Roumania

4052

Roumania

at, 7,102 sq.m. This makes its total area
113,886 sq.m., with a total population of
approximately 18,000,000. Of these Rouman-
ians by race number over 13,000,000.

The general configuration of the surface
of Roumania proper is an irregular inclined
plane, sloping l>y broad and gentle terraces
from the Carpathians and the Transylvanian
Alps to the north bank of the Danube, which
for a considerable distance forms the bound-
ary line between Bulgaria and Roumania. The
climate of Roumania is one of marked ex-
tremes. The winters are bitterly cold and
the summers almost sub-tropical. There is
practically no spring, the severe cold of win-
ter being followed by intense summer heat.
The natural resources of Roumania include
large tracts of woodland, valuable mineral
deposits, and a soil of exceeding fertility. For-
ests cover 6,935,120 acres. The state owns
nearly 3,000,000 acres of the forest lands,
and privately owned forests are under gov-
ernment control. The mineral wealth in-
cludes rich petroleum springs, extensive coal
fields, aud deposits of lignite, salt, building
stone, copper, iron, gold, lead, manganese,
and quicksilver.

The rich Roumanian soil insures good har-
vests, and agriculture and kindred industries
engage two-thirds or more of the popula-
tion. There are some 450,000 acres devoted
to vineyards and orchards. Tobacco is cul-
tivated under the supervision of the state.
Sheep, oxen and swine are reared. Manufac-
turing industries are not large. They depend
chiefly on the local market. The great natural
trade route is the Danube, the principal ports,
Sulina and Constanta on the Black Sea
Coast, and Galatz and Braila on the Danube.
The great majority of the people belong to
the Greek Orthodox Church. There are also
Catholics and Protestants, Armenians, Jews,
and Mohammedans. Only the Orthodox cler-
gy are recognized by the state. Primary edu-
cation is free and compulsory. There are two
main universities (Bucharest and Jassy), with
faculties in law, philosophy, science, medi-
cine, and theology.

Roumania is a limited hereditary mon-
archy, with a constitution, on the Belgian
model, dating from 1866. The executive pow-
er is vested in a council of eight ministers;
the legislative power in a senate and chamber
of deputies. This country was occupied in
antiquity by a people called Getse, and by the
Dacians, Trajan transformed the country
into a Roman province and it soon became a

flourishing part of the Roman empire. Dur-
ing the following thousand years the region
was swept by successive barbarian invasions.
Towards the end of the i4th century the in-
dependent states of Walachia and Moldavia
were formed. Walachia was forced to recog-
nize Turkish suzerainty in 1411. It regained
its independence for a short time under Mich-
ael the Brave (1593-1601), who defeated the
Turks at Calugareni (1595) and united under
one sceptre Walachia, Moldavia, and Tran-
sylvania. Moldavia did not become the vas-
sal of Turkey till a century later than Wala-
chia (1513). Stephen the Great (1458-
1504) is the hero of Moldavia, as Michael
the Brave is of Walachia. During his long
and glorious reign he defeated the Poles
(1461), the Hungarian king, Matthias Cor-
vinus, at Baja (1467), invaded Walachia,
which he wished to unite with Moldavia, and
inflicted a crushing defeat on the Turks at
Rakova (i475)-

During the next three centuries the ambi-
tious designs of Russia and Austria towards
the principalities became apparent. Austria
deprived Moldavia of the province of Bu-
kowina (Bucovina) in 1775, and Russia took
away in 1812 the large province of Bessara-
bia. The Congress of Paris of 1856 declared
the principalities to be neutral territories un-
der the guarantee of the powers. In the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877 Roumania as-
sisted in the success of the Russian arms and
on the battlefields of Bulgaria she won her
independence, which was confirmed by the
Congress of Berlin (1878), In 1881 Prince
Charles was crowned king of Roumania
(with a crown forged from the guns cap-
tured at Plevna). During the First Balkan
War, Roumania maintained neutrality; in the
Second, brought on by trouble over the divi-
sion of the spoils, she allied herself with
Greece and Serbia and secured as a result
of her participation some 2,000 sq.m. of
Northeastern Bulgaria.

Upon the outbreak of the Great War, Rou-
mania adopted a policy of watchful neutrality
to which she adhered during the latter
months of 1914 and the year 1915. On Aug.
27, 1916, she entered the war on the side of
the Allies. For a history of the ensuing
struggle, see EUROPE, GREAT WAR or: Rou-
mama. Threatened with starvation, the ex-
hausted country signed a three months' ar-
mistice on Dec. 10, 1917. A preliminary
treaty was agreed to, March 5,1918, and on
May 6, 19*8, the treaty of Bucharest was