Romania geography
only a few guidelines
Romania lays in South-East of Central Europe, at equal distance from the continental limits (North, West and East - 2.900 km), in the lower basin of the Danube and on the Black Sea's eastern coast.
Romania is bordered by five states, the sixth neighbor being the Black Sea.
Republic of Moldova is at the east (681.3 km of border).
Ukraine lays in the north and east with 649.4 km of the border.
Romanian has at the east 193.5 km coast of the Black Sea.
Most of the southern border is with Bulgaria (631.3 km).
Serbia is at the south-west (546.4 km) and Hungary at the west (448 km).
Romania coordinates are:
Latitudes:
43-37'07'' South
48-15'06'' North.
Longitudes:
20-15'44'' West
29-41'24'' East.
Area : 237,500 sq. km
By area, Romania is the 12th country in Europe.
Romania geography - the relief
Now look at Romania's map to see what Romanians mean when they say
Romania is the masterpiece of God.
It's like a fortress.
The Carpathian Mountains surrounds the central Transylvanian plateau the way a fortress is surrounded by its walls. The heights slowly go down to the hills covered by forests, vineyards and orchards. Then they end down on the plains. Rivers and Black Sea, like a moat, build up more than 2/3 from the borderline.
And this isn't all. There is an extraordinary balance between all forms of relief. The mountains stretching in the shape of an arch in the central part cover 31% of the country's area, the hills and the tablelands that descend from them occupy 36%, and the plains, extending towards the southern and western borders, take up 33%.
The Romanian mountains have a large number of interior depressions. These, as well as the fragmentation of the Carpathians through a large number of valleys and passes, made possible permanent relations between the inhabitants on either side of the mountains. At present, 12 railway lines and 30 roads cross the mountains.
The plains covering the southern and western parts of the country are low and extremely flat. Between the Carpathians and the Danube lies the Romanian Plain, the principal granary of the country, and to the west stretches the Western Plain, which is crossed by many rivers.
The multi-tiered relief disposition brings differences and diversity in the climate, the soil, the vegetation and the fauna and, implicitly, the human settlements.
Romania geography - the waters
The network of rivers in Romania is radial-shaped, with most of the rivers springing from the Carpathian Mountains and being collected directly or through tributaries (such as the Tisza) by the Danube. The main waterway is the Danube, which flows along 1,075 km of Romanian territory.
The other major rivers are:- the Mures (761 km on Romania's territory), the main river in Transylvania
- the Prut (742 km on Romania's territory), tracing the border with the Republic of Moldova
- the Olt (615 km)
- the Siret (559 km on Romania's territory)
- the Ialomita (417 km)
- the Somes (376 km on Romania's territory)
- the Arges (350 km)
The rivers have relatively big variations in their level in spring and in the fall, due to the high volume of rains. Romania's water resources total about 40,300 million cube meter/year, of which surface waters - 34,450 million cube meter (more than a half being Danube waters) and underground waters -5,850 million cube meter.
The hydropower potential of the Romanian rivers stands at about 84,000 Gwh/year.
Romania have lakes of various forms, sizes and origins. There are around 3,500 lakes (2,000 of them natural) but their water only covers 1.1% of the country's area.
Only some 310 of them have an area exceeding 1 sq.km. The biggest are the lagoons and the Black Sea coast lakes (Razim 415 sq.km., Sinoe 171 sq.km.).
The 200 glacial lakes are mostly spread in the Southern Carpathians (Lake Bucura, 10.8 ha, being the largest).
The most important man-made lakes (storage lakes for electrical power) are on the Danube: Iron Gates II (400 sq.km.) and Iron Gates I (100 square km - but with a water volume of 2,400 million cube meter, or three times as that of Iron Gates II).
Romania geography - the vegetation
The vegetation is disposed in tiers, depending on the relief, soil and weather.
Over a quarter of the country is covered by forests (28% of the country's area). Not much compared with the past times. The forests of Central Europe, which in ancient times and during the Middle Ages used to cover almost the entire area of today Romania, except for its south-east, gradually made room for farming land.
