The romanian people

The Romanians are an ethnic group and nation native to Romania, that share a
common Romanian culture, ancestry, and speak the Romanian language, which is descended
from the Latin language.
Today, estimates of the number of Romanian people worldwide vary from 26 to 30 million.
Antiquity

Archaeological discoveries have highlighted the fact that the existing area of today's Roman
people has been inhabited since prehistoric times. The Romanian ethno genesis was the
result of a long and complex ethno-linguistic process carried out on an ancient traco-geto-
dacian, located between Tisa, Nistru, the Northern Carpathians and the Balkan Mountains,
which, after the Roman conquest, suffered the Romanization process. Geto's civilization - if
touched by King Burebista, the first unifier of the Geto-Dacian tribes (82-44 BC) and
Decebalus's time respectively, who rebuilt the unity of the Dacian state (87-106 AD) and
during which Dacia was conquered by the Romans ruled by Emperor Trajan. Geto-Dacians
played an active role in Roman civilization. The Romanization of the Geto-Dacians was a
profound, irreversible process. The spiritual bond of the Daco-Romans during the migration
period was Christianity, as an element of ethnic identity and belonging to the Romanian
spirituality. That is why, in Dacia, Christianity was an important factor for preserving
Romanity and for completing the ethno genesis of the Romans. The arrival of the Slavs in the
area inhabited by the Daco-Romans was of special importance, the Slavs remaining at the
north of the Danube being assimilated by the Daco-Romans. Therefore the Roman people
resulting from the Dacian-Roman synthesis, through the Romanization process and the
assimilation of the Slavs, is a Roman people. Inhabited by the ancient Dacians, part of
today's territory of Romania was conquered by the Roman Empire in 106, when Trajan's
army defeated the army of Dacia's ruler Decebalus. The Roman administration withdrew two
centuries later, under the pressure of the Goths and Carpi.

The Romanians are descended from indigenous populations that inhabited what is now
Romania and its immediate environments: Thracians (Dacians, Getae) and Roman
legionnaires and colonists. In the course of the two wars with the Roman legions, between
AD 101–102 and AD 105–106 respectively, the emperor Trajan succeeded in defeating the
Dacians and the greatest part of Dacia became a Roman province.
The colonisation with Roman or Romanized elements, the use of the Latin language and the
assimilation of Roman civilisation as well as the intense development of urban centres led to
the Romanization of part of the autochthonous population in Dacia. This process was
probably concluded by the 10th century when the assimilation of the Slavs by the Daco-
Romanians was completed.
According to the south-of-the-Danube origin theory, the Romanians' ancestors, a
combination of Romans and Romanized peoples of Illyria, Moesia and Thrace, moved
northward across the Danube river into modern-day Romania.
Middle Ages to Early Modern Age
During the Middle Ages Romanians were mostly known as Vlachs, a blanket term ultimately
of Germanic origin, from the word Walha, used by ancient Because of the migrations that
followed – such as those of Slavs, Bulgars, Hungarians, and Tatars – the Romanians were
organised in agricultural communes (obști), developing large centralised states only in the
14th century, when the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia emerged to fight
the Ottoman Empire.
During the late Middle Ages, prominent medieval Romanian monarchs such as Bogdan of
Moldavia, Stephen the Great, Mircea the Elder, Michael the Brave, or Vlad the Impaler took
part actively in the history of Central Europe by waging tumultuous wars and leading
noteworthy crusades against the then continuously expanding Ottoman Empire, at times
allied with either the Kingdom of Poland or the Kingdom of Hungary in these causes.
Transylvania, a third region inhabited by an important majority of Romanian speakers, was a
vassal state of the Ottomans until 1687, when the principality became part of the Habsburg
possessions. The three principalities were united for several months in 1600 under the
authority of Wallachian Prince Michael the Brave.
Up until 1541, Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, later (due to the conquest
of Hungary by the Ottoman Empire) was a self-governed Principality governed by the
Hungarian nobility. In 1699 it became a part of the Habsburg lands. By the 19th century,
the Austrian Empire was awarded by the Ottomans with the region of Bukovina and, in 1812,
the Russians occupied the eastern half of Moldavia, known as Bessarabia.
Late Modern Age to Contemporary Era
In 1916, Romania joined the war on the side of the Triple Entente.
As a result, at the end of the war, Transylvania, Bessarabia, and Bukovina were awarded to
Romania, through a series of international peace treaties, resulting in an enlarged and far
more powerful kingdom under King Ferdinand I. As of 1920, the Romanian people was
believed to number over 15 million solely in the region of the Romanian kingdom, a figure
larger than the populations of Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands combined.
During the interwar period, two additional monarchs came to the Romanian throne,
namely Carol II and Michael I. This short-lived period was marked, at times, by political
instabilities and efforts of maintaining a constitutional monarchy in favour of other,
totalitarian regimes such as an absolute monarchy or a military dictatorship.

