Vaslui

Vaslui
—  County capital  —
View of Vaslui from the northern outskirts
Coat of arms
Location of Vaslui
Coordinates: 46°38′18″N 27°43′45″E / 46.63833°N 27.72917°E / 46.63833; 27.72917Coordinates: 46°38′18″N 27°43′45″E / 46.63833°N 27.72917°E / 46.63833; 27.72917
Country	Romania
County	Vaslui County
Status	County capital
Government
– Mayor	Vasile Pavăl (Social Democratic Party)
Population (2002)
– Total	70,571
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
– Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Website	http://www.primariavaslui.ro/

Vaslui (Romanian pronunciation: [vasˈluj]), a city in eastern Romania, is the seat of Vaslui County, in the historical region of Moldavia.

The city administers five villages: Bahnari, Brodoc, Moara Grecilor, Rediu and Viişoara.

History

Archaeological surveys prove that the territory of Vaslui was inhabited since Neolithic. From the 14th century onwards, it developed the provincial town of Vaslui, with a population that varied strongly in the following centuries. The name of Vaslui appears first in a Polish document from 1375, referring to Koriat's son George. The name Vaslui was also mentioned in 1435, in connection with the accession of Prince Iliaş to the Moldavian throne. The town was burned to the ground in 1439 and 1440, when Tatars invaded Moldavia.

The peak of its importance was in the 15th century, when it was a second-rank capital of Moldavia, during the reign of Stephen the Great, with a population closer to that of the neighbour Iaşi. In 1475, Prince Stephen won his greatest battle against the Ottoman Empire in the Vaslui area (see Battle of Vaslui). Once the Moldavian capital was moved from Suceava to Iaşi and the southern town of Bârlad became an administrative center of southern Moldavia, Vaslui declined for about three centuries to a local borough (târg).

There once was a fairly large Jewish community in the city of Vaslui. Their arrival from Galicia during the second half of the 19th century gave a new impetus to the economical development. In 1899, Jews formed 37% of the population, and Vaslui was home to the Vasloi Hasidic dynasty. However, waves of pogroms, associated with the Holocaust (see Romania during World War II and Holocaust in Romania) as well as emigration to Israel during Romania's communist period largely diminished its presence.

During World War II, the Stephen the Great Monument was relocated from Chişinău to Vaslui.

However, the population grew again steadily after 1968, when the town was proclaimed as the administrative center of Vaslui County, with immigration from the neighbouring countryside, ethnic Romanians and Roma attracted by the industry set up by the Communist regime.

Demographics

According to the last census, from 2002, there were 70,571 people living within the city of Vaslui,^[1] making it the 33rd largest city in Romania. The ethnic makeup is as follows:

• Romanians: 98.63%
• Roma: 1.19%
• Lipovans: 0.06%
• Other: 0.12%

The population decreased again after the downfall of the Communism in 1989, because of the emigration.

Today, the majority of the population is of Romanian ethnicity. The Romani minority lives compactly in the southwestern suburbs of Rediu and Brodoc, in the southwestern part of the main town (in the neighbourhoods around Traian Street) and also scattered in the rest of locality. In the 1960s and 1970s nomadic Roma belonging to the Kalderash caste were forcibly settled by the Communists in the northern part of the town, scattered among Romanians. The third ethnic group is that of the Lipovans, who have in the center of the town a church of their Old Believers Christian branch.

Censuses

• in 1930 - 13,827 inhabitants,
• in 1941 - 13,923 inhabitants,
• in 1948 - 11,827 inhabitants,
• in 1956 - 15,197 inhabitants,
• in 1966 - 17,591 inhabitants,
• in 1968 - 17,960 inhabitants,
• in 1970 - 22,825 inhabitants,
• in 1980 - 46,181 inhabitants,
• in 1990 - 74,615 inhabitants.

Sport

Vaslui is home to FC Vaslui football club which plays in Liga I.

Natives

• Nicolae Milescu
• Gheorghe Mironescu
• Alexandra Nechita
• Corneliu Porumboiu
• Constantin Tănase
• Virgil Trofin

Twin towns

• Quarrata, Italy
• San Fernando de Henares, Spain
• Cahul, Republic of Moldova

References

1. ^ "Ethno-demographic Structure of Romania". The Ethnocultural Diversity Resource Center. http://www.edrc.ro/recensamant.jsp?regiune_id=1&judet_id=427&localitate_id=428. Retrieved January 02, 2011.