Roumanie

The territory of today's Romania was settled by Thracian and Gothic ethnic groups. Several principalities existed in the region when it came under the suzerainty of the Ottoman empire in the 16th century. Romania came into being as a kingdom in 1878. It acquired Transylvania from the Austro-Hungarian empire after World War I, was briefly on the side of Nazi Germany in World War II, and became part of the Soviet bloc in 1948. The Romanians suffered under the communist dictatorship of Ceausescu until they brought it to an end in a popular uprising in 1989. Since then, the country has been in a process of democratization and transformation of its economy. It is due to enter the European Union in 2007. The Romanian territory was Christianized in the first century and has always been a majority Orthodox country. It belongs to the east through its Byzantine and Turkish heritage, and to the west through its linguistic culture, which is latin. A sizeable Hungarian minority lives in Transylvania, and Romania has also a large Roma population (Gypsy). In a 2002 census, 86 percent of the population declared that they belonged to the Romanian Orthodox Church. Besides the Reformed and Lutheran churches among the ethnic Hungarians and Germans, there are Romanian Pentecostal, Baptist and Seventh-day Adventist churches, and an Evangelical church among the Gypsies. The Catholics consist of Uniate (Oriental Rite) and Latin jurisdictions. A council of churches is in formation through the Ecumenical Association AidRom. There is also an Evangelical Alliance, affiliated with the WEA.