The Bărăgan Plain ( ro, Câmpia Bărăganului ) is a

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslands, ...

plain In geography, a plain is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and as plateaus or uplands ...

in south-eastern

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. It makes up much of the eastern part of the

Wallachian Plain The Romanian Plain ( ro, Câmpia Română) is located in southern Romania and the easternmost tip of Serbia, where it is known as the Wallachian Plain ( sr, Vlaška nizija/Влашка низија). Part of the historical region of Wallachia, it ...

. The region is known for its black soil and a rich humus, and is mostly a cereal-growing area. It is bounded on the south and east by the Danube, and in the North by the

Buzău The city of Buzău (formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu''; ) is the county seat of Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carp ...

and Călmățui rivers, both tributaries of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. The western limit is a line joining the cities of

Urziceni Urziceni () is a city in Ialomița County, Muntenia, Romania, located around 60 km north-east of Bucharest. It has a population of 14,053: 93.1% Romanians, 4.6% Roma and 1.6% Hungarians. Demographics As the census of 2011 results show ...

Budești Budești (Romani: ''Budeshti'') is a small provincial town in Călărași County, Muntenia, Romania. Three villages are administered by the town: Aprozi, Buciumeni, and Gruiu. It officially became a town in 1989, as a result of the Romanian rural ...

, and

Oltenița Oltenița () is a city in Călărași County, Muntenia, Romania, on the left bank of the river Argeș, where its waters flow into the Danube. Geography The city is located in the southwestern part of the county; it stands across the Danube fro ...

. The plain practically covers Ialomița and

Călărași Călărași (), the capital of Călărași County in the Muntenia region, is situated in south-east Romania, on the banks of the Danube's Borcea branch, at about from the Bulgarian border and from Bucharest. The city is an industrial centre f ...

counties, extending into the southern portion of

and

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2011 Romanian census there were 180,302 pe ...

counties. The city of

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

is not part of Bărăgan but is on the Vlăsiei Plain.

Major urban centers

– 180,302 (2011) *

– 65,181 (2011) *

Slobozia Slobozia () is the capital city of Ialomița County, Muntenia, Romania, with a population of 48,241 in 2011. Etymology Its name is from the Romanian "slobozie", which meant a recently colonized village which was free of taxation. The word its ...

– 48,241 (2011) *

Fetești Fetești () is a city in Ialomița County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located in the Bărăgan plain, on the Borcea branch of the Danube. Fetești has the second largest population in Ialomița, after Slobozia. In 1895, the King Carol I railway ...

– 30,217 (2011) The cities of

, and

border the Plains, but are not considered part of the Plains proper.

History

Due to lack of forest in the past, the Bărăgan was an important route for the migratory peoples who roamed the area that is south-eastern Romania today. The Bărăgan Steppe was traditionally used as pasture by the shepherds in the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...

(including

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

) during

transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower vall ...

, but was converted to arable land in the second half of the 19th century. It was used as a depot for mass deportations by the Communist authorities during the 1950s. About 40,000 political prisoners, including Banat Swabians, were relocated here from the west of the country.

Climate

The Bărăgan Plain has a harsh climate with hot and dry summers and includes the location where the highest-ever temperature in Romania was recorded: , at Ion Sion, in August 1951. Winters are cold, and subject to the effects of a

blizzard A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong sustained winds and low visibility, lasting for a prolonged period of time—typically at least three or four hours. A ground blizzard is a weather condition where snow is not falling b ...

wind, known as "

crivăț ''Crivăț'' () is a north-easterly wind in Moldavia, Dobruja, and the Bărăgan Plain parts of Romania. In the winter, it blows at speeds of up to 30–35 m/s (108–126 km/h, 67-78 mph), creating blizzard A blizzard is a s ...

" (this feature also gives the plain its name, derived from the

Cuman language Cuman or Kuman (also called Kipchak, Qypchaq or Polovtsian) was a Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Cumans (Polovtsy, Folban, Vallany, Kun) and Kipchaks; the language was similar to today's various languages of the Kipchak-Cuman branch. C ...

for "place where the blizzard is raging"). Due to its climate, it is one of the most inhospitable areas in Romania. In his novel, ''

Ciulinii Bărăganului ''Ciulinii Bărăganului'' (''The Thistles of the Bărăgan''; french: Les Chardons du Baragan) is a 1958 Franco-Romanian film directed by Louis Daquin and Gheorghe Vitanidis, based on a novel of the same title by Panait Istrati. The film was no ...

'', the Romanian writer

Panait Istrati Panait Istrati (; sometimes rendered as ''Panaït Istrati''; August 10, 1884 – April 16, 1935) was a Romanian working class writer, who wrote in French and Romanian, nicknamed ''The Maxim Gorky of the Balkans''. Istrati appears to be the ...

describes the Bărăgan Plain as follows:

No trees grow here, and it's so far from one water well to the next that you can die of thirst half-way. The inhabitant of Bărăgan constantly hopes that one day someone will come and teach him how to live better in the Bărăgan, in this dreadful wilderness where water is hidden in the deepest bowels of the earth and where nothing grows except thistles. They cover the land in less than a week. It's the only thing the Bărăgan will tolerate, except for the sheep who lust after these thistles and devour them greedily. Come winter, the shepherd abandons this God forsaken land and returns home. Then the Bărăgan dons its white fur coat and lays to rest for six months. Nothing lives here any more. That's the Bărăgan.

References

* Panait Istrati, ''The Thistles of the Bărăgan'', Vanguard Press, New York, 1930

Walther Konschitzky, Peter-Dietmar Leber and Walter Wolf, ''Deported to the Bărăgan 1951–1956'', Haus des Deutschen Ostens, Munchen, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Baragan Plain Muntenia Plains of Romania