an region, in the Balkan
Peninsula, lying between the Carpatii Meridionali
) on the north, and the Danube River
(which itself lies at the feet of the Balkan Mountains
) on the south.
lies to the north, Moldavia
to the northeast, Dobruja
to the east, Bulgaria
to the south. The largest city is Bucuresti
, the capital of Romania
. The region also contains the Piloesti
Oil Fields, and is the most industrualized and densely populated part of Romania.
Although of no administrative signifigance today, Wallachia is of paramount importance to the history of Romania, as it was one of the two principalities (Moldavia being the other) which united to form Romania in 1859
in the second century BC, he sent the apparatus of the Empire there, as well as retired soldiers to whom he had given land, and Dacia acquired the trappings of a Roman province.
Later, as Rome fell apart, the region's unique position made it a principal conduit for the various peoples that invaded Europe to plunder the Empire. Indeed, Dacia was the first province to go, lost when Emperor Aurelian
withdrew south of the Danube in 271
, leaving Dacia to the Visigoth
s. These were followed by the Ostrogoth
s, and finally, in the 13th Century
, the Mongol
As the Mongol Empire
began to disintegrate in the late 13th century, the local inhabitants began to assert themselves. Although the Vulach
people themselves were not so much descendants of the Roman settlers as much as a mixture of the various invaders who had swept the land over the preceding millennium
, they spoke a language derived from Latin
and kept the a form of the Orthodox
Christian religion. Wallachia's sister state Moldavia
arose at approximately the same time.
Two regions, Oltenia
, were vassals of the Kingdom of Hungary by 1273
. In 1330
overthrew Hungarian overlordship, and founded independent principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia.
Wallachia's taste of independence was brief. A new invader arose, this time from the south. The Ottoman Empire
, although it had not yet entirely consumed the Byzantine Empire
, received tribute from Wallachia starting in 1391
. The 15th Century repeatedly saw Wallachia falling in and out of Ottoman control. It was a time of ruthless men such as Radu II
and Dan II
who exchanged the throne nine times between 1420
, and the infamous Vlad III Dracula
, also known as Vlad the Impaler
. Eventually, though, it became an Ottoman vassal entirely.
Begining in 1700
, The Sultan appointed Greek
governors known as "Phanariot
s" to rule the area. Except for brief periods of being captured by Transylvania
, and Austria
, this was the situation up until 1771
, when a Russia
n army occupied it.
's treay of Kucuk Kaynarka
gave Catherine the Great
a say in the Wallachia's governance, although the hated Phanariots continued to rule. A Russian invasion in 1806
was followed by an 1808
rebellion, and a return to Ottoman control in 1812
The "sick man of Europe
" became less and less able to hold onto its provinces. An 1821
revolt overthrew the Phanariots, but this was followed by an Ottoman reconquest, a Russian occupation, and yet another rebellion. This cycle repeated itself several times until, in the wake of the Crimean War
, the Sultan decided he had had enough. Wallachia and Moldavia were joined to form Romania in 1859
, officially independent in 1881