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A Brief History of Bucharest

Bucharest (Romanian: Bucuresti) is the capital city and industrial and commercial centre of Romania. It is located in the southeast of the country, at 44°25'N 26°06'E, and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovita River.

In the beginning…

Bucuresti has little in the way of ancient history although archaeological excavations have revealed the existence of over 150’000-year-old prehistoric settlements in the area. The large flat plans of Ilfov country would have been originally covered with dense forest and this fact probably explains the reason why no large city was developed in the area in antiquity. However, there were many small settlements of the Getae (or Dacians), an Indo-European people.

Small Dacian settlements were found in various places around Bucharest, such as Herastrau, Radu Voda, Damaroaia, Lacul Tei, Pantelimon and Popesti-Leordeni. We know that these populations had commercial links with the Romans, judging by the jewels and coins of Roman origin found in Giulesti and Lacul Tei.

Bucharest was never under the Roman rule, and it is assumed that the local population was Romanized after the retreat of the Roman Empire from this region. From about 200 B.C. when it was settled by the Dacians, a Thracian tribe, Romania has been on the path of a series of migrations and conquests. Under the emperor Trajan early in the second century A.D. Dacia was incorporated into the Roman empire but was abandoned by a declining Rome less than two centuries later.

Slavs founded several settlements in the Bucharest region, whose names still remain today, such as Snagov, Glina and Chiajna. The Slavic population was already assimilated by the Romanians before the end of the Dark Ages.

Romanian legend has it that the city of Bucharest was founded by a shepherd named "Bucur", whose name means "joy". His flute playing reportedly dazzled the locals and his hearty wine from nearby vineyards endeared him to the local traders, who gave his name to the place.

The birth of Bucuresti…

Like most ancient cities of Romania, its foundation has also been ascribed to the first Wallachian prince, the half-mythical Radu Negru. More modern historians declare that it was originally a fortress, erected on the site of some Daco-Roman settlements, then it was used to command the approaches to Târgoviste, formerly the capital of Wallachia.

Romania disappeared from recorded history for hundreds of years to reemerge in the medieval period as the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia.

Bucharest is first mentioned under its present name as a residence in 1459 of the Wallachian prince Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler). It soon became the summer residence of the court. In 1476, the city was sacked by Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great, and in 1595 it was burned down by the Turks; but, after its restoration, continued to grow in size and prosperity, until, in 1698, Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu chose it for his capital and of the united provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia from February 1859 (renamed Romania in December 1861 while still nominally subject to the Ottoman Empire).

Heavily taxed and badly administered under the Ottoman Empire the two Principalities were unified under a single native prince in 1859 and had their full independence ratified in the 1878 Treaty of Berlin. A German prince Carol of Hohenzollern was crowned first King of Romania in 1881.

Into modern times…

The last couple of centuries have seen Bucharest go through many changes, occupations, unions and tragedies.

During the 18th century the possession of Bucharest was frequently disputed by the Turks, Austrians and Russians. In 1812 it gave its name to the treaty by which Bessarabia and a third of Moldavia were ceded to Russia. In the war of 1828 it was occupied by the Russians, who made it over to the prince of Wallachia in the following year.

On 23 March 1847 a fire consumed about 2,000 buildings of Bucharest (about a third of the city).

A rebellion against Prince Bibescu in 1848 brought both Turkish and Russian interference, and the city was again held by Russian troops in 1853-1854. On their departure an Austrian garrison took possession and remained till March 1857. In 1858 the international congress for the organization of the Danubian principalities was held in the city; and when, in 1862, the union of Wallachia and Moldavia was proclaimed, Bucharest became the Romanian capital. Alexander John Cuza, the first ruler of the united provinces, was driven from his throne by an insurrection in Bucharest in 1866.

In the second half of the 19th century, the population of the city increased dramatically. The extravagant architecture and cosmopolitan high culture of this period won Bucharest the nickname of The Paris of the East (or Little Paris, "Micul Paris"), with Calea Victoriei as its Champs-Élysées or Fifth Avenue, but the social divide between rich and poor was described at the time by Ferdinand Lassalle as "a savage hotchpotch."

On December 6 1916 the city was occupied by the German forces, the capital being moved to Iasi, but it was liberated in November 1918, becoming the capital of the new United Kingdom of Romania.

Bucharest suffered heavy loses during WWII due to the English and American bombardments. On November 8 1945, the king's day, the communists suppressed pro-monarchist rallies and Romania entered its Communist period.

During Nicolae Ceausescu's leadership, most of the historical part of the city, including old churches, was destroyed, to be replaced with the grandomanic socialist buildings of the Centru Civic, notably the Palace of the Parliament. Some historic districts remain, but many argue whether Bucharest is really the Paris of the East today.

In 1977, a strong 7.4 on the Richter-scale earthquake claimed 1,500 lives and destroyed many old buildings.

Mass protests began in Timisoara in December 1989 and continued in Bucharest, leading to the overthrow of Ceausescu's communist regime.

Unhappy with the results of the revolution, mass protests supported by the students' leagues continued in 1990 (the Golaniad) and were violently stopped by the miners of Valea Jiului (the Mineriad). Several other Mineriads followed, the results of which included a government change.

After the year 2000, due to the advent of Romania's economic boom, the city has modernized and many historical areas have been restored to their former glory. In the 2004 elections, although a coalition led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) won the majority of seats, the marginal victory in the presidential elections of Traian Basescu, of the Justice and Truth Alliance (JTA), over Adrian Nastase, of SDP, turned around the results of the elections, as he nominated Calin Popescu Tariceanu, a liberal, as prime minister. As a result, a coalition was formed around JTA (formed initially by the liberals and the democrats), with the Democratic Union of Hungarians and the Romanian Humanist Party, the latter giving thus up its pre-election alliance with SDP.