GIURGIU, the capital of the department of Vlashca, Ru mania ; situated amid mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube. Pop. (1930) 30,348. Three small islands face the town, and a larger one shelters its port, Smarda, 22 m. east. A railway runs north to Bucharest and north-west to Blejesci and steamers ply to Ruschuk, 21 m. south-west on the Bulgarian shore, whence railways run to Varna, Sofia and South Bulgaria. Thus Giurgiu, besides having a considerable trade with the home ports lower down the Danube, is the headquarters of commerce between Bulgaria and Rumania. It exports timber, grain, salt and petro leum ; importing coal, iron and textiles. There are also large saw mills, and pipe-lines for oil run to Baicoi-Bucharest.
Giurgiu occupies the site of Theodorapolis, a city built by the Roman emperor Justinian (A.D. 483-565). It was founded in the 14th century by Genoese merchants who called the town, after the patron saint of Genoa, San Giorgio (St. George). As a forti fied town, Giurgiu figured often in the wars for the conquest of the lower Danube; especi lly in the struggle of Michael the Brave against the Turks, and in the later Russo-Turkish Wars. It was burned in 1659. In 1829, its fortifications were finally razed. the only defence left being a castle on the island of Slobosia, united to the shore by a bridge.