The plains and hilly areas are covered by deciduous trees (up to an altitude of 600-700 m): various varieties of oak, lime-tree, sycamore maple, ash, replaced then by beech, which in its turns makes room, at 1,200 m, for coniferous trees (fir, spruce fir, etc.).
At 1,800 m begin the alpine meadows, with grassy species and bushes of juniper, bilberry, etc., which is the turf of sheep flocks.
The forests (covering 6,688,500 ha) consist of beech (around 2 million ha), coniferous trees (1.9 million ha), hornbeam, elm, ash, lime and other species (1.3 million ha), and oak and evergreen oak (ca. 1.1 million ha).
Romania geography - the wildelife
Romania's fauna, grouped by the vegetation tiers, was and still is one of the richest and most varied in Europe.
In the alpine zone, you can find the chamois and the mountain eagle.
Hilly forests and mountains are homes for deer, brown bears, lynx, wild cats, martens, capercaillies, hazel hens and pheasants.
The deciduous forests are home to wolves, wild boars, does, and badgers, whereas the forest-steppe is the realm of hares, foxes, and a large number of birds, rodents and reptiles.
Romania had a large population of European bison in the last centuries. The complete extinction of them drove to a repopulation politic. You can see them in reservations in the Carpathians.
The Danube, the Danube Delta and the Razelm-Sinoe lagoon are the main fishing zones, teeming with carp, sheat fish, pike, zander, as well as migratory fish coming from the Black Sea during the reproductive period, such as the caviar-producing sturgeon or the Danube mackerel.
The Black Sea platform abounds in horse mackerel, anchovy, black goby, plaice, grey mullet and the blue mackerel that comes from the Mediterranean. There are dolphins, too.
In mountain rivers, there are trout, chub and barbel.
Romania geography - the climate
Romania has a temperate-continental climate of transitional type, specific to Central Europe, with four clearly defined seasons.
Local differences are caused by altitude and by slight oceanic (to the west), Mediterranean (to the south-west) and continental (to the east) influences.
In wintertime the mean temperature falls below -3º C and in summertime it ranges between 22º C and 24º C. The mean annual temperature is 11º C in the south and 8º C in the north of the country.
The absolute minimum temperature ever registered was -38.5º C at Bot in the Brasov Depression, and the absolute maximum temperature was + 44.5º C (in the Baragan Plain).
The average annual rainfall slightly decreases from west to east. Mean annual rainfalls total 637 mm, with higher values in the mountain areas (1,400 - 1,000 mm/year) and lower values in the Baragan Plain (500 mm/year), Dobrudja and the Danube Delta (400 mm/year).
Romania geography - the population
Romania's population is over 22,000,000, with a density of 91.7 inhabitants per square km. From these, 89% are Romanians, 6,6% Hungarians, 2% Gypsies, with small minorities of Germans, Ukrainians, Serbs, Slovaks, Turks, Czechs, Greeks, Jews, Armenians, Poles, Albanians. Romania is the 43rd country in the world and 9th in Europe by population.
Male population is 48.7% and the females are 51.3% of population.
55% of the population lives in cities and towns, and 45% in rural areas.
There are 263 cities and towns, of which 80 municipalities, and 2685 communes with over 13 285 villages. Besides Bucharest, which has a population of nearly 2.1 million, there are 17 cities with over 100 000 inhabitants, 7 of which exceed 300 000 (Brasov, Cluj Napoca, Constanta, Craiova, Galati, Iasi, Timisoara).
Well, if you intend to independently and affordably travel in Russia, Ukraine or Moldova with the help of local self-employed guides and interpreters Russia Ukraine Travel Alternative is a very useful resource.
For more information about Ukraine see also Ukraine Travel Guide. Practical Information for Visitors to Ukraine. Air, train travel. Maps. Accommodations. Insider Information about Ukrainian history, culture, religion, customs, outdoor activity
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