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| Etymology | |
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Main article: Name of Romania
NeacÅŸu's Letter from 1521, the oldest surviving document written in Romanian, including the oldest appearance of the word "Rumanian"
The name of Romania, România, comes from român (previously rumân), "Romanian", which in turn is a derivative of the Latin romanus, meaning "citizen of Rome".[14] The fact that Romanians call themselves a derivative of romanus is first mentioned in the 16th century by Italian humanists travelling in Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia.[15][16][17][18]
The first written record of a Romance language spoken in the Middle Ages in the Balkans was written by the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor in the 6th century about a military expedition against the Avars from 587, when a Vlach muleteer accompanying the Byzantine army noticed that the load was falling from one of the animals and shouted to a companion Torna, torna fratre ("Return, return brother!").
The oldest surviving document written in Romanian is a 1521 letter known as the "Letter of Neacșu from Câmpulung".[19] Among other firsts, this text is also notable for having the first documented occurrence of a Romanian word denoting the country's name: Wallachia is mentioned under the name of Țeara Rumânească ("The Romanian Land", țeara from the terra, "land"; current spelling: Țara Românească).
In the following centuries, Romanian documents use interchangeably two spelling forms: român and rumân.[note 1] Socio-linguistic evolutions in the late 17th century led to a process of semantic differentiation: the form rumân, presumably usual among the lower classes, received the meaning of "bondsman", while the form român kept an ethno-linguistic meaning.[20] After the abolition of serfdom in 1746, the form rumân gradually disappears and the spelling definitively stabilises to the form român, românesc.[note 2] Tudor Vladimirescu, a revolutionary leader of the early 19th century, used the term Rumânia to refer exclusively to the principality of Wallachia, the southern part of modern Romania.[21]
The name România as common homeland of all Romanians is documented in the early 19th century.[note 3] This name has been officially in use since 11 December 1861.[22] English-language sources still used the terms Rumania or Roumania, borrowed from the French spelling Roumanie, as recently as World War II,[23] but since then those terms have largely been replaced with the official spelling Romania.[24]
[edit] Tags:Ron,Ro,Moldavia,Transylvania,Wallachia,World War I,Neacşu's Letter,Citizen Of Rome,Italian,Humanists,Theophanes The Confessor,Avars,Vlach,Letter Of Neacșu From Câmpulung,Bondsman,Serfdom,World War Ii, | |
| Prehistory | |
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Main articles: Prehistoric Romania, Cucuteni culture, and Hamangia culture
Characteristic Cucuteni-Trypillian zoomorphic representation, with meticulous decorations
Some 42,000-year-old human remains were discovered in the "Cave With Bones", and being Europe’s oldest remains of Homo sapiens, they may represent the first modern humans to have entered the continent.[25]
Among the oldest traces of human existence and activity found in Romania include those dating from the Paleolithic. These remains were found at Bugiulești (Vâlcea County), Ohaba-Ponor (Hunedoara County) or Valea Dârjovului (Olt County), belonging to some of the more distant human ancestors. According to studies of historical anthropology, these hominids used carved stone tools, were gatherers, fishermen and hunters, lived organized in bands and were sheltered in caves and hollows.
The first manifestations of prehistoric art on current Romanian territory are the cave drawings from Lăpuș (Maramureș County) and Cuciulat (Sălaj County). Statues, such as those from Hamangia (Tulcea County) for example, are representations of male and female deities, expressions of the cult of fecundity predominantly in the Stone Age.
The Neolithic Age Cucuteni area in Northeast Romania was the Western region of the earliest European civilization[26][27] known as the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture.
[edit] Tags:Cucuteni Culture,Hamangia Culture,Cucuteni-trypillian,Cave With Bones,Homo Sapiens,Paleolithic,Bugiulești,Vâlcea County,Ohaba-ponor,Hunedoara County,Valea Dârjovului,Olt County,Lăpuș,Maramureș County,Cuciulat,Sălaj County,Hamangia,Tulcea County,Fecundity,Stone Age,Cucuteni-trypillian Culture, | |
| Antiquity | |
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Main articles: Ancient history of Romania, Getae, Dacians, Dacia, and Roman Dacia
Emperor Trajan's annexation of Dacia in 106 set the stage for the ethnogenesis of modern Romanians
The Helmet of Coţofeneşti - a full gold Geto-Dacian helmet dating from the first half of the 4th century BC, currently at the National Museum of Romanian History
The earliest written evidence of people living in the territory of the present-day Romania, the Getae, comes from Herodotus, in his Histories book IV (c. 440 BC).[28] Territories located north of the Danube were inhabited by Dacian tribes, including Carpi, Apuli, Tyragetae, Costoboci, Burs, Krobyzoi and Suci and other peoples. Dacians, like the majority of Thracians, were henotheists, the main deities being: Zalmoxis, Gebeleizis, Bendis, Derzelas and Kotys. Dacians, considered a part of the Getae tribes mentioned by Herodotus, were a branch of Thracians who inhabited Dacia (corresponding mostly to present-day Romania). He describes the Getae as "the most brave and honest amongst all Thracians". The Dacian kingdom reached its peak between 82–44 BC during the reign of Burebista.
Over the next century, relations between the Dacian tribes and Rome were relatively peaceful, however the ascent to the throne of Rome of emperor Domitian (81 AD) damaged relations between the Roman Empire and Dacia. He led military campaigns in the region between 87–88 AD at Tapae. Roman incursions continued in 101–102 AD and 105–106 AD under Trajan, who successfully defeated Dacia and annexed its south western parts to the vast Roman Empire. The Dacian population subsequently underwent the ethno-linguistic process of Romanization and the conquered parts became an imperial province.
