The South-West Region - Geography and history
The South-West Region has an area of 29 212 km2, representing 12.25% of Romania's total area. To the north, it neighbours the Central Region and the West Region, to the east the South Region, to the south, Bulgaria and Serbia, having as a natural border the Danube River, and to the west, Yugoslavia, also having the Danube River as a natural border.
As of 31 December 2000, the administrative organisation of the region was as follows: five counties (Dolj, Gorj, Mehedinti, Olt, Vâlcea), 22 towns and with 10 municipalities, 387 communes and 2 080 villages.
The territory between the Danube River, the Olt river and the Southern Carpathians, the Oltenia historical province, covers three geographic areas, succeeding from north to south: to the north, the southern slope of the Vâlcan and Parâng Mountains and the south-eastern slope of the Godeanu and Mehedinti Mountains, in the centre, the Oltenia Sub-Carpathians, the Getic Plateau and the Târgu Jiu Inter-hills Depression, and to the south, the Oltenia Plain.
The western position, in the great Carpatho-Balkanian Depression and the absolute elevation, lower than in the premountain area, brings about a climate of transition between the hills and the plain, on one hand, and the submediterranean forest climate and the continental steppe climate, on the other.
The South-West Region is crossed by several rivers, amongst which the most important are the Olt and Jiu rivers, running from north to south, and the Danube River, from west to east. In order to compensate for the lack of rainfall, a few complex irrigation systems were projected, mainly in the south of the region, the area mostly affected by prolonged drought.
Relatively recent archaeological discoveries make this land "a sort of primordial cradle of the European mankind". This refers to traces of the "Pebble Culture", discovered in the Dârjov Valley - by the Olt river - proving the presence of man half a million years ago.
In 168 AD, Oltenia, Dacia Malvensis in Latin, was a flourishing province of the Roman Empire. In 1640 the first book in Romanian was printed in Walachia: "The Govora Rules". During the 15th century the great Oltenia Principality was founded. The first unifier of the Romanians from Moldova, Transylvania and Walachia, Michael the Brave (1593-1603), ruler of Craiova, carried the flag of fight for independence. In spite of the insecurity brought by the Ottoman assaults in the southern Danube, Walachia kept its internal authority and did not become an Ottoman dominion. Overcoming the tumultuous times of old history, Oltenia was in the middle of capital events for its independent and democratic evolution. The 1821 Revolution, led by Tudor Vladimirescu, followed by the abolition of the Phanariot rule and the reinstallation of local leaderships in Walachia, announced the beginning of the Romanian Modern History, the 1848 Revolution, the Romanian Principalities Unification, the Romanian Independence War, and the First and Second World Wars.
Natural resources
The South-West Region offers, by its various forms of geography, diverse and extremely valuable natural resources. The area contains significant quantities of oil and lignite deposits, the latter being used as fuel for electric heating plants, the biggest in Romania. Rivers are used for hydroelectric plants. There is a chain of electric plants along the Olt and Lotru rivers, two hydroelectric plants on the Danube and the hydroelectric complex on the Cerna-Motru-Tismana rivers. That's why the region plays a major role in the electric power distribution. Moreover, natural gas resources were discovered and their exploitation is in full process.
Also, thermal baths have been built around the therapeutic mineral springs, commercially exploited now by mineral waters resorts, health centres and recreation facilities such as Olanesti and Calimanesti-Caciulata.
Forests covering the region contain broad-leaved trees (oak, beech, elm, hornbeam, ash, sycamore, linden), up to 1 000-1 400 m elevation and conifers (fir, spruce, pine, hackmatack), up to 1 800 m.
The South-West Region also contains two national parks - the Domogled - Cerna Valley and Cozia, and a natural park, the Iron Gates.
|
|