During World War II, the Kingdom of Romania lost territory both to the east and west,
as Northern Transylvania became part of Hungary through the Second Vienna Award, while
Bessarabia and northern Bukovina were taken by the Soviets and included in the Moldavian
SSR, respectively Ukrainian SSR. The eastern territory losses were facilitated by the Molotov-
Ribbentrop German-Soviet non-aggression pact.
After the end of the war, the Romanian Kingdom managed to regain territories lost
westward but was nonetheless not given Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, the
aforementioned regions being forcefully incorporated into the Soviet Union. Subsequently,
the Soviet Union imposed a Communist government and King Michael was forced to
abdicate and leave for exile. Nicolae Ceauşescu became the head of the Romanian
Communist Party in 1965 and his draconian rule of the 1980s was ended by the Romanian
Revolution of 1989.

Language
The origins of the Romanian language, a Romance language, can be traced back to the
Roman colonisation of the region. The basic vocabulary is of Latin origin, although there are
some substratum words that are sometimes assumed to be of Dacian origin. Romanian
language has retained the inflected structure of Latin grammar.
During the Middle Ages, Romanian was isolated from the other Romance languages, and
borrowed words from the nearby Slavic languages. Later on, it borrowed a number of words
from German, Hungarian, and Turkish.During the modern era, most neologisms were
borrowed from French and Italian, though the language has increasingly begun to
adopt English borrowings.

Culture
Romanians have played and contributed a major role in the advancement of the arts,
culture, sciences, technology and engineering.
In the history of aviation, Traian Vuia and Aurel Vlaicu built and tested some of the earliest
aircraft designs, while Henri Coandă discovered the Coandă effect of fluidics. Victor Babeş
discovered more than 50 germs and a cure for a disease named after him, babesiosis;
biologist Nicolae Paulescu discovered insulin. Another biologist, Emil Palade, received the
Nobel Prize for his contributions to cell biology. George Constantinescu created the theory of
sonics, while mathematician Ştefan Odobleja is regarded as the ideological father
behind cybernetics – his work The Consonantist Psychology (Paris, 1938) was the main
source of inspiration for N. Wiener's Cybernetics (Paris, 1948). Lazăr Edeleanu was the first
chemist to synthesize amphetamine and also invented the modern method of refining crude
oil.
Emil Racoviță was the first biologist to study Arctic life. In the arts and culture, prominent
figures were George Enescu (music composer, violinist,), Constantin
Brâncuși (sculptor), Eugène Ionesco (playwright), Mircea Eliade (historian of religion and
novelist), Emil Cioran (essayist, Prix de l'Institut Francais for stylism) and Angela
Gheorghiu (soprano).
In sports, Romanians have excelled in a variety of fields, such as football (Gheorghe Hagi),
gymnastics (Nadia Comăneci), tennis (Ilie Năstase, Ion Ţiriac, Simona Halep), canoe racing
(Ivan Patzaichin) and handball (four times men's World Cup winners). Count Dracula is a
worldwide icon of Romania. This character was created by the Irish fiction writer Bram
Stoker, based on some stories spread in the late Middle Ages by the frustrated German
trademen of Kronstadt (Braṣov) and on some Vampire folk tales about the historic Romanian
figure of Prince Vlad Ţepeş.
Religion
Almost 90% of all Romanians consider themselves religious.The vast majority are Eastern
Orthodox Christians, belonging to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Customs & Etiquette
Romanians are friendly and open and foreigners are usually made very welcome. Chatting
with visitors is very common for Romanians and they will find a way to communicate with
you even if they cannot speak your language.
Older people particularly appreciate old-fashioned politeness. It is respectful to use Mrs. or
Mr. when using the name of a person that you just meet.
Handshaking is the most common form of greeting. When a Romanian man is introduced to
a woman, he will probably kiss her hand, strictly avoiding her eyes.
It is common to linger once the meal (luch or dinner) is over.
When visiting someone at home bring a small gift. Most common gifts include flowers or
chocolate (for women only), a bottle of wine or liquor.
The number of flowers that one offers must always be odd.All gifts should be wrapped, but
many Romanians might not unwrap their gifts in your presence.In Romania as in many Latin
countries life is lived at a more relaxed pace. Normal European courtesies should be
followed on social occasions. Although casual dress is fine in most occasions, wearing a suit
and tie, or the women's equivalent, is important at business meetings.
Appointments are necessary and punctuality is expected.