ROUMANIA, a kingdom in southeast Europe, lies mainly between the Carpathians, the Purth, and the Danube (the Dobruja being south of the Danube). It includes the strip added from Bulgaria as “compensation” for changes consequent on the Balkan war of 1912-1913, from a point on the Danube above Silistria to Cape Sabla on the Black Sea. Bordering on Hungary, Russia, Bulgaria, and Servia, its area is 52,000 square miles, and population 7,500,000.
Surface.—Roumania consists for the most part of a great treeless steppe-like plain, occupying nearly the whole of the northern watershed of the Lower Danube; behind this plain rise the wooded Transylvania Alps. Between the northern bend of the river to its marshy delta and the Black Sea there rises the bare plateau called the Dobruja, partly grass-covered, partly swampy, without tree or bush. This famous old battle-ground is crossed by Trajan’s double wall or rampart, built to keep the northern barbarians out of the Roman provinces.
Rivers.—All the rivers are tributaries of the Danube, and flow from the Carpathians and the Transylvanian Alps across the level steppe to join its left bank. The chief are the Pruth, which now forms the boundary towards Russia, the Sereth, and the Oltu (Aluta).
People.—Most of the Roumanians are supposed to be descendants of the race formed by the alliance of the Roman colonists with the original inhabitants of Dacia. The Roumanian language is derived mainly from Latin, with Slavonic, Hungarian, and other elements.
They are strong, well-knit men, with black hair, lively, but not very active. The mass of the people live in great poverty; a few thousand Boyars, nobles or landed proprietors, really form the nation. Large numbers of Jews and Gypsies live among the Roumanians. Almost the entire population belongs to the Greek Church, but religious equality prevails.
Government.—The constitution, voted by a popular assembly in 1866, vests the executive authority in the reigning king and his council of ministers; the legislative body consists of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies.
Production and Industry.—The agricultural products consist of wheat, maize, millet, barley, rye, beans, and peas. Vines and fruits are abundant. The forests are of great extent and importance, but the riches of the country consist mainly in its cattle and sheep. Minerals and precious metals are said to be abundant, but only salt and petroleum are obtained.
Education is free and nominally compulsory, but owing to inadequate provision over sixty per cent of those above seven years of age are illiterate. Secondary education is relatively better, and the schools are well attended. There are also special schools and universities at Bucharest and Jassy. A government high school of commerce was opened in 1913.
Cities.—Capital, Bucharest, has a population (1912) of about 500,000. Other towns are: Jassy, 80,000; Galatz, 66,000; Braīla, 60,000; Ploesci, 50,000; Craiova, 46,000.
Bucharest (Bucuresci), the “Paris of the East,” stands two hundred and sixty-five feet above sea-level, in the fertile but treeless plain of the small, sluggish Dambovitza. By rail it is seven hundred and sixteen miles southeast of Vienna, forty miles north of Giurgevo on the Danube, and one hundred and seventy-nine miles northwest of Varna on the Black Sea. Viewed from the hills which lie to the west and southwest, Bucharest presents a most striking appearance. It is sprawled out on both banks of the river, occupying more than twenty square miles of territory in the slight depression through which the stream makes its way.