Romania is the third-largest eastern European country, with a total surface of 237,500 sq. km and a 22-million population. It is world famous for its natural beauty with diverse landscape configuration. Mountains (the Carpathians), hills, plateaus, plains, rivers, the Danube Delta and the Black Sea coast, all interlace and form magnificent sceneries. Romania lies on the Black See coast and, moving clockwise from the south, it shares borders with Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro, Hungary, Ukraine and Moldavia.
Romania is located at 45° latitude and 25° longitude. The Romanian climate is a temperate one, with continental influences. There are four seasons, with an average annual temperature of 11°C in the south and on the coast, and only 2°C in the mountains. Winters are quite long and cold, with lots of snow and temperatures falling way bellow 0°C, while summers are hot and sunny with up to 40°C in the plain areas.
Some of the largest, most populated cities in Romania are: Bucharest (Bucuresti, in Romanian) - the capital, with 2,3 million inhabitants, Constanta - the biggest Romanian harbour, with a local population of 350.000 people, and Iasi (344.00 inhabitants), Timisoara (334.000 inhabitants) and Cluj-Napoca (328.000 inhabitants) - all great cultural and academic centres.
Romania is historically composed of three regions: Transylvania (the western area of the Carpathian Mountains), Wallachia (the southern part of Romania today) and Moldavia (the eastern area of the Carpathians). These regions used to be individual states starting with the 14th century. It was not until 1918, December 1st, that the states united, forming Romania. Today, this is Romania's National Day.
After World War II, the Soviet army set up a communist regime in Romania. During the 50's, 60's and 70's, the country was ruled with an iron fist by communist hardliners, a situation common throughout all Eastern Europe. The dictatorship culminated with Ceausescu's regime, overthrown by the Romanian National Revolution, in 1989.
Today, Romania is a modern democracy, with several political parties represented in the National Parliament. The economy is shifting to a free market system. On January 1st 2007 Romania has become one of the 27 members of the European Union.
Probably, the most exciting way to learn about Romania is by travelling all across the country and visiting the multitude of museums, royal palaces (the Royal Palace in Bucharest, today The National Art Museum), castles (Peles Castle in Sinaia, the famous Bran Castle) fortresses (Rasnov), medieval towns (Sighisoara, Sibiu), monasteries (in the northern part of Moldavia) or Roman ruins (in Constanta). And these are only few examples.
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