Romania for BusinessEssay title: Romania for BusinessPresent-day Romania is just slightly smaller in area than Great Britain (or about the size of New York and Pennsylvania combined), with a population of about 23 million. Separated from the Balkan Peninsula to the south by the Danube River, Romania shares borders today with Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine, and Moldova. Its southeastern frontier follows the Black Sea. The Romanian people descended from the ancient Romans and the Dacians, an ancient Thracian tribe native to the land now called Romania. The majority of Romanias citizens are ethnic Romanians, but there are also many minorities. Hungarians, Saxons, and Gypsies are the largest ethnic minority groups. Most Romanians follow the Christian Orthodox religion, even through the Communist years when religious practice was outlawed.
The first recorded census of Romanias was done in 1815, and the number of people has been increasing steadily in recent years. Estimates from the Census Bureau show there are roughly 1,500,000 Romanias. Romanias were settled in parts of Central and Northern Europe between the 14th and 14th century as a Roman minority. Romanias were nomadic (such as in Anatolia and Albania) although many of the communities were organized into the Romani family. In the 14th century there were a number of Roman emperors, though the majority of today’s Romanians were not members of Roman society, but came to Romania from other parts of the world and were considered part of a central Roman nation, known as “Romania”. Romanias lived in different parts of eastern and central Central Europe, but some had their own Roman-themed towns and regions. They included the Dacians, who were settled in parts of Central and northern Europe before the Middle Ages, and Bulgarians, who were settled in parts of the Balkans (as well as parts of the Balkans today) before the Balkan states began their empire (which they do today). In ancient times a Romania was often not allowed access to a town and did not reside in a certain town which allowed permission to speak only that town’s language. This practice was prohibited in Rome and the Roman military ruled the eastern and southern regions very much as long ago as the seventh century CE. By the third and subsequent centuries the Romans and their allies were moving west toward the Balkan provinces and even into Greece and Cyprus.[citation needed] In 1712, Romanias settled on the island of Ganymede in northern Italy. The community was mostly Roman Catholic in appearance, though the Catholic community also had a small population of Slavs and Jews. It also remained a Roman and Jewish community. After Germany fell in the war, and Hungary started establishing a border with the Holy Roman Empire in 1821 the area changed into a Roman population of mostly Romanian residents. Within a century Romanias had become Romanians in size and number. The Romanias of northern Italy were a small population at a time when European immigrants as well as the rest of Rome were often taking refuge in the small town of Messina in northern Italy.[citation needed]
The first recorded census of Romanias was done in 1815, and the number of people has been increasing steadily in recent years. Estimates from the Census Bureau show there are roughly 1,500,000 Romanias. Romanias were settled in parts of Central and Northern Europe between the 14th and 14th century as a Roman minority. Romanias were nomadic (such as in Anatolia and Albania) although many of the communities were organized into the Romani family. In the 14th century there were a number of Roman emperors, though the majority of today’s Romanians were not members of Roman society, but came to Romania from other parts of the world and were considered part of a central Roman nation, known as “Romania”. Romanias lived in different parts of eastern and central Central Europe, but some had their own Roman-themed towns and regions. They included the Dacians, who were settled in parts of Central and northern Europe before the Middle Ages, and Bulgarians, who were settled in parts of the Balkans (as well as parts of the Balkans today) before the Balkan states began their empire (which they do today). In ancient times a Romania was often not allowed access to a town and did not reside in a certain town which allowed permission to speak only that town’s language. This practice was prohibited in Rome and the Roman military ruled the eastern and southern regions very much as long ago as the seventh century CE. By the third and subsequent centuries the Romans and their allies were moving west toward the Balkan provinces and even into Greece and Cyprus.[citation needed] In 1712, Romanias settled on the island of Ganymede in northern Italy. The community was mostly Roman Catholic in appearance, though the Catholic community also had a small population of Slavs and Jews. It also remained a Roman and Jewish community. After Germany fell in the war, and Hungary started establishing a border with the Holy Roman Empire in 1821 the area changed into a Roman population of mostly Romanian residents. Within a century Romanias had become Romanians in size and number. The Romanias of northern Italy were a small population at a time when European immigrants as well as the rest of Rome were often taking refuge in the small town of Messina in northern Italy.[citation needed]
Romania in its present form has been in existence only since 1859, but can trace its history to the era around 2000 B.C.E. Over its four thousand years, Romanias geographical location between western Europe and the East has forced its citizens to defend their land through almost continual wars, invasions, occupations, oppressions, and massacres. For more than 50 years following World War II, Romania was ruled by a succession of Communist leaders. From 1965 to 1989, the Romanians were subjected to arguably the worst despotic regime among the Soviet Bloc countries: that of Nicolae Ceausescu who, along with his wife Elena, destroyed historical villages and buildings, confiscated essentially everything of value, and literally stole the food from his own people. The Ceausescus were overthrown during a violent revolution in December 1989, and executed shortly thereafter. Questions still linger about whether the revolution was instigated and orchestrated by forces in Moscowor by Ceaucescus own henchmen.
Vlad Dracula — pronounced Drah-COO-lah — the historical Dracula, was a Wallachian prince who ruled Romania from 1456 to 1462. He was not a vampire; tales of these mythical creatures have persisted in folklore for centuries, and they were popularized by author Bram Stoker in the late 1800s. During the fifteenth century, the Turks conquered most of what is now the Balkans and Central and Eastern Europe, spreading Byzantine culture throughout the vast Ottoman Empire that it ruled. Vlad Dracula repelled the invading armies by impaling his Turkish enemies on spikes, earning him the sobriquet Vlad Tepes — pronounced TSEH-pesh — or Vlad the Impaler. (Perhaps this inspired Stoker to kill his vampires in a similar manner.) Because of their fear of Vlad, the Turks did not press for sovereign control of the region and allowed Romania to function as a suzerainty. This gives some explanation why Romanians speak a Latin-based language to this day — unlike their Slavic neighbours. It was also Vlad Dracula who founded the city of Bucuresti, now the capital of Romania.
The territory of modern Romania was settled before the 7th Century BC by the Geto-Dacian peoples. From the 7th Century BC, the Greeks established trading colonies on the Black Sea coast which, along with the rest of the Greco-Dacian territory, was occupied by the Romans until 271 AD.
Until the 10th Century, the area was populated by invading Goths, Huns, Avars, Slavs, Bulgars, and Hungarians, but the indigenous Romanians survived in village communities and by the 10th Century a feudal system had been established. From the 10th Century, Hungary occupied Transylvania which, by the 13th Century, was an autonomous Hungarian region though still containing a majority Romanian population.
The regions of Moldavia and Wallachia were also targeted for Hungarian expansion but were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire by the 15th Century. In 1812, Russia seized an area of Moldavia from the Turks, but the remainder of Moldavia and Wallachia, with French assistance, united in 1859 under Alexandru Cuza, to form a national state which bore the name Romania from 1862.
Cuza abdicated in 1866 to be succeeded by King Carol I, who in 1877 declared independence from the Ottoman Empire and expanded Romanian territory by taking Dobruja in 1878. Aiming to further extend its boundaries, Romania entered the First World War on the side of the Triple Entente (UK, France, and Russia). Immediate invasion by Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria followed; however, at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, Romania was awarded Transylvania and Bessarabia, bringing their ethnic Romanian populations within Romanian boundaries.
During the inter-war years, King Carol II and his Foreign Minister Titulescu formed alliances with France, UK, and the Little Entente (Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia) and signed a Balkan Pact with Turkey, Yugoslavia, and Greece. Relations were also established with the USSR. In 1938, however, King Carol II declared a personal dictatorship