​Romania
Country Information

• The official name of the country is România.
• Bucharest. The capital of Romania is Bucharest, once known as the ‘Little Paris of the East’, located in the southeastern part of the country on the Danube River.
• Terrain: Romania consists mainly of rolling, fertile plains; hilly in the eastern regions of the middle Danube basin; and major mountain ranges running north and west in the center of the country, which collectively are known as the Carpathians.
• Climate: Romania has a moderate (temperate) climate, similar to the northeastern USA, with four distinct seasons. There are distinct regional differences in climate depending upon where one is in the country.
• Geography. Romania roughly occupies ancient Dacia, a Roman province in the 2nd and 3rd century. There was a period of Mongol rule in the 13th century. The area then developed into Moldavia and Walachia (Ottoman Empire) and Transylvania (Hungarian dependency). Moldavia and Wallachia merged in 1859, to form a united Romania.
• Size. Romania is about the size of Oregon and covers a total area of 237,500 sq. km.
• Language. Apart from the official Romanian language, Hungarian and German form two other major languages of Romania. Romanian is a Romance language, belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family, having much in common with languages such as French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese.  
• Alphabet. The alphabet is a modification of the classical Latin alphabet and consists of 31 letters.
• Government. Romania has a Republic type of government. The government forms one half of the country's executive branch (the other half being the President). It is headed by the Prime-Minister, and consists of the Ministries, various subordinated institutions and agencies, and the 42 Prefectures. The seat of the Romanian Government is at Victoria Palace in Bucharest.
• Currency.  The currency of Romania is Romanian ‘leu’ (RON).
• Romania's Danube Delta is a World Heritage site and is the second largest delta in the whole of Europe.
• World War II.  More than half of Romania's Jewish population died in the Second World War.
• Baia Mare Gold Mine Cyanide Spill: In the year 2000, 100 tons of cyanide, from a gold mine in northern Romania, spilled into rivers in Romania, Hungary and Yugoslavia and destroyed aquatic life for several hundred kilometers.
• Dracula.  Irish author Bram Stoker based his horror novel ‘Dracula’ on the fifteenth century Wallachian Prince, Vlad Tepes, also called Vlad Dracu. Vlad was called "the Impailer" because he  impailed his victims on stakes and displayed them publicly to frighten his enemies. He killed between 40,000 to 100,000 people in this fashion. The Bran Castle, associated with Vlad Dracul, still lies in Romania and forms its most popular tourist attraction.