau as Bukovina to Austria and 1812–1918 / 20 the eastern part of the Vltava as Bessarabia to Russia. After the peace of Kütschük Kainardschi (1774) the Danube principalities came under Russian influence. The failed uprising (1821) of the Greeks under A. Ypsilanti and the Romanians under T. Vladimirescu caused the gate to reinstate local princes in 1822, who were placed under Russian protection by the Peace of Adrianople (1829). The “Règlement organique” of 1831/32, issued by the Russian occupying power, formed the first constitution (including the right to elect a prince, navigation on the Danube and foreign trade). The revolution of 1848/49 was overthrown by Russian, Turkish and – in Transylvania – Austrian troops; some liberalization remained. After Russia’s defeat in the Crimean War (1853 / 54–56), the Russian protectorate ended with the Peace of Paris of 1856; the Ottoman suzerainty nominally remained. The Danube principalities were placed under the protectorate of the seven signatory powers of the Paris Peace (including the European Danube Commission); the Moldova received back southern Bessarabia. In Transylvania, which has belonged to the Habsburgs since 1699, the Romanian population, meanwhile ethnic majority, was subjected to increased Magyarization after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.
