A few minerals, such as lead, zinc, sulfur, and salt, are available in quantities needed domestically, but iron and coal are not plentiful. Deposits of lignite, gold, and several other minerals occur in concentrations having sufficient value to be mined.
BOUNDARIES AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS
Boundaries
When it gained full independence in 1878, Romania contained the historic provinces of Moldavia and Walachia, some of Bessarabia, and a portion of Dobruja. Substantial numbers of Romanians remained outside the original state's boundaries in Transylvania and in the Russian portion of Bessarabia. The first boundaries remained little changed until after World War I, although the strip of Dobruja was enlarged somewhat in 1913, after the Second Balkan War (see ch. 2).
In the 1918 settlement after World War I about 38,500 square miles were ceded to Romania from the dismantled Austro-Hungarian Empire. In addition to historic Transylvania, with its area of about 21,300 square miles, a strip along its western side, with a substantially Magyar population, and Bukovina, part of which is now the most north-central section of the country, were included. Also in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian revolution, Romania acquired Bessarabia from the new Bolshevik regime and enlarged its holdings in Dobruja at Bulgaria's expense.
During the brief period of accord between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany immediately before World War II, portions of Romania were sliced away and divided among Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Soviet Union. The post-World War II settlement, arrived at in 1947, again transferred Transylvania from Hungary to Romania, and Dobruja—with a somewhat modified southern border—was transferred from Bulgaria. The Soviet Union retained all of Bessarabia and the northern portion of Bukovina. In 1971 none of Romania's borders were disputed, and all of them were satisfactorily demarcated.
The total circumference of the country is about 1,975 miles. The northern and eastern border with the Soviet Union extends for about 830 miles; the southern border with Bulgaria, for 375 miles; the southwestern border with Yugoslavia, for 345 miles; and the northwestern border with Hungary, for 275 miles. The Black Sea coast is about 150 miles long. The eastern boundary generally follows the Prut River, and most of the southern boundary is formed by the Danube; in the west and north the border follows no distinctive terrain features, often having been drawn according to ethnic, rather than geographic, considerations.
Political Subdivisions
Until 1968 the communist regime had divided the country into seventeen regions—including one consisting of the Bucharest metropolitan area only—and 152 districts. In an extensive reorganization of local governments at that time, the regions were done away with and replaced by the prewar system of counties (judete). In 1971 there were thirty-nine counties, plus Bucharest and its suburban areas, which were still administered separately. Bucharest was one of forty-six municipalities, but it was the only one not subordinate to the district in which it was located. Each county is named for the town that is its administrative center. The newer organization has served to increase public participation in local government but has also increased the authority of the central government.
Bucharest, with a population of nearly 1.5 million in 1969, was about six times larger than Brasov, the next largest city. The Bucharest district was smallest in area and greatest in population. Other districts had roughly similar areas and populations. They averaged about 2,350 square miles in area and, although their populations varied between fewer than 200,000 and about 750,000, two-thirds of them had between 350,000 and 650,000 persons.