Throughout the 1850s, the

Principality of Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

underwent an industrial revolution which yielded, among others, the first

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, lique ...

in the World. Six years after the first Wallachian industrial establishment was completed (1853), the country united with the

Principality of Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Central ...

to form

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 ...

Assan's steam mill

The first industrial establishment based on mechanized work and steam power was introduced in 1853, in the form of the Assan Steam Mill. The mill also carried out oil pressing and brandy distilling. Situated on the outskirts 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 ...

, it was founded by George Assan, using modern machinery from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Assan ran several pharmacies and wine shops which enabled him to purchase the machinery and build the mill. After Assan's death in 1866, the mill was taken over by his wife, Alexandrina. The facility changed hands again in 1884, when it was taken over by the Assans' sons. The mill remained active into the 20th century.

The world's first oil refinery

The most notable accomplishment of Wallachia's industrial revolution was the building of the World's first industrial oil refinery in 1856-1857. It was built by Teodor Mehedinţeanu. Situated at Râfov, near

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commune ...

, the refinery had a processing capacity of 7.5 tons per day. Two more important firsts resulted from this achievement. Wallachia (and by extension, Romania) became the first country in the world with an officially recorded crude oil production, 275 tons. Also in 1857, Bucharest became the first city in the world to use lamp oil for public illumination. The next two countries to record oil production were the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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 ...

in 1860.

Other establishments

Food industries developed at Brăila starting from the 1830s. In 1855, a brick factory which employed the use of machinery was founded in Bucharest. It was a

military asset In military usage, a military asset is a weapon or means of production of weapons or other defensive or offensive devices or capabilities. Description Whether a military asset is considered a capital asset, or part of a public infrastructure, ...

, being run by the Cavalry commander Serdar Filipescu.N. N. Constantinescu, Editura Academiei Române, 1994, ''Romania's economic history: from the beginnings to World War II'', p. 187

References

{{reflist Industry in Romania Oil refining History of Wallachia