Romania (/roʊˈmeɪniə/ ( listen) ro-MAY-nee-ə; Romanian: România [romɨˈni.

a] ( listen)) is a country

located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders with Bulgaria to the
south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, and Moldova to the east and
has its opening to the Black sea.[9] It has a predominantly temperate-continental climate. With a total
area of 238,397 square kilometres (92,046 square miles), Romania is the 12th-largest country in
Europe and the 7th most populous member state of the European Union, having approximately
20 million inhabitants. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest. Other major urban areas include: Cluj-
Napoca, Timișoara, Iași, Constanța, Craiova, Brașov, and Galați.
The River Danube, Europe's second-longest river, rises in Germany's Black Forest and flows in a
generally southeasterly direction for 2,857 km (1,775 mi), coursing through ten countries before
emptying into Romania's Danube Delta. The Carpathian Mountains, which cross Romania from the
north to the southwest, include Moldoveanu Peak, at an altitude of 2,544 m (8,346 ft).[10]
Modern Romania was formed in 1859 through a personal union of the Danubian
Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The new state, officially named Romania since 1866, gained
independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1877.[11] Following World War I, after declaring its neutrality in
1914, Romania fought on the side of the Allied powers beginning in 1916.
Afterwards Bukovina, Bessarabia, Transylvania as well as parts of Banat, Crișana,
and Maramureș became part of the sovereign Kingdom of Romania.[12] In June–August 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.