1. ROMANIA IMPORTANT HISTORICAL FACTS Area: 237 500 sq. km Population: 22 435 205 Capital: Bucharest Other major cities: Iasi, Constanta, Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Galati, Craiova, Brasov, Ploiesti and Braila Currency: Leu (RON) Language: Romanian Telephone country code: 00 40 Time Zone: EET (GMT + 2 hours)

2. GEOGRAPHICAL SITE Romania rests in the Southeastern part of Europe, girdling the Black Sea between Ukraine and Bulgaria. It came into being when the two principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia broke the shackles of Turkish Ottoman suzerainty and merged, in 1859, to form a new land - ‘Romania’. Surrounded by Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and Moldova to the northeast and Bulgaria to the south, Romania is home to the striking Carpathian mountain ranges that pass through its heart. With its sun-kissed beaches, emerald forests, surrealistic history and medieval monuments, Romania remains a very popular tourist destination of Europe.

3. Concise History of Romania 10,000BC Upper Paleolithic (the Old Stone Age) period 5000 - 3000BC Neolithic (New Stone Age) period 3000BC - 1000BC Bronze Age period The ancient Kingdom of Romania was called Dacia 650 BC Information about the Dacians is first documented by the Greeks 15 BC The Romans had begun to extend their empire to include Dacia which was re-named as Romania 50-100AD - The spread of Christianity 103-105AD The Roman provinces of Moesia Superior and Dacia were connected by a bridge over the Danube for Emperor Trajan 395 to 1453 - The Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire was the eastern section of the Roman Empire, with its capital at Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire was called the Roman Empire or, in later centuries, Romania Romania was made up of a number of small states, including Transylvania, Wallachia & Moldavia, each with an independent ruler 1428 Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), the son of Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Dragon), is born 1463 Vlad the Impaler becomes Prince of Wallachia 1443 Vlad the Impaler is taken hostage by the Turks 1451 Vlad the Impaler flees to Transylvania 1476 Vlad the Impaler is assassinated. In 1897 "Dracula" by Bram Stoker is published in England 1703-1711 War, led by the Prince of Transylvania, against the Habsburgs failed 1859 - The modern Romania was born when the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia merged 1895 Oct 1, Romanians in Constantinople were massacred 1914 Outbreak of WWI Romania fights on Allied side 1916 Aug 28, Germany declared war on Romania 1916 Sep 1, Bulgaria declared war on Romania 1938 - King Carol II establishes dictatorship 1938 - 1940 Germany raise treaties in Munich and Vienna in which Southern Slovakia and Northern Transylvania were returned to Hungary September 1939 World War II starts 1940 Soviet Union delivered an ultimatum to Romania and 2 days later occupied Bessarabia and North Bukovina 1941 - Romania fights on German side against Soviet Union August 1945 The United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 1945 The Allies of World War II defeat Germany 1947 - Romania regains Transylvania. King Michael abdicates. Romanian People's Republic proclaimed 1955 - Romania joins Warsaw Pact 1965 - Nicolae Ceausescu becomes Romanian Communist Party leader 1989 - The reign of Romanian president Nicolae Ceausescu was ended with an uprising

4. The 3 Romanian principalities at 1600

5. ROMANIAN FLAG ROMANIAN FLAG AND COAT OF ARMS

6. Recent History Traian Basescu won Romania's presidential election in 2004, defeating incumbent prime minister Adrian Nastase of the leftist Social Democratic party. Calin Tariceanu became prime minister following parliamentary elections in November 2004. His government is an alliance of Liberals and Democrats and has members from four reformist parties. The government accelerated the legal and judicial reforms necessary to ensure EU membership for Romania in 2007 and is engaged in fighting poverty and corruption. Basescu gained a second endorsement from the electorate in a May 2007 referendum when they rejected an attempt by parliament to impeach him. MPs had decided by a large majority to remove him from office, accusing him of exceeding his constitutional powers

7. LANGUAGE AND RELIGION Language Romanian is the official language. Some Hungarian and German are spoken in border areas, while mainly French and some English are spoken by those connected with the tourist industry. Religion 87% Romanian Orthodox, with Greek and Roman Catholic, Reformed/Lutheran, Unitarian, Muslim and Jewish minorities

8. Places to see in Romania

10. Fun and Interesting Facts about Romania The capital of Romania is Bucharest, once popular as the ‘Paris of the East’. Romania covers a total area of 237,500 sq km and the total population of the place is around 22.5 million. Apart from the official Romanian language, Hungarian and German form two other major languages of Romania. Romania has a Republic type of government. 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. The Dacian fortresses of the Orastie Mountains, in Romania, belong to the Late Iron Age. Gheorghe Marinescu, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Bucharest, was the first person to see living nervous cells with a microscope. More than half of Romania's Jewish population died in the Second World War. Romania was a part of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) and the Warsaw Treaty Organisation. After the Second World War, the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova was formed, which was earlier a part of Romania. Romania joined the European Union in 2007, along with Bulgaria. In the year 2000, 100 tonnes 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. The Transylvanian city of Sibiu is credited as the European Capital of Culture 2007. Irish author Bram Stoker based his horror novel ‘Dracula’ on the fifteenth century Wallachian Prince, Vlad Dracul of Romania. The Bran Castle, associated with Vlad Dracul, still lies in Romania and forms its most popular tourist attraction.

11. KIND REGARDS FROM ROMANIA!