Arges COUNTY - Geography and history
Geography and history
Arges county is located in the central-southern part of Romania and has an area of 6 826 km2, representing 2.9% of the national territory. The administrative organisation of the territory, as of 31 December 2000, was as follows: 3 towns and 3 municipalities, 93 communes and 577 villages. The following counties neighbour Arges county: Sibiu, Brasov (to the north), Dâmbovita (to the east), Teleorman (to the south), Olt and Vâlcea (to the west). The county's capital city is Pitesti.
The landscape includes all types of geography. The predominant types (55% of the area) are those of medium altitude - the hills of the Getic Subcarpathian and the Getic Plateau. The other half is divided into mountains (25%) and plains (20%).
The mountain area in the north includes the highest crest of the Meridional Carpathians with the Fagaras Massif (the Moldoveanu -Peak, the highest in the country, with an altitude of 2 544 m, and Negoiu Peak - 2 535 m) and the western part of the Bucegi Massif, with the Leaota Mountains and the Piatra-Craiului Mountains, separated by the Bran-Rucar tectonic passage.
In the south, the hills are crossed by waterways that form large symmetrical terraces, the Cotmeana, Arges and Cândesti, with their slopes covered by large orchards and grapevines.
The southern part is represented by a plain fragmented into large and fertile meadows of the Arges, Dâmbovnic, Cotmeana and Teleorman rivers, constituting an important area for cereals.
The geographic position and the geography surround and protect it from the influence of the western and eastern winds, giving the county a temperate-continental climate with gentle winters.
The county has a rich hydrographical network, which includes the Arges, Olt and Vedea rivers and their influents, as well as several natural and man-made lakes.
In the Getic Subcarpathians, at Nucsoara, there is the lake of Învârtita, with an area of 2.2 ha and a maximum depth of 5 m. The largest anthropic lake of the county is the Vidraru Lake, with an area of 825 ha and a volume of about 470 million m3.
Arges was the residence of the first Romanian principality. It was the seat of the first Romanian religious authority and the creator and the keeper of the oldest monuments of architecture and painting, significant in the country's history. The historical monuments attest to the agitated past of the Romanian people, to the first capital cities of Walachia - Curtea de Arges and Câmpulung - and, last but not least, to the first Basarabian princes, courageous fighters in the protection of the country.
The flora of this area includes rare and protected elements such as: lion's foot, rhododendrons, white ivies, yellow gentians. Large areas covered by forests settle various reservations of venatorial species: boars, does, deer, the bears, lynxes, wolves, black goats, finches, black cocks, American brown and grey eagles. Among the natural reservations on the territory of Arges county we mention: the "Piatra Craiului"National Park, The Glades with Rose of May from Negrasi, the Vâlsan Valley, the Uluce Cave , the Suslanesti Fossil Point, the Iezer Lake, the Valea Rea Lake and Granitul from Albesti.
The natural conditions - the geography, the relatively high hydrographical regime, the soil composition and the gentle climate - determine the structure of the land. The county also has important deposits of uranium, oil, natural gases and non-metallic ores.
Economy
The symbiosis between the rich natural resources and the native intelligence of the inhabitants of this area led to an economic development of the industry and agriculture as main branches on the one hand, and of the extractive and processing industry on the other hand. In 2000, there were 8 159 active companies in the county, more than 99% with private capital. Of these, by their main activity, industry accounted for 13.5%, while services represented 81.3%.
Arges county is well known by its production of vehicles for city and land use, oil and natural gas, petrochemical products, beer, textiles, products resulted from wood processing.
The other industrial activities - extraction of coal, oil and natural gas, food and beverage industry, textile industry, garments and footwear industry, oil processing, rubber and plastics, wood processing and furniture - also capitalise the material and human potential of the area.
In 2000, the cereal production was 175.8 thousand tons, of which 84.6 thousand tons wheat and rye and 74.9 thousand tons corn. The fruit production was 132.6 thousand tons, situating the county on 1st position at national level. The farming, as main agricultural branch, placed Arges county among the first 5 counties of the country (3rd position in 2000 for cattle livestock, and 4th position in 1996 and 5th position in 2000 for the production of cow and water buffalo milk).
At the end of 2000 the livestock was as follows: 109.6 thousand cattle, 114.2 thousand pigs, 156.5 thousand sheep and goats and 1 400 thousand poultry. The agricultural meat production in 2000 was 39.7 thousand tons.
The condition sine qua non of the competitive production - agricultural and industrial, especially in a market economy, is the applied research. In this county the activity of research and development, in 2000, was carried out by 7 units specialised in the field of orchards and vineyards, cereal crops, technical plants and pastures, in vehicles and nuclear activities, all in the public sector.
At the end of 2000, Arges county had a 225 km long railway network , with a density of 33 km per 1 000 km2 of territory. The public road network was 2 937 km long, of which 515 km were national and 2 422 km county and communal roads.
The tourism has a specific place in the economy of this county. The city of Pitesti, the county's capital, is known as "the tulip city", due the its annual floral exhibitions.
As of 31 July 2000, the number of tourist accommodationsing was 58, with a total tourist accommodation capacity 4 123 places, of which 1 436 places in hotels.
Population and social environment
As of 1 July 2000, the county's population was 671 514 inhabitants, 5 732 inhabitants less than on 1 July 1996.
The population density decreased from 99.2 inhabitants/km2 in 1996 to 98.4 inhabitants/km2 in 2000, due to the decrease of the county's population.
Regarding the population structure by gender, females slightly exceeded males (51% in 1996, respectively 51.1% in 2000).
In 2000, as compared to 1996, a slight increase of the urban population's share (from 47.6% in 1996 to 47.9% in 2000), took place simultaneously with the decrease of the rural population's share (from 52.4% in 1996 to 52.1% in 2000).
The population of 65 years and over increased from 11.6%, in 1996, to 12.8% in 2000.
The average age of the population was 37.2 years, equal to the average age of the population at a national level.
The birth rate constantly decreased from 10.1 per 1 000 inhabitants in 1996, to 9.7 per 1 000 inhabitants in 2000.
The overall mortality, 11.6 per 1 000 inhabitants in 1996, constantly decreased to 11.0 per 1 000 inhabitants in 2000. The significant difference between urban and rural area persisted (the level varies from simple to double).
The infant mortality was quite high in 2000, 21.4 per 1 000 live births, compared to 20 per 1 000 live births in 1996.
The marriage rate was 6.1 per 1 000 inhabitants, and the divorce rate was 1.12 per 1 000 inhabitants.
The life expectancy between 1998 and 2000 was 67.81 years for males and 75.17 years for females, over the national average for both males and females.
At the end of 1996, the county's labour force was 402.1 thousand persons, and the employed civil population was 302.8 thousand. The unoccupied population was 99.3 thousand, of which 15.5 thousand persons were unemployed. Of the total employed civil population, agriculture, including forestry and forest exploitation, held 30.9%, industry 39.4%, constructions 4.5%, and other activities 25.2%.
The unemployment rate was 4.9%, 1.7 percent points under the national average.
Children education, in the 2000/2001 school year was carried out with an institutional infrastructure which included 499 kindergartens, 455 primary and secondary schools, 41 high-schools, 3 vocational schools, 3 postgraduate schools and one higher education institution.
In 2000, the population healthcare was carried out through an institutional network consisting of: 16 hospitals, 7 clinics, 28 medical consultation centres, 3 health centres, 13 nurseries, 171 pharmacies and 730 other healthcare specialised units..
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