Constanţa

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Constanţa
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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Romania
subdivision_type1 = County
subdivision_name1 = Constanţa County
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leader_title =Mayor
leader_name =Radu Ştefan Mazăre
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established_title = Founded
established_date = 6th century B.C. as Tomis
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area_total_km2 = 124.89
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area_metro_km2 = 1121.66
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population_as_of = July 01, 2007 [ [http://www.insse.ro/cms/rw/resource/populatia_stab_1%20iulie2007.htm Population of Romania as of July 01, 2007] ]
population_footnotes =
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population_total = 304,279
population_density_km2 = 2437
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population_metro = 444,009
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population_blank2_title =Ethnic groups
population_blank2 =Romanians, Turks, Tatars, Greeks, Aromanians
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latd=44 |latm=10.4 |lats= |latNS=N
longd=28 |longm=38.3 |longs= |longEW=E
elevation_footnotes =
elevation_m =25
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postal_code_type =Postal code
postal_code =900xxx
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blank_name =Languages
blank_info =Romanian
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website = [http://www.primaria-constanta.ro/PrimariaConstanta/Default.aspx www.primaria-constanta.ro]
footnotes = Sister cities: Sulmona, Turku, Yokohama, Brest, Istanbul, Rotterdam, Odessa, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Dobrich, Thessaloniki, Mobile, Trapani, Sidon, Lattakia, Heraklion, İzmir, Alexandria, Santos, Havana, Shanghai, Perugia, Novorossiysk.

Constanţa (pronunciation in Romanian: IPA|/kon'stan.ʦa/; historical names: "Tomis", _el. Κωνστάντια or "Constantia", _tr. Köstence, _bg. Кюстенджа) is the oldest city in Romania. Constanţa has the biggest harbour on the Black Sea, Port of Constanţa, the fourth largest in Europe,Fact|date=January 2008 having the potential in the next few years to become the second largest in Europe after Rotterdam.

History

A number of inscriptions found in the town and its vicinity show that Constanţa lies where once Tomis stood. Tomis (also called Tomi) was a Greek colony in the province of Scythia Minor on the Black Sea's shore, founded around 500 BC for commercial exchanges with local Daco-Getic populations. Probably the name is derived from Greek "Τομή" meaning cut, section.

According to the Bibliotheca it was founded by Aeetes:

: "When Aeetes discovered the daring deeds done by Medea, he started off in pursuit of the ship; but when she saw him near, Medea murdered her brother and cutting him limb from limb threw the pieces into the deep. Gathering the child's limbs, Aeetes fell behind in the pursuit; wherefore he turned back, and, having buried the rescued limbs of his child, he called the place Tomi. ":( Bibliotheke I, ix, 24 )

According to Jordanes (after Cassiodorus), the founder of the city was a Getae queen (Jord. De origine actibusque Getarum, "The origin and deeds of the Goths"):

: "After achieving this victory (against Cyrus the Great) and winning so much booty from her enemies, Queen Tomyris crossed over into that part of Moesia which is now called Lesser Scythia - a name borrowed from Great Scythia -, and built on the Moesian shore of the Black Sea the city of Tomi, named after herself."

In 29 BC the Romans captured the region from the Odryses, and annexed it as far as the Danube, under the name of "Limes Scythicus".

In AD 8, the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC-17) was banished here by Augustus and died there eight years later, celebrating the town of Tomis in his poems. A statue of Ovid stands in the Ovid Square (Piaţa Ovidiu) of Constanţa, in front of the History Museum (the former City Hall).

The city was afterwards included in the Province of Moesia, and, from the time of Diocletian, in Scythia Minor, of which it was the metropolis. After the split of the Roman Empire, Tomis fell under the rule of Byzantine Empire. During Maurice's Balkan campaigns, Tomis was besieged by the Avars in winter 597/598.

Tomis was later renamed to Constantiana in honour of Constantia, the half-sister of Constantine the Great (274-337). The earliest known usage of this name was "Κωνστάντια" ("Constantia") in 950. The city lay at the seaward end of the Great Wall of Trajan, and has evidently been surrounded by fortifications of its own.

After successively becoming part of the Bulgarian Empires, the independent principality of Dobrotitsa/Dobrotici and of Wallachia under Mircea I of Wallachia, Constanţa fell under the Ottoman rule around 1419.

A railroad linking Constanţa to Cernavodă was opened in 1860. In spite of damage done by railway contractors there are considerable remains of ancient masonry walls, pillars, etc. An impressive public building, thought to have originally been a port building, has been excavated, and contains the substantial remains of one of the longest mosaic pavements in the world. In 1878, after the Romanian War of Independence, Constanţa and the rest of Northern Dobruja were ceded by the Ottoman Empire to Romania. The city became Romania's main seaport and transit point for much of Romania's exports.