Due to Dacia's rich ore deposits (especially gold and silver),[29] Rome brought colonists from all over the empire.[30] This introduced Vulgar Latin and started a period of intense romanization that would give birth to the Proto-Romanian language.[31][32] During the 3rd century AD, with the invasions of migratory populations, the Roman Empire was forced to pull out of Dacia around 271 AD, making it the first province to be abandoned.[33][34]
After the Roman army and administration left Dacia, the territory was invaded by various migratory populations including Goths,[35] Huns,[36] Gepids,[37] Avars,[38] Bulgars,[37] Pechenegs,[39] and Cumans.[40] Several competing theories have been generated to explain the origin of modern Romanians. Linguistic and geo-historical analysis tend to indicate that Romanians have coalesced as a major ethnic group both South and North of the Danube in the regions previously colonized by Romans.[41]
[edit] Tags:Danube,Getae,Dacians,Dacia,Roman Dacia,Emperor Trajan,Helmet Of Coţofeneşti,Geto-dacian,4th Century Bc,Herodotus,Histories,Dacian Tribes,Carpi,Apuli,Tyragetae,Costoboci,Burs,Krobyzoi,Suci,Henotheists,Zalmoxis,Gebeleizis,Bendis,Derzelas,Kotys,Thracians,Dacian Kingdom,Burebista,Domitian, | |
| Middle Ages | |
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Main articles: Romania in the Early Middle Ages and Romania in the Middle Ages
Bran Castle was built in 1212, and became commonly known as Dracula's Castle after the myths of being home of Vlad III the Impaler.
Gesta Hungarorum, also known as the Chronicle of Anonymus, mentioned the existence of three voivodeships in Transylvania in the 9th century: the Voivodeship of Gelou, the Voivodeship of Glad (originally from Vidin, then inhabited by Proto-Romanians[citation needed]) and the Voivodeship of Menumorut. The anonymous author describes the first as Vlach.[42] Another voivodeship, ruled by Gyula, was mentioned in the 11th century. It was mentioned as being large and prosperous ("Jatissimum et opulentisimum").[citation needed] It is known to have included the strongholds of Dăbâca, Morești (on the Mureș River), Moigrad and Bălgrad (near Alba Iulia). Gyula was described as being an Orthodox Christian, therefore he was very probably either Romanian or Slav. A 1176 Slavonic inscription attests the existence of a župan Dimitri that ruled over Dobrogea in 943. In the Alexiad, Byzantine princess Anna Komnene mentioned the political entities led by Sesthlav, Satza and Tatos, all in Southern Dobrogea, in 1086.[43]
In the Middle Ages, Romanians lived in three distinct principalities: Wallachia (Romanian: Țara Românească – "Romanian Land"), Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova) and Transylvania (Romanian: Transilvania). By the 11th century, Transylvania became a largely autonomous part of the Kingdom of Hungary,[44] and became independent as the Principality of Transylvania from the 16th century,[45] until 1711.[46] In Wallachia and Moldavia many small local states with varying degrees of independence developed, but only in the 14th century did the larger principalities of Wallachia (1310) and Moldavia (around 1352) emerge to fight the threat of the Ottoman Empire. Both territories inhabited by Romanians have achieved the independence from the Hungarian Crown after military conflicts (Battle of Posada, 1330) or social conflicts (Moldavian boyars revolt against Hungary, 1364), these historical events being initiated by Basarab I of Wallachia (1310–1352) and Bogdan I of Moldavia (1359–1365).[47][48]
Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania were briefly united under the rule of Michael the Brave on July 6, 1600, after the battles of Șelimbăr (1599) and Bacău (1600).
By 1541, the entire Balkan peninsula and most of Hungary became Ottoman provinces. Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania were under Ottoman suzerainty, preserving partial-full internal autonomy until middle of the 19th century (Transylvania to 1699). During this period the Romanian lands were characterised by the slow disappearance of the feudal system. A few rulers of present-day Romanian territories distinguished themselves: these rulers include Stephen the Great, Vasile Lupu, and Dimitrie Cantemir in Moldavia; Matei Basarab, Vlad III the Impaler, and Constantin Brâncoveanu in Wallachia; and John Hunyadi (Ioannes Corvinus) and Gabriel Bethlen in Transylvania.[49]
In 1600, the principalities of Wallachia, Moldova and Transylvania were simultaneously headed by the Wallachian prince Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul), Ban of Oltenia, but the chance for a unity dissolved after Mihai was killed, only one year later, by the soldiers of Austrian army general Giorgio Basta. After his death, as vassal tributary states, Moldova and Wallachia had complete internal autonomy and external independence, which was finally lost in the 18th century. In 1699, Transylvania became a territory of the Habsburgs' Austrian empire following the Austrian victory over the Turks in the Great Turkish War. The Habsburgs in turn expanded their empire in 1718 to include an important part of Wallachia, called Oltenia (which was only returned in 1739) and in 1775 over the north-western part of Moldavia, later called Bukovina. The eastern half of the Moldavian principality (called Bessarabia) was occupied in 1812 by Russia.[49]
Territorial changes of Romania since 1859 until present
[edit] Tags:Bessarabia,Bukovina,Hungary,Moldova,Ottoman Empire, | |
| Independence and monarchy | |
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Main articles: Early Modern Romania, National awakening of Romania, Romanian Principalities, Romanian War of Independence, and Kingdom of Romania
During the period of Austro-Hungarian rule in Transylvania and Ottoman suzerainty over Wallachia and Moldavia, most Romanians were in the situation of being second-class citizens or even non-citizens[50] in a territory where they formed the majority of the population.[51][52] In some Transylvanian cities, such as Brașov (at that time a Saxon cita Tags: | |
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