Cernavodă

Cernavodă
—  Town  —
Coat of arms
Location of Cernavodă
Coordinates: 44°20′17″N 28°02′01″E / 44.33806°N 28.03361°E / 44.33806; 28.03361Coordinates: 44°20′17″N 28°02′01″E / 44.33806°N 28.03361°E / 44.33806; 28.03361
Country	Romania
County	Constanţa County
Status	Town
Government
- Mayor	Mariana Mircea (Social Democratic Party)
Area
- Total	46.69 km2 (18 sq mi)
Population (2005)
- Total	19,890
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website	http://www.primaria-cernavoda.ro/

Cernavodă (Romanian pronunciation: [t͡ʃernaˈvodə], historical names: Thracian: Axiopa, Greek: Axiopolis, Bulgarian: Черна вода Cherna voda, Turkish: Boğazköy) is a town in Constanţa County, Dobrogea, Romania with a population of 20,514.

The town's name is derived from the Slavic (more precisely Bulgarian) černa voda (черна вода in Cyrillic), meaning "black water". This name is regarded by some scholars as a calque of the earlier Thracian name Axíopa, from IE *n.ksei "dark" and upā "water" (cf. Avestan axšaēna "dark" and Lithuanian ùpė "river, creek").^[1]

Economy

The town is a Danube fluvial port, and it houses the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant, consisting of two CANDU reactors providing about 18% of Romania's electrical energy output. The second reactor was built through a joint venture between Canada's Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and Italy's ANSALDO and become fully functional in November 2007.

The Danube-Black Sea Canal, opened in 1984, runs from Cernavodă to Agigea and Năvodari.

The outskirts of Cernavodă host numerous vineyards, producers of Chardonnay wine. The largest winery in the area is Murfatlar.

History

Cernavodă was founded (under the name Axiopolis) by the ancient Greeks in the 4th century BC as a trading post for contacts with local Dacians.

The Constanţa - Cernavodă railroad was opened in 1860 by the Ottoman administration.

The town gives its name to the late copper age Cernavodă archaeological culture, ca. 4000—3200 BC.

See also

• Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant
• Anghel Saligny Bridge

References

1. ^ Katičic', Radislav. Ancient Languages of the Balkans, Part One. Paris: Mouton, 1976: 149.

External links

• Official site of the City of Cernavodă