On October 22, 1916 (during the World War I), Constanţa was occupied by the Central Powers (German, Turkish and Bulgarian troops). According to the Treaty of Bucharest in May 1918, article 10.b (treaty which has never been ratified by Romania), Constanţa remained under the joint control of the Central Powers. The city was liberated by the Allied troops in 1918 after the successful offensive on the Thessaloniki front which knocked Bulgaria out of the war.

Geography

In the vicinity there are mineral springs, and the sea-bathing also attracts many visitors in summer. Mamaia is a beach resort immediately to the north.

Climate

Constanţa has a moderate continental climate with considerable maritime and some Mediterranean influences. There are four distinct seasons during the year.

Summers are warm, dry and sunny with a July average of 23°C. Constanţa rarely experiences very hot days often found in the interior, because of the moderating influence of the Black Sea. Summers settle around early June and end in mid-September.

Autumns start late September, they are long and relatively warm. Nights can still be tropical (temperatures above 20°C) on an average of 10 days in September. September is often warmer than June, because of the heat accumulated by the Black Sea. The first frost occurs on average on November 19.

Winter is much balmier compared to other cities in southern Romania. Snow is not abundant but the weather can be very windy and thus, unpleasant. Winter arrives much later than in the interior and December weather is often mild with high temperatures reaching 12 °C. Average January temperature is +0.4°C. Winter storms when the sea becomes particularly treacherous are a common occurrence between December and March.

Spring arrives early but it's quite cool. Often in April and May the Black Sea coast is one of the coolest places in Romania at an altitude lower than 500 m.

The winter of 2007 was the warmest in recorded history. The January average was 6.5°C showing an exceptional 6 degrees departure above the normal. The summer of 2007 was the second hottest in history (after the summer of 1946) with a record breaking June average temperature of 23.0°C - 3.5 degrees above the normal. Overall the year 2007 was the warmest in recorded history in Constanta with an average temperature of 13.62°C.

Population

According to the 2002 census, the population of Constanţa city proper (the Municipality) was 310,471. According to the National Institute of Statistics' 2006 Statistical Yearbook Constanţa is the fourth largest Romanian city. [http://www.insse.ro/cms/files/pdf/en/cp2.pdf] The municipality of Constanţa and the neighboring localities make up a permanent population of487,000 inhabitants, i.e. 65% of the total population of the county, and a minimum average of 120,000 per day, tourists or seasonal workers, come-and-go people during the high tourist season.

Local media

Newspapers and magazines

* Cuget Liber
* Adolescentul
* Litoral
* Telegraf
* Observator de Constanţa
* Independent
* Atac de Constanţa
* Jurnalul de Constanţa
* Replica de Constanţa
* Ziua de Constanţa
* Bună ziua Constanţa

Local TV stations

* TV Neptun
* CTV
* Antena 1 Constanţa
* PRO TV Constanţa

Terrestrial TV signals reception

* TVR 1
* TVR 2
* PRO TV
* Antena 1
* National TV
* Neptun TV
* CTV

Local radio stations

* Radio Constanţa
* Radio Holiday
* Sky FM
* Doina FM
* Neptun FM

* Radio Dobrogea
* C FM Club Radio

Romania's radio signals reception

Natives of Constanţa

* Haig Acterian, theatre critic, journalist, and fascist activist
* Simona Amânar, gymnast
* T. O. Bobe, writer
* Răzvan Florea, swimmer
* Aihan Omer, handball coach
* Andrei Pavel, tennis player
* Cătălina Ponor, gymnast
* Mitică Pricop, canoer
* Sebastian Stan, actor
* Daniela Şofronie, gymnast
* Harry Tavitian, jazz musician

Education

* Universities
** Mircea cel Bătrân Naval Academy
** Constanţa Maritime University [http://www.universitateamaritima.ro]
** Ovidius University
* High schools
** "Mircea cel Bătrân" National College
** "Constantin Bratescu" National College
** "Mihai Eminescu" National College
** Electrotechnics and Telecomunication High School
** "George Călinescu" High School
** "Ovidius" High School
** "Traian" High School
** Computer Science International High School

References

ee also

*Port of Constanţa

External links

* [http://www.primaria-constanta.ro/PrimariaConstanta/Default.aspx Official administration site]
* [http://www.portofconstantza.com/apmc/index.jsp Constanţa Seaport official site]
* [http://www.hartionline.ro/ct/harta/0.html Map]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=l2-gXq6VXLU A presentation video of Constanta]
* [http://www.rugbyfarul.ro/ RC Farul Constanţa]