about two thirds of all Catholics lived in
those areas.
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Roman Catholicism 83
Romania
Romania is the largest country on the
Balkan Peninsula in eastern Europe.
Romania’s name came from the Roman
Empire, which ruled the region in
ancient times. Bucharest is Romania’s
capital and largest city.
Geography
Romania borders Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary,
Ukraine, and Moldova. The Black
Sea lies to the southeast.
The Carpathian Mountains run through
the northern parts of Romania. The
Carpathians surround a central region
called Transylvania. Plains cover southern
Romania. The Danube River flows
along Romania’s southern border.
Plants and Animals
The Carpathians have many forests.
Oak trees grow on the low mountain
slopes. Beech, fir, and spruce trees grow
in higher areas. Grasses and scattered
trees grow on the plains.
The goatlike chamois lives high in
Romania’s mountains. Brown bears, red
deer, wolves, foxes, wild pigs, and lynx
live in the forests. The country’s birds
include eagles, vultures, and hawks.
People
Most of the people of Romania are
Romanians. Their language, called
Romanian, has its roots in Latin—the
language of the Roman Empire. The
country has smaller groups of Hungarians,
Roma (Gypsies), Germans, and
Ukrainians. Most Romanians are Eastern
Orthodox Christians. More than
half of the population lives in cities or
towns.
Economy
Services—including banking,
communications, and health care—are
Mountains and rolling hills cover large
parts of Romania.
84 Romania BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA
a major part of Romania’s economy.
Manufacturing, mining, and logging are
also important. Factories make
machines, fuels, steel, chemicals, and
clothing. Mines provide coal, natural
gas, and oil.
Many Romanians still live by farming.
Crops include wheat, corn, potatoes,
and sugar beets. Romanians also grow
grapes to make wine. The main livestock
are sheep and pigs.
History
The region that is now Romania was
known as Dacia in ancient times. The
Roman Empire ruled Dacia from AD
106 until the late 200s. Over the next
800 years Goths, Huns, Slavs, and other
peoples invaded Dacia. In the 1000s the
Hungarians took over what is now Transylvania.
The Formation of Romania
In the early 1300s the people south of
the Carpathian Mountains formed a
state called Walachia. The people east of
the Carpathians formed a state called
Moldavia.Walachia and Moldavia were
the first Romanian states.
In 1859Walachia and Moldavia elected
a single prince to rule both of them. The
two states became the independent state
of Romania. Romania gained Transylvania
from Hungary in 1918.
Communist Rule
The Soviet Union took control of
Romania duringWorldWar II (1939–
45). The Soviets helped to set up a
Communist government in Romania by
1948. The Communist leader Nicolae
Ceausescu ruled harshly during the
1970s and 1980s. In 1989 Communist
governments in neighboring countries
began to collapse. That December the
Romanian military executed Ceausescu.
Modern Romania
Romania held free elections in 1990.
The new leaders worked to improve the
economy.
..More to explore
Balkan Peninsula • Bucharest
Romanian dancers perform at a folk festival. • Communism • Moldova
Sheep graze near a castle in Romania.
Facts About
ROMANIA
Population
(2008 estimate)
21,508,000
Area
92,043 sq mi
(238,391 sq km)
Capital
Bucharest
Form of
government
Republic
Major cities
Bucharest, Iasi,
Cluj-Napoca,
Timisoara, Constanta,
Craiova
BRITANNICA STUDENT ENCYCLOPEDIA Romania 85
Roman
Numerals
Roman numerals are a system for representing
numbers with letters of the
Latin, or Roman, alphabet. The system
dates back about 2,000 years, to the
time of ancient Rome. Roman numerals
have been mostly replaced by Arabic
numbers (1, 2, 3…).
How Roman NumeralsWork
The Roman numeral system uses seven
letters as numerals: I = 1; V = 5; X = 10;
L = 50; C = 100; D = 500; M = 1,000.
The numerals can be written as either
capital or lowercase letters. A bar over a
numeral multiplies its value by 1,000:
for example, V = 5,000 and X = 10,000.
When a numeral is followed by one of
equal or lesser value, their values are
added together: II = 2; VI = 6; CLV =
155. This system could create very long
numbers if numerals could be repeated
without limit (for example, IIII or
CCCC). To avoid this problem, the
system uses subtraction within the numbers.
A numeral is never used more than
three times in a row. Instead of repeating
the numeral a fourth time, the value is
expressed by a smaller numeral followed
by a larger numeral. The smaller
numeral is subtracted from the larger
one. For example, instead of IIII, the
number 4 is written as IV (5 . 1). The
number 400 is written as CD (500 .
100).
Only certain combinations of numerals
are used in this way. For instance, 1,999
is written in Roman numerals as
MCMXCIX rather than MIM. This
number breaks down as follows: M
(1,000) + CM (900) + XC (90) + IX (9).
The number 2,000 is written MM;
2,001 is MMI; 2,002 is MMII; 2,003 is
MMIII; 2,004 is MMIV; and 2,005 is
MMV.
Using Roman Numerals
People generally find Arabic numbers
easier to use than Roman numerals. But
Roman numerals are still used decoratively
