Regional History
Difficulties
Topics covered in this section:
Introduction
I immediately ran into a difficulty as soon as I began to write about
Romania's history. The problem is that Romania's history takes place in
three major regions (often referred to as principalities). Local history
sometimes plays out on its own regional "stage," independent of the other
two regions, and sometimes all three regions are involved.
Principalities
The three regions (principalities) are:
- Wallachia is an east-west corridor of open plains in the southern part
of Romania. Currently, the preferred name of this region is Muntenia,
referring to the fact that it lies at the foot of the mountains.
- Moldavia is a north-south area in the eastern part of Romania. Many
Romanians call it Moldova, which is confusing to me, since there's also
the Republic of Moldova (which was part of the former Soviet Union) just
next door to the east of Moldavia.
- Transylvania is an oval-shaped area in northwestern Romania.
Hungarian nationalists claim that it is their land, "stolen" by Romania.
There are other local regions as well, like Dobrudja (or Dobrogea)
on the Black Sea coastline, Bucovina at the northernmost tip of Moldavia,
the Banat flanking Transylvania on the southwest, Crisana bordering
Transylvania on the west, and Maramures comprising the northern part
of Transylvania. However, historically speaking, the three regions
mentioned in the bullets above are the chief players.
Sometimes, when describing events in the three principalities,
I'll explore a regional event from beginning to end, even though it
temporarily causes us to stray from the chronological unfolding of
events. This cannot be helped.
My Method of Presentation
There are two basic ways to present the history of Romania. One is to
ignore the shifting borders and talk about the region that falls within
the present-day borders of Romania, encompassing all three principalities.
The other is to tell the history of the combined Romanian people without
regard for where the political borders are at any given moment in time.
Generally, I'll adopt the latter. After all, when you look beneath
the geopolitical surface (where the borders shifted based on which empire
was in charge at the moment), you'll find a large group of people who
share the same language and culture. They have lived in the region
forever (or nearly so). They are, of course, the Romanians.
I'll leave it up to the scholars to debate who their first
"ancestors" were and where the borders should "properly" lie.
Peasant Farmers
During Romania's history, scores of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes
passed through the area, leaving little behind to document their passing.
That's to be expected, however, since migratory peoples seldom carry
written histories with them on their extensive travels. Books would
have been considered excess baggage.
Even those who did settle down left precious little history behind.
They were an agrarian society who had little use for preserving their
history. They were the poor, the peasants, the serfs, the majority.
And as is so often the case, the historic spotlight seldom focuses
on such people.
Go Elsewhere
At this point, you have a couple of options:
Enjoy your stay and have a great day!
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