History of Romania

Romania has been inhabited by humans since the paleolithic. During antiquity, the main population that lived in the area corresponding to modern-day Romania were the Dacians. Dacian civilisation prospered from the second century BC to the second century AD, resulting in the establishment of a Dacian kingdom as a regional power. Following several wars with the Roman Empire, Dacia was conquered in 106 AD, and the kingdom's core was turned into a Roman province. The province was abandoned by 276 AD following several invasions from various barbarian peoples. Many Romanian historians believe that the origin of the Romanians can be traced back to the Dacians and Romans intermixing, which in turn formed the basis of the Romanian ethnicity.

During the early Middle Ages, numerous migratory peoples moved across and settled the territory of Romania. A prominent Turkic population also settled Romanian territory, particularly the Cumans. Early Romanian culture was heavily influenced by these peoples. Vlachs – Romance-language speakers in the Balkans – were first clearly attested in the 10th century, inhabiting areas on both sides of the Danube. By the 13th century, numerous small Vlach political entities abounded in areas such as Muntenia, Oltenia and Transylvania. These political entities gradually unified, and by the mid-14th century, the two major historical Romanian principalities had emerged, Wallachia and Moldavia.

The principalities partook in many conflicts against their often stronger neighbours, such as the Ottoman Empire. Eventually, they became vassal states to the Ottomans, however they always managed to preserve their autonomy as well as slowly progress a Romanian national identity. In 1600, Michael the Brave managed to unite all the Romanian-inhabited states, including Transylvania for the first time, however the union was short-lived and folded under pressure from the Habsburgs, Hungarians and Poles. Nevertheless, the Romanian identity continued to cultivate, culminating in movements such as the Transylvanian School and blossoming in the 19th century through the 1848 revolutions in both Wallachia and Moldavia. The modern Romanian state was established in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian Principalities. The new state, which fought for and gained its independence in 1877, consolidated itself as a kingdom in 1881.

During World War I, after declaring its neutrality in 1914, Romania fought together with the Allied Powers from 1916. In the aftermath of the war, Bukovina, Bessarabia and Transylvania, as well as parts of the Banat, Crișana, and Maramureș united with Romania, resulting in the establishment of Greater Romania. In the summer of 1940, as a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and Second Vienna Award, Romania was compelled to cede Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union and Northern Transylvania to Hungary. In November 1940, Romania signed the Tripartite Pact and, consequently, in June 1941 entered World War II on the Axis side, fighting against the Soviet Union until August 1944, when it joined the Allies and recovered Northern Transylvania. Following the war and occupation by the Red Army, Romania became a socialist republic and a member of the Warsaw Pact. After the 1989 Revolution, Romania began a transition towards democracy and a market economy.

Remains of 34,950-year-old modern humans were discovered in present-day Romania when the Peștera cu Oase ("Cave with Bones") was uncovered in 2002. The Romanian fossils are among the oldest remains of Homo sapiens in Europe.

The Neolithic-Age Cucuteni area in northeastern Romania was the western region of one of the earliest European civilizations, known as the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture. The earliest-known salt works is at Poiana Slatinei near the village of Lunca; it was first used in the early Neolithic around 6050 BC by the Starčevo culture and later by the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture in the pre-Cucuteni period.

The Dacians, who are widely accepted to be the same people as the Getae, were a branch of Thracians who inhabited Dacia, which corresponds with modern Romania, Moldova, northern Bulgaria, south-western Ukraine, Hungary east of the Danube river and West Banat in Serbia.

The earliest written evidence of people living in the territory of present-day Romania comes from Herodotus in Book IV of his Histories, written in c. 440 BC; He writes that the tribal union/confederation of the Getae were defeated by the Persian Emperor Darius the Great during his campaign against the Scythians. One of the most important artifacts from around this period was the Helmet of Coțofenești, which was stolen in 2025.