Oltenița () is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

Călărași County Călărași () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in Muntenia, with the county seat at Călărași. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 285,050 and a population density of 56.02/km2. * Romanians – 94.1% ...

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the rarely used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in Ro ...

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

, on the left bank of the river Argeș, where its waters flow into the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

Geography

The city is located in the southwestern part of the county; it stands across the Danube from the

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

n city of

Tutrakan Tutrakan ( , , ) is a town in northeastern Bulgaria, an administrative centre of the homonymous municipality, part of Silistra Province. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube opposite the Romanian town of Oltenița (to which it was l ...

. The

national road The National Road (also known as the Cumberland Road) was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. Built between 1811 and 1837, the road connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers and was a main tran ...

DN4 connects Oltenița to

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, to the northwest. Road connects it to the county seat,

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. It is one of six Romanian county se ...

, to the east, and road connects it to

Giurgiu Giurgiu (; ; ) is a city in southern Romania. The seat of Giurgiu County, it lies in the historical region of Muntenia. It is situated amongst mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian city of Ruse on the op ...

, to the west. The Oltenița train station, located near the intersection of those three roads, serves the CFR Line 801, which connects the city to Bucharest (

Titan Sud Titan Sud (formerly known as ''Gara 23 August'') is a small train station located in the Eastern side of Bucharest, Romania, near the Republica metro station and the Republica Factory (formerly 23 August Factory). The railway station was built i ...

and

Obor Obor is the name of a square and the surrounding district of Bucharest, the capital of Romania. There is also a Bucharest Metro station (on the Bucharest Metro Line M1, M1 line) named Obor metro station, Obor, which lies in this area. The dis ...

stations).

History

Excavations on Gumelnița hill near the city revealed a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

settlement dating from the

4th millennium BC File:4th millennium BC montage.jpg, 400x400px, From top left clockwise: The Temple of Ġgantija, one of the oldest freestanding structures in the world; Warka Vase; Bronocice pot with one of the earliest known depictions of a wheeled vehicle; Kish ...

. The first mention of a town bearing the name Oltenița appears in 1515 during the reign of

Neagoe Basarab Neagoe Basarab (; – 15 September 1521) was the Voivode (Prince) of Wallachia between 1512 and 1521. Born into the boyar family of the Craiovești (his reign marks the climax of the family's political influence) as the son of Pârvu Craioves ...

. In November 1853, at the start of the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

the Ottoman forces attempted to cross the river at this point and inflicted heavy losses on the

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

forces at the

Battle of Oltenița The battle of Oltenița (or Oltenitza) was fought on 4 November 1853 and was the first engagement of the Crimean War. In this battle an Ottoman army under the command of Omar Pasha was defending its fortified positions from the Russian forc ...

. During the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878, Oltenița was an important crossing point into Bulgaria for Romanian troops called to aid the Russian Army during the siege of the

Pleven Pleven ( ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest economic center in ...

(''Plevna'') stronghold. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

at Turtucaia, across the Danube from Oltenița,

Battle of Turtucaia The Battle of Turtucaia (; , ''Bitka pri Tutrakan''), also known as Tutrakan Epopee (, ''Tutrakanska epopeya'') in Bulgaria, was the opening battle of the first Central Powers offensive during the Romanian Campaign (World War I), Romanian Campaig ...

ended in a significant defeat for the

Romanian Army The Romanian Land Forces () is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. Since 2007, full professionalization and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the Land Forces. The Romanian Land Forc ...

and subsequently the garrisons of Oltenița and Turtucaia engaged in numerous artillery skirmishes.

Education

There are three high schools in Oltenița: Neagoe Basarab National College, Ion Ghica Technologic High School, and Nicolae Bălcescu Technologic High School.

Sports

Stadionul Municipal is the home ground of the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club

CSM Oltenița Club Sportiv Municipal Oltenița, commonly known as CSM Oltenița, or simply Oltenița (), is a professional Romanian Association football, football club based in Oltenița, Călărași County. The team was founded as ''Șantierul Naval Olteni� ...

and holds 2,500 people.

Gallery

File:Policlinică Oltenița str Argeș nr 60-62 perspectivă 01.JPG, Health care facility File:Danube, near Oltenita 01 (2477761329).jpg, The Danube River near Oltenița

Notable residents

* Peter A. Abeles (1886–1952), Jewish Romanian-American lawyer, politician, and judge * Gabriela Cristea (born 1974), television personality and show host *

Ion Iliescu Ion Iliescu (; born 3 March 1930) is a Romanian politician and engineer who served as the second president of Romania from 1989 until 1996 and from 2000 until 2004. Between 1996 and 2000 and also from 2004 to 2008, the year in which he retired, ...

(born 1930), 2nd

President of Romania The president of Romania () is the head of state of Romania. The president is directly elected by a two-round system, and, following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, serves for five years. An individual may serve two ter ...

(1989–96 and 2000–04) * Alice Săvulescu (1905–1970), scientist, titular member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...

* Ion Petre Stoican (1930–1994), violinist, a '' lăutar''

References

Populated places in Călărași County Localities in Muntenia Populated places on the Danube Port cities and towns in Romania Crimean War Cities in Romania Bulgaria–Romania border crossings {{Călăraşi-geo-stub