Murfatlar () is a town in

Constanța County Constanța () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Dobruja region. Its capital city is also named Constanța. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 684,082 and the population density was 96/km2. The degr ...

, Northern Dobruja,

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

. It officially became a town in 1989, as a result of the

Romanian rural systematization program The Romanian rural systematization program was a social engineering program undertaken by Nicolae Ceaușescu's Romania primarily at the end of the 1980s. The legal framework for this program was established as early as 1974, but it only began in ...

Etymology

The name of the town originates from the Turkish word of Arabic origin ''murvet'' (meaning "generous man"). Between 1921 and 1965, and from 1975 to 2007, the locality was known as ''Basarabi''. On June 26, 2007 the lower house of Romania's Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, approved a proposal to have the name changed back to Murfatlar, which was also ratified by the Senate and promulgated by the president of Romania on December 20, 2007.

Administration

Murfatlar is a port on the

Danube–Black Sea Canal The Danube–Black Sea Canal ( ro, Canalul Dunăre–Marea Neagră) is a navigable canal in Romania, which runs from Cernavodă on the Danube river, via two branches, to Constanța and Năvodari on the Black Sea. Administered from Agigea, it ...

and has a population of 11,070. A complex of caves was found carved in the hills nearby, see the

Basarabi Cave Complex The Basarabi-Murfatlar Cave Complex is a medieval Christian monastery located near the town of Murfatlar (known as Basarabi between 1924–1965 and 1975–2007), Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. The complex is a relict from a widesp ...

. The village of Siminoc (historical name: ''Turc-Murfat'') is administered by the town of Murfatlar. The name of the village comes from the flower

Helichrysum arenarium ''Helichrysum arenarium'' is also known as dwarf everlast, and as immortelle. Description As a perennial plant, it grows to be an average of 0.3 m tall. The leaves are flat, the lower ones being elliptical in shape, while the upper ones are li ...

(''siminoc'' in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

), which can be found abundantly in the area.Murfatlar's History
, Murfatlar City Hall, accessed on June 23, 2008 The Murfatlar Vineyard and

are located nearby.

Demographics

At the 2011 census, Murfatlar had 8,657 Romanians (89.86%), 547

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

(5.68%), 236 Roma (2.45%), 134

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

(1.39%), 9

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

(0.09%), 3

Aromanians The Aromanians ( rup, Armãnji, Rrãmãnji) are an ethnic group native to the southern Balkans who speak Aromanian, an Eastern Romance language. They traditionally live in central and southern Albania, south-western Bulgaria, northern and ...

(0.03%), 16 others (0.17%), 32 with undeclared ethnicity (0.33%).

Natives

Murfatlar is the birthplace of the 4th Romanian president,

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 ...

Image gallery

Image:MurtfaltalrDanubeChannel.JPG, Danube-Black Sea Canal at Murfatlar Image:MurfatlarDanubeChannel2.JPG, Danube-Black Sea Canal at Murfatlar Image:MurtfatlarBridge.JPG, Bridge over the Danube-Black Sea Canal at Murfatlar

References

{{Authority control Towns in Romania Populated places in Constanța County Localities in Northern Dobruja Place names of Turkish origin in Romania