Constanta County
Constanta county belongs, together with Tulcea county, to the ancient
province of Dobrogea located on the western coast of Pontus Euxinus
(the Black Sea). The localities of this ancient expanse have their
roots in the ancient Greek times. Settlements in Dobrogea are
the oldest in Romania: Tomis (present-day Constanta) celebrated, in
1991, 2500 years of existence and 2250 since it was first attested
by documents; Callatis (present-day Mangalia), Histria, Axiopolis
(present-day Cernavoda). Life in Dobrogea develops, along
the centuries, in close relation with the Roman history, as this expanse
is a real turn-table and a cross-roads of civilisations with Constanta
as an important communication node connecting the East to the West.
The city of Tomis also reminds of the great Latin poet Publius Ovidius
Naso, sent in exile in this region by the Roman emperor Augustus.
Tomis develops socially, economically and culturally
on the backdrop of the relative stability characterising the beginnings
of the Roman-Byzantine period. A real development of the town of Constanta
and of the entire expanse between the Danube and the Black Sea coast
begins though only after 1877 when Romania gains its independence
and the authority of the Romanian state over the Dobrogea territory
is reinstated.
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Geographical
Outline
Constanta county is located in the south-east of Romania and borders
the Black Sea to the east. It has a total area
of 7,055 sq. km (ca 3 per cent of total country territory) and ranks
eighth among the Romanian counties in terms of area. Population
amounted, on 1 July 1996, to 747,122 inhabitants, placing Constanta
fourth in the country in this respect. With 106 inhabitants / sq.
km, Constanta places above the average 93.5 inhabitants / sq. km.
country-wide. The population pattern shows the following figures:
73.6 per cent urban population; 41.3 per cent active population; 31
per cent of total active population is employed in the private sector.
The administrative structure of the county is as follows: three municipalities
(Constanta, Mangalia, Medgidia), nine towns, 52 communes, 189 villages;
Constanta is the county seat, with a population of 348,269 inhabitants
(46.65 per cent of total county population), the second largest Romanian
town after Bucharest. Tablelands prevail among
the relief forms, with low altitudes; natural and flood-plain lakes,
estuaries and lagoons are also characteristic to the area. The county
has a temperate-continental climate with mean annual temperatures
between 10°C and 11°C. The rich resources of the sub-soil include
common rocks, phosphatic rocks, iron-ore deposits, mineral waters,
salt lakes with important sapropel deposits; the continental plateau
of the Black Sea is rich in hydrocarbon and mineral reserves, partially
capitalised by off-shore drilling platforms.
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Touristic
Information
Constanta,
today a big port at the Black Sea, is the old town of Tomis.
This town is the capital city of the county with the same name.
It was founded by Greeks in the VI-th century B.C. It develop
under the Roman domination when it received the name of Emperor
Constantin. The
Archaeological Museum has a rich collection of Roman statues.
Two of them are special: the one of Fortuna Goddess and Pontos
God, the two protectors of the town, and the one of Glicon Snake.
All of them were discovered in 1962 under the old railway station,
after they survived to the invasion of the Avars (the VII-th
century A.C.). Also here the tourists can see a Roman mosaic
and visit a hall dedicated to Ovidius, a Roman poet, who lived
in exile in Tomis between 8 - 17 A.C. After it was destroyed
the town was forgotten for 1200 years and only King Carol I
gave it a new life at the end of the XIX-th century as a port
at the Black Sea and as a resort. Some fine buildings, a casino,
holets were built. Of
the Roman town of Tomis there are only a part of the wall of
the town and the Butchers Tower (the VI-th century). In an open-air
exhibition in the Victory Park there are some columns and amphores
too. Other ruins are in Histria, along the seashore, and in
Adamclisi. The Ottoman domination is marked in Constanta by
the Mahmud II's Mosque and the Genovese lighthouse from the
XIII-th century is still working near by the pleasure port.
It
is pleasant to walk along the seashore or to spend the time
at the Casino built in Rococo style. Just in front of the Casino
there is the Aquarium which exhibits flora and fauna of the
Black Sea. In Constanta there are also a Dolphinarium with daily
shows and a Planetarium. The
airport is 24 km far from Constanta. In summer there are flies
to the main European towns. To Bucharest there are daily flies
as well as a number of eleven trains which cover the distance
between the two cities in two hours and half. The railway from
Constanta goes on to the North, to Tulcea, the start point of
the Danube Delta with six trains daily. Other fourteen trains
go to South, to Mangalia daily too. The
Constanta county is situated on the Southern Dobrudja Plateau.
The climate is a temperate continental one. The
Danube Delta is its border on a length of 37 km to the West,
and to the East the Constanta county is limited by the Black
Sea. The county is crossed from West to East by the Danube -
Black Sea Canal which is 64.2 km long. The main ports on the
Danube River are: Ostrov, Oltina, Cernavoda and Harsova. The
port of Constanta is situated on the Western coast of the Black
Sea at about 182 sea miles far from Bosphorus and about 85 sea
miles far from the town of Sulina where the Danube flows into
the Black Sea. According
to the last census, the population of this county is of 748,044
inhabitants, Constanta being on the fourth place in Romania.
Administrativelly,
the Constanta county has three municipalities: Constanta (capital
city), Medgidia and Mangalia, as well as eight towns.
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Economy
Profile
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