THE PEOPLES OF RUMANIA Whereas the population of Rumania in 1914 was 7,600,00o it has, by the new provinces been increased two and a half times. The distribution of the population is as follows: within the area of the old boundaries there were (193o) 8,388,905 inhabitants. Transylvania and the Banat contain 4,159,221, Bessarabia 2,865,506 and Bukovina 845,903. Transylvania has the lowest density of population (56 to the sq.km.), while Bukovina is the most thickly populated (81 to the sq.km.). Bucharest still re mains the largest city, even of the new area, with a popula tion of 631,288 (1930) and there is no other city of the size. The next largest is K4inau (Kishinev) in Bessarabia with 117,016. Cernauti has a population of 111,122; Jassy, 102,505; Galatz, 101,148. No others exceed ioo,000.
Of the total population according to the latest ethnological statistics (1920) 11,805,0o0 or about 70% of the population are of pure Rumanian blood and origin. Of the remainder 1,568,00o Magyars inhabit Transylvania and parts of the Banat; 792,000 Germans live in and round the old Saxon and Alsatian towns of the Carpathian slopes and the Banat; 900,000 Jews live scattered throughout the country, but with a majority in Transylvania and Bukovina; 170,000 Turks, 290,00o Bulgars and some 30,00o Tatars and gypsies live in Moldavia, Walachia and the Dobruja. Some 37,000 Poles are found in Bukovina and neighbouring parts. Of the remainder there are 792,000 Ukrainian Russians in Bessarabia and nearly 400,000 other Slays in the northern departments.
The Rumanians are equally distributed throughout and are one of the most industrious elements. For the most part they are engaged in the agriculture and stock-breeding activities of the country. Recent research has done much to prove beyond doubt that they are partly the descendants of the Roman merchants and veterans who settled in Dacia, even as far north as the present Polish border, before and after the campaign of Trajan and partly of the native Dacians. Archaeological and historical evidence agree to show that there was a long and thorough period of penetration of the Carpathians by Roman commerce and after the Roman withdrawal the various estab lished Roman elements remained in the country. The very word batran in Rumanian, meaning "old" is derived from the Latin veteranus and the word biserica (= church) indicates the western origin of Christianity in these parts (biserica=basilica) and so the western connections with Italy and Roman culture.
The Rumanian physical type, in many cases, seems more definitely Latin than the Italian and the language is in many respects closer to Latin than is Italian. Slavonic elements are clear in
some of the prevalent types but it is by no means the pre ponderating influence.
The 1,500,00o Magyars are found for the most part in the towns of Transylvania. By training, education and tradition they associate themselves more happily with the German elements than with the Rumanian and they take only a small part in the agricultural development of the land. They are industrious and honest but are politically unreliable since they are encouraged by their fellow-Magyars in Hungary to oppose in every way the rule under which they live. A branch of the Magyars known as Czeklers are descendants from the original Hungarians who entered Europe in the ninth century and who stopped and settled in Rumania. These can hardly be considered as expatriated : they number 500,000 in the Banat.
Germans have settled in Rumania from time to time for various reasons. The earliest were knights and their companies, perhaps Crusaders, in the a 2th century, who were persuaded by the Hungarians to settle in towns that commanded the main passes of the Carpathians and so prevent inroads of Barbarians into Europe. Gradually they developed their settlements and in 1224 their position and independence were recognized. Al satians and Saxons together with some groups from the Rhine land were settled in these early times. They still live an exclusive and separate life, largely with their own institutions and local government. They are mainly of the Lutheran persuasion. It is remarkable to see in their churches the one hint of the Orient, which they were brought there to combat, in the shape of fine Turkish carpets of the a6th century, survivals of the period when the Turks overran the Transylvanian plateau but left the German settlements still independent. The Germans in the various German regions of Transylvania are fine types and entirely unmixed with Rumanian or Magyar blood. They wear German costumes and live in a way indistinguishable from that of modern Germans. They form a very useful element in the state and, if rather an isolated enclave in a foreign land, yet are loyal subjects of whatever regime may control them. The Germans of the Banat are of a different type and are comparatively late arrivals. They colonised the waste plains of this fertile region in the eighteenth century (see BANAT) and are mostly Rhinelanders and Alsatians. Their activities are almost entirely agricultural and their wealth and industry is considerable.