Cernavodă () 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 Northern Dobruja ( ro, Dobrogea de Nord or simply ; bg, Северна Добруджа, ''Severna Dobrudzha'') is the part of Dobruja within the borders of Romania. It lies between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, bordered in the south ...

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 ...

with a population of 20,514. The town's name is derived from the Bulgarian ''černa voda'' (черна вода in

Cyrillic The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic, Turkic, Mongolic, Uralic, Caucasian and Iranic-speaking co ...

), meaning 'black water'. This name is regarded by some scholars as a

calque In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language ...

of the earlier

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied ...

name ''Axíopa'', from IE *''n̥ksei'' 'dark' and ''upā'' 'water' (cf.

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

''axšaēna-'' 'dark' and Lithuanian ''ùpė'' 'river, creek').

Economy

The town is a

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 ...

fluvial port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

. It houses the

Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant The Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavodă ( ro, Centrala Nucleară de la Cernavodă) is the only nuclear power plant in Romania. It produces around 20% of the country's electricity. It uses CANDU reactor technology from AECL, using heavy water pr ...

, consisting of two

CANDU The CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide ( heavy water) moderator and its use of (originally, natural) uranium fuel. C ...

reactors providing about 18% of Romania's electrical energy output. The second reactor was built through a joint venture between

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed this ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

ANSALDO Ansaldo Energia S.p.A. is an Italian power engineering company. It is based in Genoa, Italy. The absorbed parent company, Gio. Ansaldo & C., started in 1853. It was taken over by Leonardo S.p.A. In 2011, Leonardo S.p.A. sold 45% stake in A ...

and became fully functional in November 2007. The Danube-Black Sea Canal, opened in 1984, runs from Cernavodă to

Agigea Agigea (; tr, Acıçay, ) is a commune in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. The commune includes four villages: Agigea, Lazu (Turkish: ''Laz-Mahale''), Sanatoriul Agigea and Stațiunea Zoologică Marină Agigea, the last two being spe ...

and

Năvodari Năvodari (, historical names: ''Carachioi''; ''Caracoium'', tr, Kara Koyum) is a town in Constanța County, region of Northern Dobruja, Romania, with a population of 32,400. The town formally includes a territorially distinct community, Social ...

. The outskirts of Cernavodă host numerous

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyard ...

s, producers of

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from England to New Zealand. For new ...

wine. The largest

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

in the area is Murfatlar.

History

Cernavodă was founded (under the name ''Axiopolis'') by the ancient

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...

in the 4th century BC as a trading post for contacts with local

Dacians The Dacians (; la, Daci ; grc-gre, Δάκοι, Δάοι, Δάκαι) were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often consi ...

. The railroad from

Constanța Constanța (, ; ; rup, Custantsa; bg, Кюстенджа, Kyustendzha, or bg, Констанца, Konstantsa, label=none; el, Κωνστάντζα, Kōnstántza, or el, Κωνστάντια, Kōnstántia, label=none; tr, Köstence), histo ...

to Cernavodă was opened in 1860 by the Ottoman administration. Cernavodă was one of the capitals of the short-lived

Silistra Nouă County Silistra Nouă County was a county (''județ'') of Romania, in Northern Dobruja, with its capital city first at Rasova, later at Cernavodă and finally at Medgidia. It was established on 13 November 1878 and abolished on 1 April 1879. After this, ...

(1878–1879). The town gives its name to the late

copper age The Copper Age, also called the Chalcolithic (; from grc-gre, χαλκός ''khalkós'', "copper" and ''líthos'', " stone") or (A)eneolithic (from Latin '' aeneus'' "of copper"), is an archaeological period characterized by regular ...

Cernavodă archaeological culture, ca. 4000– 3200 BC.

Demographics

At the 2011 census, Cernavodă had 14,969 Romanians (92.81%), 463

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 ...

(2.87%), 374

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

(2.32%), 106 Lipovans (0.66%), 40

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

(0.25%), 15

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 ...

(0.09%) and 162 others. Notable people born in Cernavodă include Alexandru Claudian (1898–1962) and

Iosipos Moisiodax Iosipos Moisiodax or Moesiodax (; el, Ιώσηπος Μοισιόδαξ; 1725–1800) was a Greek philosopher, an Eastern Orthodox deacon, and one of the greatest exponents of the modern Greek Enlightenment. He was also director of the Princely ...

(1725–1800).

References

External links

Official site of the City of Cernavodă
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cernavoda Greek colonies in Scythia Minor Towns in Romania Populated places on the Danube Port cities and towns in Romania Populated places in Constanța County Localities in Northern Dobruja Place names of Slavic origin in Romania

Economy

History

Demographics

See also

References

External links